Pillars of Eternity

Pillars of Eternity arrived in 2015 as the game that proved classic CRPGs could come back. Funded through a massively successful crowdfunding campaign, Obsidian Entertainment set out to build a spiritual successor to the Infinity Engine games that defined the genre in the late 1990s. They delivered on that promise, though the final product sparked debates about how faithfully a modern game should follow those old blueprints.

Player reception has been largely positive, with broad agreement that the game revitalized a genre many had written off. The world-building and lore draw consistent praise, as does the ambition of its central narrative. But the game also attracts pointed criticism for its combat system, pacing, and how it handles information delivery. This is a game that asks a lot of its players, and the community is split on whether the payoff justifies the investment.

World-Building at Its Best in Pillars of Eternity

World-building is where Pillars of Eternity makes its strongest case. The setting of Eora isn’t another medieval fantasy with serial numbers filed off. The entire civilization is shaped by the study of souls, a metaphysical system called animancy that drives the politics, religion, and conflicts of the world. Gods exist, but their nature is more complicated than most fantasy settings allow. The game builds this foundation across hundreds of conversations, books, and environmental details, and the result is a world that feels thought through rather than assembled from tropes.

Obsidian’s writing shines brightest in the quieter moments. Companion quests take personal, grounded approaches to problems that could easily become generic fantasy errands. One party member’s storyline explores grief and faith in ways that feel more literary than gamey. The main narrative tackles questions about free will, the nature of divinity, and what people owe to systems that may be built on lies. These aren’t original questions for fantasy, but Pillars engages with them at a depth most games don’t attempt.

Character creation and class design offer real breadth. Eleven classes and six races provide distinct mechanical identities, and the attribute system interacts with dialogue options in meaningful ways. A high-intellect character opens conversational paths that a brute-force character never sees, and vice versa. The game rewards building a character with personality, not just stats. The White March expansions, sold separately, added new companions and raised the level cap while maintaining the quality of the base game’s design.

The isometric presentation holds up well. Hand-painted backgrounds give each area a distinct visual identity, and the soundtrack reinforces the tone with understated compositions that avoid the bombastic orchestral cliches of many fantasy RPGs.

Pillars of Eternity’s Weak Spots

Combat is the most divisive element. The real-time-with-pause system asks players to constantly freeze the action, reposition party members, assign abilities, then unpause for a few seconds before doing it again. Fans of classic CRPGs accept this as part of the genre’s DNA. Newcomers often find it tedious, particularly in longer encounters where the micro-management becomes exhausting rather than strategic. The system has depth, but it doesn’t always communicate that depth clearly, and many encounters feel more like puzzles to solve through pausing than fights to experience.

Information delivery hits hard and early. The game opens with dense lore exposition, and conversations with NPCs can read like encyclopedia entries rather than natural dialogue. Characters explain concepts, history, and politics in paragraphs where a sentence would do. This front-loading drives away some players before the world has a chance to earn their investment. Those who push through typically find that the density becomes more manageable, but the on-ramp is steep.

Companions are a mixed bag. Some, like the troubled priest Durance, are brilliantly written with complex arcs that unfold over the full campaign. Others feel undercooked, joining the party for reasons that seem thin and offering little personality once they’re along for the ride. The gap in quality between the best and worst companions is noticeable, and it can make party composition feel like a choice between interesting characters and mechanically useful ones.

Pathfinding and inventory management create friction that adds up over a long campaign. Characters get stuck on geometry, crowd doorways, and occasionally refuse to follow orders in the heat of combat. The inventory system works but never feels elegant, requiring regular maintenance that pulls you out of the world and into menus.

A Game That Rewards Patience

What defines the Pillars of Eternity experience is the gap between its first five hours and its last twenty. Early on, the lore feels impenetrable, the combat feels clunky, and the world feels like it’s holding you at arm’s length. But the game is building something. By the midpoint, the systems click, the world’s logic makes sense, and the narrative threads start pulling tight. Players who bounce early miss the best parts, and players who stick with it tend to become strong advocates.

That’s a real barrier, and it’s fair to criticize a game for taking hours to find its stride. But the stride, once found, is worth the climb.

Should You Play Pillars of Eternity?

Anyone nostalgic for the Baldur’s Gate era of CRPGs will feel at home here, though this isn’t just a nostalgia play. Readers who want RPGs with literary ambition, complex world-building, and moral questions without easy answers will find one of the best examples of the 2010s CRPG revival. If you’re willing to engage with dense text and slower pacing, the rewards are substantial.

Skip it if real-time-with-pause combat is a dealbreaker for you, or if you prefer RPGs that let you jump into the action without pages of lore first. Players who need mechanically tight combat or who bounced off similar games in the past won’t find enough changes here to change their minds.

The Verdict on Pillars of Eternity

Pillars of Eternity accomplished something that seemed impossible in 2015: it brought the classic CRPG back from the dead. Obsidian built a world with genuine depth, a magic system rooted in philosophy rather than just fireballs, and a campaign that rewards patience with ideas that stick with you long after the credits. Combat and companion writing don’t quite reach the heights of the best the genre has produced, and the early hours test your willingness to absorb dense lore. But for players willing to meet it halfway, this is a rich, intelligent RPG that earned its place in the revival it started.