Finished this at around 52 hours, including 2/3rds the DLC and hitting most of the side-content. This is a fantastic sequel, one of the best iterations in games I have seen since We Love Katamari. Mechanically and narratively the first Pilalrs of Eternity was like a preparatory building of energy before a great leap that is Deadfire.

The central conflict in the world of Pillars is, unlike the first game, not tied to a singular mystery, so in Deadfire we can witness the pantheon of fake-Gods shit themselves all across the Deadfire archipelago, suffused in local dramas, unbound and much more free. This is because the game actually has a very short main-quest chain, six steps or so, and the breadth and depth of the game exists in the sandbox middle-section that takes place on the ocean map, across all the islands and dungeons that the main villain, Eothas in his gigantic crystal body, has chosen to ignore and walk past. You are allowed to pursue the story at whatever pace, sail the seas if you'd like, colonize, assist indigenous groups to obtain sovereignty, or try not to interfere.

Deadfire has cleaned up a lot of the mechanics which existed in PoE, streamlining combat and combat encounters (no trash!), making things more legible, introducing multi-class. Reputations and inter-party relationships exist and factor in to your questing in some impressive, and sometimes underwhelming ways. The ambition is there, which is what I appreciate. You lose your castle from the first game and gain a ship with a crew in this one, which is, like it always was, sort of inconsequential but a novel game system nonetheless. You will travel the islands and sea with your ship, but you may not actually encounter ship combat, because it is both unnecessary and kind of not fun. Ship combat is actually a sad thing in this game, I learned that it was the most expensive and exhausting thing to develop and no one seemed to like it or play it. But over all, the changes and new inclusions are very welcome and make Deadfire a richer story and combat experience, these are improvements which affect many parts of the overall game and do so successfully for the most part.

I bought and played through two DLCs, The Beast of Winter and The Forgotten Sanctum. I chose to skip out on the arena-themed, combat DLC called Seeker, Slayer, Survivor because it just didn't sound worth it. But Beasts and Sanctum were magnificent pieces of extra content with exciting settings, really engaging stories, great production values as reflected in the art and how their stories connect to the main plot. I wholeheartedly recommend those two, with The Forgotten Sanctum being my favorite piece of DLC for this game, my favorite part of PoE2 Deafire, and perhaps my favorite piece of DLC in general. They are both extremely satisfying, I think.

This is a great game! I am not sure if we will get a sequel, despite it reviewing well. This post-mortem by Deadfire's director, Josh Sawyer, suggests that there isn't as much room for real-time-with-pause CRPGs anymore and that the standards set by DivOS2 and other games when it comes to voice acting seemed to have put a strain on Obsidian that was really overwhelming. Regardless, they made an excellent game, one of the best RPGs of the decade that tried to develop the genre, through moves separate from markets and industry trend intuition, trying to do more than respond in the ways that everyone already knew to ask for. Obsidian is always ambitious, individual, sometimes successful, and here, I think, they really did succeed in some wonderful ways!

I’ve long thought of myself as someone who loves party-centric, turn-based CRPGs. I grew up on D&D and tabletop games. The Legend of Zelda was a great game but it was nothing compared to spinning an adventure out with friends until 3AM. I love role-playing, good world-building, epic fantasy, and challenging decisions. After not really enjoying either Divinity: Original Sins or either Pillars, I’m wondering if my self-concept is wrong.

Deadfire is definitely better than Pillars 1, to me. Maybe it was the fact that it offered turn-based as an option? Maybe it was getting to sail around an archipelago (ever since reading the Earthsea Trilogy in 7th grade, I love archipelagos as fantasy settings) and fight naval battles? I’m not sure why but I enjoyed this game just enough to stick with it to the end.

Still, I disliked it enough to wonder if maybe I don’t like CRPGs that much? I’ve always thought the complete freedom that true tabletop offers makes it feel more real. Deadfire has plenty of choice but even those choices are inevitably scripted. The story, as epic as it’s supposed to be, didn’t really resonate with me. Maybe I just need to find the right game? I really enjoyed BG3, Fallout 1 & 2, Underrail, Avernum, and Final Fantasy(s).

I really wanna like this one, but I'm having a super hard time getting into it. I'm five hours in and feel completely disconnected to the whole thing.

There is SO MUCH LORE and I feel like I'm sinking with things that are thrown at me that I should know but don't. I expect to get some of that coming into a sequel, but, if you do things right, someone can - and should be able to - hop into a series at any point and be able to find their way around. I am not finding that stable ground here, at all.

The combat is also...wow. I've chosen turn-based because that's the only way you can get me to play a top-down like this. To say I'm completely confused regarding the action economy here is putting it mildly. This system is...messy. Frankly, I have no idea what's going on with any of it. If you think D&D can get convoluted, woo boy.

Yeah, I don't know that this one is going to be for me. I somehow doubt dropping into the first game will help me here, since it's bound to just be more of the same, with less polish. Maybe another day.

I thoroughly enjoyed this rare example of the sequel wholly improving on the first game.

Things I enjoyed

• The further expansion on and exploration of a wonderfully realized 'age of sail' fantasy world that builds well on the continent established in the first game
• Colonized, colonizers and pirates collide to create intrigue and foster drama at every turn in this archipelago
• A compressed and well paced main story that never drags or leaves you confused
• Memorable party members with thoughtful loyalty missions
• The well realized 'real time with pause' combat system that has seemingly been left to the wayside in favour of turn based combat in other modern RPGs

Things that pulled me out of the experience...

• The ship to ship combat was fun when I met it on its own terms, but it still felt lacking somehow

Things I'll remember forever...

• The wonderfully balanced factions. If the intention was to place me in the middle of factions, none of which I could feel comfortable supporting to the point that my headcannon for my watcher was that she threw her sword down and sailed off into the sunset, Xoti in one hand and a tumbler of scotch in the other - then they were very successful.

I wanted to see the end of the game so I uneasily sided with the Royal Deadfire Company, and don't really think that alternate universe was worth soiling my good name over...

Loved this game, and I look forward to what that 1st person RPG set in the same world will turn out to be..

Pillars of Eternity is such a difficult game to talk about. I completely held back in my review of the first game because I wanted people to see for themself, all of the secrets unfolding of the story so they can appreciate something beautiful and deep. I'm not holding back this time because I need to talk about everything in this game to be able to fully critique and appreciate it, feel where my thoughts are at with it. So this is effectively a spoilered review, but I'm not going to spoil anything until much later so you can safely keep reading if you're interested. This is less of a full review and more of a journal about my experiences playing too.

This paragraph was written for backloggd.com where I have been repeatedly censored by a politically biased staff. For the Bureau of Appropriate Game Reviews, I've also spoilered it to protect any fragile gamers from discussions about slavery, imperialism, colonialism, religion, and genocide which are all relevant in this game. We love this website, don't we? I've been tossing around the idea of setting up a Dreamwidth for my longer and more serious reviews and other thoughts about faith, politics, media arts, my poetry etc. Concerned mothers, you might want to sit this one out, because this game has content some might find unsavory.

Gameplay

First, what I want to get out of the way is just how much of an improvement this game is over the last one. Not only an improvement, but maybe the best I've seen a CRPG be in terms of how streamlined, complex, rewarding, and functional it is all at once. It takes all of the systems of the first game which I loved and improved upon pretty much most of them. I played a rebalance mod in order to make the combat more interesting, but that doesn't necessarily factor much into the mechanics but rather small tweaks to damage to make abilities generally about as viable as each other.

The first thing of note about the game is you can multiclass now. Rather than old D&D games, it's not exactly you choosing one level in each at a time, but built around "power levels" where your overall level determines your tier of abilities you can spec into. Each level up lets you pick an ability from either of your two classes, and their spell slots / discipline points / point economy overall is split evenly between the two. You don't get the upper end of either class but the freedom to pick and choose passive and active abilities from either tree. At first, it's overwhelming especially if you've never used one of the classes before. But you can easily create a genuine monster with the dual classing setup, which I myself settled on.

Unlike the first game, there's no more castle management because a giant green bastard destroyed our beloved castle. No, we're in the series of islands called the Deadfire, so all of the castle management and the old map system have been thrown aside in favor of ship management, sailing and porting from island to island, encountering many other boats, engaging in naval combat, and singing sea shanties as we sail from place to place. It's a welcome change and makes the periods between combat and story beats all the more engaging and really make you feel at home in the seafaring adventure theming of the game, letting you be a swashbuckling captain.

They cut a lot of the fat in terms of granularity from the first game, but much of it is the same. We have our traps, scrolls, grimoires, weapons that are enchantable through money and rare resources we find across the map. Pets now give party benefits and there are many wayward cats, dogs, pigs, and all other kinds of cute animals you can pick up now. Our skills are now split between active and passive which we get one of each during our level ups, spreading our abilities to stealth, work with mechanics, understand arcana, do diplomacy, get insight into others, and other sorts of abilities much more thin. As thin as they're spread, we also get a party benefit based on everyone elses own stats, really setting up a solid bond and synergy with the crew you really get on with not just in personality but in playstyle.

Its an insanely rewarding system to learn, and the more time you put into the game, the more you earn achievement points which feed back into benefits you'll be able to bring into another playthrough with another character. Every time you replay the game, you can import or completely craft a new series of changes based on player choice from your old saves in the first. It gives you all of the benefits and fun in the world to keep replaying and experimenting with different fun ways to play and all of the many outcomes it gives you across countless quests. This is a game where all of your choices matter, practically. You can perfectly embody your role with relatively little fuss beyond the consequences of your own actions.

And for the last thing I'll say, this is a game like the first in which your personality is everything. What you say is mapped onto different personality archetypes which you can follow and build reputation for. Passion, Kindness, Cruelty, Diplomacy, Shadiness, Rationality, Stoicism, Cleverness, and many more. You can also develop relationships with other characters, and if you're polyamorous and a modder like me, you can have relationships with multiple of them. Maybe consider modding. The romances are pretty nice! Sometimes sweet, other times shallow, as it should be.

Deadfire

With much of the talk of gameplay out of the way, and to cut a path for talking about the plot and it's many spoilers, we do have to familiarize ourself with the Deadfire and all of the key players. First off, it is a loosely affiliated nation of a people called the Huana, who are mostly aumaua, a race of people which settled both in islands in the Deadfire and along the coasts conquering much of the mainland in a different culture called Rauatai. The Rauatai have come to the Deadfire to conquer diasporic kin in violent acts of colonialism. Also engaging in colonialism more for the riches, commerce and slaves are the Vailians (mostly humans), a formerly noble empire brought down to its own sort of diasporic set of Republics. The last players are the Principi, a federation of pirates who once held loyaly to Vailians, now divided into two factions: Old Vailian loyalists, and the New Blood, who have no roots, oppose slavery, and believe in everyone going their own way in a firmly anti-state position, following a chaotic code of freedom, crime, and inviduality.

The Huana are in a very difficult position. Many of them have faced a lot of terror at the hands of the colonists who have come in to destabilize and profit off of their region. You will come across many who have seen their family and villages be dragged off and enslaved by Vailians with their own eyes, still scarred and naturally fearful of what outsiders will bring. Not all of them feel the same and welcome the commerce and revitalization, not to mention a lot of social and technological progress that a lot of outsiders bring. It's complicated, and not every outsider, nor everything about the outsider factions are all necessarily bad. But it's undeniably a threat and a fine line to be walking.

At the center of the region is Neketaka, the strongest Huana settlement, and it operates by very different rules from the rest of the region. Where the caste system of the Huana seemed stifling, in Neketaka it is outright cruelty perpetuated by the leadership of the city under Queen Onekaza. An argument could be made that it's due to the destabilization of the colonial influences settling in the city, but it's also not so simple. It's been in a power struggle with other huana in the Watershaper's Guild, who hold a historic importance and are at odds with the leadership, and historically have been their enemies. Progressive voices within the huana are suppressed and underrepresented, but not non-existent. The best things for the huana are evident within themselves and held back by people making decisions for them on all sides.

I didn't spent a lot of time courting favor from either the Rauatai's Royal Deadfire Company nor the Vailian Trading Company because I found the very presence of both to be something of an affront, even if I happened to have known people from both regions. I find the presence of the Rauatai to be ultimately horrific and insidious. With the Vailians, in spite of it engaging in worse and more cruel acts like slavery, I do sympathize with some of its members due it being the only haven who will accept certain kinds of people who'd be shunned by the other societies in the setting. It's a haven for Animancers, people who study and experiment with the nature of souls, and everyone with a sort of cursed or complicated existence that doesn't play well with tradition. My character was born with psychic talents and at least understood why people would find safety with Vailians, but was principly against their cruel colonial practices.

Then are the matters of the Principi. While they have a policy of opposing slavery, this doesn't stop a lot of Old Vailian loyalists who yearn for the old Vailian ways to secretly be aiding the slave trade for the benefit of the Vailians. This isn't the right way of things and the large majority of the Principi agree. The welcoming arms of marauding and piracy don't discriminate against who you are or where you come from, so some time or another, these traditions their federation were built upon would be pruned away all but completely. And so here we have a power struggle between the first chair Furrante, and the second chair Aeldys. Aeldys talks of anarchy, not simply of chaos. No slavery. No tradition. No gods. No masters. No colonialism. No settling. Just to freely take what you can and live for yourself. It's a selfish but honest life of crime. And with appropriate targets: Not the poor common folk, but the rich colonists with much to raid, who engage in their own form of violence, the scope of which far exceeds common piracy.

It may sound here like I have a particular soft spot for the pirates. Well, I do. Nothing felt quite as good as siding with the pirates in this game, even if I felt like it was a very complicated decision to make knowing the Huana were undisputed the most moral choice to align oneself with. But this is not a game where there is any perfect ending. There is something insightful about every faction you decide to align yourself with in spite of the worst of their problems with. If you ever do manage to play this game, you shouldn't beat yourself up over your choices because the game heavily wants you to sympathize with all of kith, all of humanity in this game and to be able to understand everyone to cut a new path forward. But for me, if it comes between centralized power and tradition, or a great destruction of hierarchies and progress, then you fucking bet I'm going to tear as many hierarchies down as possible because I personally believe them to be in the best interest in the common folk who have no right to be ruled over by anyone. Not by a king, not by a queen, not by a god, not by kin, not by outsiders, empire, colonists, profiteers, nobody. All we have is us.

SPOILERS FOR PILLARS OF ETERNITY 1 START HERE

Dyrwood

Something I didn't quite get into was the overall plot and story of the first game when I wrote my review of it. I left all of the biggest spoilers out, but I have to be frank about them here to presage everything else I have to say about the game. The first game is set in the Dyrwood, a former colony of the Aedyr Empire, which once settled into these lands of native folk called Glanfathen. They are country folk, farmers, druids, sailors who do their own work with Vailians, and people of the forest who heed the ways of the time before the gods. They have a fear, a hatred of Engwithan Ruins, they see it all as forbidden grounds. For others in the Dyrwood, places which give insight into the inner workings of and history of the world. Dyrwood was in a complex position struggling with many of its own people being 'Hollowborn' or born without souls. Questions over the validity of Animancy, the study of souls were frequently called into question by the people of the Dyrwood. It gets a lot more complicated knowing the neighboring former colony of Aedyr, Readceras, another farmer colony like them, years ago declared war against the Dyrwood. A point of trauma that has never really been shaken off by the people, and you can see it in the eyes of everyone involved. It was not just a war. It was a man named Waidwen who claimed to be the embodiment of the god of light, Eothas. Led by the embodiment of a god once thought to be benevolent, bringing destruction down on everyone he claimed to protect, even many Eothasians of the Dyrwood. By aligning themselves with Magran, the goddess of fire, war, and trials, the people of the Dyrwood created the Godhammer, a complex bomb that would kill a god. Still reeling from the destruction this god caused, the Dyrwood rebuilds, as the true nature of the gods starts to unravel.

And this is where we come in. The player will always become a Watcher, someone haunted by the ability to read and manipulate the very souls of other people, to see their history, not just who they are, but their past lives and full experience through the turning of the Wheel, the mechanism for which souls are reborn. The player will always settle in the castle of Caed Nua, a cursed ruins sitting atop an ancient and expansive system created by the ancient Engwithans. And all players inevitably learn an unbearable secret about the world of Eora: The Engwithans are all gone, because they all harnessed their technology to control the flow of life and souls itself, in a mass society wide suicide, they recreated themselves as gods which hold domain over nature itself and crafted a new world to control humanity and nature in their own image. The game ends when we confront the man retaining his memory across his many past lives, working for Woedica, the goddess of dominion and secrets to retain the powers of the gods and keep their secrets safe.

Before anything could move further along for us, the Watcher, the Master of Caed Nua, between the events of the first and second game, our castle would be brought to ruins. Beneath our keep was an ancient statue made of pure Adra, crystals which could concentrate the essence of souls. Engwithan technology and craftsmanship, not just for show. It was the new vessel for the rogue god Eothas to take. As Eothas would wake up, he would bring everyone in the castle to ruin, sweeping and collecting their souls into himself, trapped between life and death unable to be reborn. Us included. We wouldn't make it, and became an unfortunate victim of this alleged god of light. But our body remained, we were functionally like the Hollowborn, without an ego, without a mind, without a personality, in a coma. Carried away by our friend Eder on a sloop on the hunt for the god who killed us and many others. Once in Defiance Bay, then again and Caed Nua, now, Eothas stomps into the waters of the Deadfire.

Neia

So, I can't really talk about this game without talking about how I played it, who I played it as. This is really my favorite part, because we really get to pour ourselves into our characters. Our own creativity, our own flaws, desires, ideals, and more. The game so heavily rewards it. I would not say Neia is exactly like me, but it would be wrong to say she isn't like me. She's different, but similar. Aspects and approaches I would love to take in fantasy which speak to me and the way I hope to roleplay and embody, that feels right for me, my creative spirit, and many of my political beleifs and willingness to make mistakes and see how different choices may play out. I have already spoken a bit on Neia in my Beast of Winter review but I'll touch back on that here.

Neia is a Glamfellen, which is to say a pale elf all the way from the frozen wastelands of The White That Wends. A harsh and nomadic culture of people who worship the god of entropy and endings, Rymrgand. She was born a cipher, one with the natural ability to read and manipulate the minds of others; with this blessing and curse, she was looked to as a mystic, equal parts feared and heaped with expectations she could not follow. Leaving it all behind, she headed for the Dyrwood for something new. A cold, stoic sort of person who'd learned to endure the burdens of life quietly, all of this would begin to unravel as she was caught in a biawac, a terrible storm that shreds and whisks away weaker spirits into the unknown, and permanently scars the rest. As it would happen, it would awaken a capacity to read and manipulate souls themselves on top of her natural Cipher powers, making her not just a psychic, but a Watcher.

I won't be recapping every single moment of the first game, but needless to say, becoming a watcher would drive my character to the brink of madness. A once mostly stoic and cold person would eventually burst out with overwhelming passion. Rational, argumentative, picking holes in the nature of the gods, but all the while trying to take on a position of diplomacy to rise to the role of being the master of Caed Nua. As a Cipher and Watcher, she would end up greatly sympathizing with the Animancers, uncovering much of the problems attributed to them being the meddling of Thaos and the Leaden Key, the cult of Woedica. Her passion and desire for the truth would turn Aloth around, a member of the Leaden Key who would begin to dismantle the work, the lies of the gods in order to promote a world where kith can make their own choices. Eder, once a devotee of Eothas, upon seeing the light of all the damage the gods, and Eothas specifically caused, decided to put his faith behind people too.

Reconciling that she herself in a past life was once a member of the Leaden Key too, exposing their dirty secrets, doing right by her iconoclastic former lover who drove her to this mission across lives, the tormenting visions of her past life would finally go quiet. In a bargain she made with Hylea, the goddess of avians, dragons, motherhood, and arts, she pledged to release all of the stolen souls back into the bodies of the Hollowborn throughout the Dyrwood. If Berath had her way, those souls would've been reborn into new people, but Hylea figured it would be a reward to the families of those who treated their soulless children well, and a punishment against those who didn't. She saw Hylea's kindness as a refreshing balm to what she'd grown up with, and a new majesty in the dragons and birds she represents. Always making an opportunity to speak with dragons and avoid killing them in a way to honor her in her own way, which she holds to in the Deadfire.

And then she would be crushed to death by Eothas, of course. Somewhat content in death, it was something her culture has prepared her for her whole life. The voices were finally quiet. Until Berath, goddess of life, death, and the wheel, would wake her up, task her as her Herald, and hound Eothas to the ends of the earth to find out what was happening. Neia made some negotiations before coming back to life. A quieting of her cipher powers, allowing herself to be rebuilt in a new light. Functionally making her a Spellblade (assassin/wizard) on her own, free from the thoughts of others. Brought back from the dead, sailing on a sloop on the hunt for the god of light. Inwardly, she would be thankful of Berath, but outwardly standoffish with the gods for their horrible secrets. A soft spot for Berath, Hylea, and Magran too for her passion.

SPOILERS FOR PILLARS OF ETERNITY 2 START HERE

The Crew

Well, is a captain without her crew, really? I've spent enough time talking about my player character, I need to talk about my love (and hate) for the many companions of this game. Honorable mentions to the non-compnaions aboard my ship. Beodul, Eld Engrim, Chiputec, the Steward of Caed Nua's disembodied statue staying with me in my quarters. Freed slaves who wanted a second chance about my ship. Many animal friends I adopted living in my menagerie. A severed head and their disembodied spirit just following me around because they wanted me to help them. Countless disembodied souls waiting with me so I could safely hold onto their souls and return them to the wheel later, which is my duty as Watcher. A few souls trapped inside weapons begrudgingly along for the ride, curious to see what I'll do. Then there's Eder. He's the first one to greet us back to life. We knew him back in 1, more willing to challenge religion before, a healthy skeptic and a noble person, even if he does have his flaws. The most reliable meat shield in the game too. I absolutely adore his personal quest where he tries to hunt down a former lover, only to find things going sideways, tied up in his former faith, at odds with cultists praising the god on a path to destroy countless thousands. Looking out for his estranged son, I could never be more proud of this man then seeing him set an Eothasian cultist straight and prevent his suicide. I really love you Eder, you're a good guy, even if you can hardly understand my polycule and propensity for the killing arts.

Now, first member of the polycule is Aloth, another returning face from the Dyrwood. We chance across him in our trip to Port Maje where he's undercover investigating Vailian animancers for Leaden Key activity so he could snuff it out. He's still the same sensitive bookish man as he was before, but now he's romancable. Also changed by the way he felt responsible for the fatal actions of a cult influenced by the Leaden Key. It's not so easy to undo the damage of the gods and their secrecy, and sometimes it will get people hurt. I would do what I could to comfort him and guide his actions with more sensitivity, but nonetheless a duty to undo the damage, To prioritize the lives and safety of innocent folk, while being uncompromising with what is right, even if we can't save people from themselves. He was genuinely one of my favorite parts of the whole game. Second member of the polycule is Xoti. Well.. She is a crazed cultist of Eothas, there is no easy way to put it. A country girl completely caught up in this mission of culling people for the greater good, she hopes to draw souls into her lantern and probably eventually release them. The more souls she takes in, the more she's plagued by horrible visions, to which Neia would give her comfort. Her and Eder would slowly try to chip away her faith, but it clearly wouldn't work. Least we could do was convince her to lighten the burden and let the souls go, focus on helping people and steer her away from visions of massacre and death. I like to think she was steered in a better direction.

Third member of the polycule is uh. Don't judge me. Tekehu. Irresponsible, loves to brag, special coddled godlike child of Ondra the goddess of the sea and moon. He fears his own potential thrust upon him by others and bluffs through it with a veneer of egotism, but he's a very sensitive artist and scared he can't live his life for himself. I relate to him so badly and want to help him through his issues. Also, constantly trying to whisper lewd stories of him sleeping around with just about everyone, even the genocidal racists he comes to blows with. He takes his time with us, because we were practically the first person in his life to consider his feelings in a serious way. In the end, he rediscovers the ancient art of Watershaping as it had been lost to his own people. He wanted to keep the craft alive and bring a new renewal of culture into the Deadfire but on his own terms without the cloying traditionalism and control of Neketaka or the Watershapers Guild who both had lost their ways. He wanted to see them find community in each other, and to live his own life, and I like to think he really did make a difference and distinguish himself from others, to find this greatness his mother set out for him, even if it wasn't how she wanted.

Not a member of the polycule, but open enough to it with his penchant for sleeping around, is Serafen. A blue orlan and a member of the Principi, he quite loves the pirate life. As unserious as he seems to be on first glance, he projects his cipher influence onto you, giving insight into his emotions through key parts of the game. He's a very passionate and freedom loving person who's been through too much in his life. In hunting down his father figure, he'd come to learn dark secrets about the Principi, compelling him further towards the anarchist side of the Principi and against the Old Vailians. Not just a pirate, but a freedom fighter. Always there to back up Neia's most passionate moments, and to cover and bullshit for her on her behalf, he's a true friend. I really adore him, and he's one of the greatest parts of this game.

Two other companions in the game I find intolerable this time around are Maia and Pallegina. Yes, Pallegina from the first game holds us in contempt for urging her to do the right thing and becoming disgraced for it. She now works for the Vailian Trading Company directly participating in the colonization and exploitation of Huana. Needless to say, I didn't even let her set foot on my ship. Maia had the pleasure of tagging along, though she is equally as responsible for colonialism on the part of the Rauatai, and just as racist against the huana as you would expect. She stayed out of my way, still. And when she left home to reconvene with her dear brother and good friend of Neia, Kana Rua, she'd become a voice against the cruelty of the Rauatai Navy, which is at least good for something.

Then at last. My WIFE Ydwin. Underdeveloped as a companion and expanded upon in the DLC, Beast of Winter. She's glamfellen like Neia, from The White That Wends. Cipher born as well, but rather than getting the aid of Berath to find some kind of peace, she'd use her knowledge of animancy to sever herself from the wheel, living as a vampire. Elegant, passionate, rational, progressive, somewhat suspicious, basically perfect.

The Hunt for Eothas

So what's this all for? The entirety of the game, the conflict at the center of everything which draws you into the Heraldry of Berath? It's all to hunt after Eothas to find out what he's doing, and ideally put a stop to him, because the gods all unilaterally assume nothing he does could be good because of his betrayal of the gods. Even the god of betrayal, Skaen is pissed off at him! Though, that guy is one of the worst douchebags of the whole series and I delighted in slaughtering every member of his cult. The only ones who don't care are Rymrgand, and Galawain. Better things for them to be doing, I suppose. Through their urging, you bargain back with him, mostly that kith themselves are worth protecting, saving, resourceful, and can do things the gods cant. You prove it to them well enough, seeing as they need you more than you need them. For once, the gods are vulnerable and showing their own human side, as they once all were in a different time.

The questline mostly involves you setting sail for the pillars of eternity, masses of luminous adra which Eothas uses as a conduit to strengthen himself. He can't continue his pilgrimage without absorbing the souls of people on his path, drawing from them, cutting countless people off from reincarnation and cutting their lives short, just so he can prove a point. What sort of point is he trying to prove, still? You can use the luminous adra pillars to reach out and try to communicate with him, not exactly forthcoming about his mission but promises to reveal it in time. As it's revealed, the more he dawdles, the more even more souls will be absorbed to see his mission through to the end, making Neia even question if it was a good idea to use the pillars to free more souls from him instead of using it to sabotage him. At this point, her kindness and sensitivity becomes a weapon for Eothas to exploit. Giving her pause, giving him more time.

After a long chase, we eventually corner him towards a veritable island of jotunn, Magran's children, giants born of fire. It's here he reveals his ultimate plan, what all of this destruction was for, from the very beginning. As far back as the Saint's War with Waiden, to now. He wants to reveal the true nature of the gods to people in the only way he knows how: through terrorism and the cost of many lives, which he and the gods all see as expendable. For them it's a small price to pay for a greater good, but to kith, it's different. We don't have the same perspective of them, and they don't have the right to do this to us, even if it's to save us from themselves. There could've been a better way, if they had just trusted kith to themselves in the first place. The dismantling of the Leaden Key was supposed to be the first major, natural move for human autonomy and freedom from the tyranny of the gods.

Eothas had other plans. His idea for how to set all of this in motion is to break the Wheel itself, the physical manifestation of Berath, and the literal mechanism for which reincarnation will happen. Without the Wheel, within a generation or two, all life on the planet will end. The souls from the Wheel will slowly be distributed into new bodies, but then after a period, there will be no more people born with souls, all Hollowborn or worse. The existing souls will continue on in the empty Beyond, tortured, for who knows how long. His goal is that kith will have to work together to find a way to rebuild the wheel, with or without the cooperation of the gods. He is putting faith that humans can fix his act of terror, in a way that will completely shatter peoples perception and trust in the gods forever. It will be a new covenant with all of the gods and between kith in his eyes. The gods will have to adapt and cooperate to save themselves too, because they're as at risk as the kith in their own ways.

Many of the gods learn to put their faith in people and pledge to have some sort of open cooperation with them, because they've learned from the players example, Neia's deeds and personal beliefs. Berath, Magran, Hylea, Abydon, Wael, and others have at least implicitly shown their support of a solution for the sake of everyone that drastically changes their relationship with kith for the better. And it's needed, because nobody stops Eothas. He is unstoppable, and we are powerless to see him dismantle life and death itself before our very eyes. The lead Neia could do is participate in this process to atone for and fix all of what he and the other gods had broken. After all, the Engwithans in their genesis broke the original natural process of life and death for their own benefit. Neia does not believe in a world without gods, but she believes in a world of mutuality and where power is always held in check. And so.

For her ending, tired of the three authoritarian factions vying for control of the region more than they were vying for the sanctity of life, the environment and the souls of their own people, Neia decided to stick with the Principi. She aided Aeldys to overthrow and organize a coup to remove the Old Vailian influence from the Principi. To sneak slaves out of Crookspur and massacre the slavers in an uprising. To meet with an ancient champion of Berath guarding the sword of her greatest enemy, a death-guard lich paladin. To speak her once holy vow to draw her out, then board her ghost pirate ship, snuff her life out for good, then commandeer her ghost ship to head to the ancient city of Ukaizo, with the assistance of Aeldys. A more free world, even if it's more rough going at first. Kith will have to learn to cooperate with each other without kings, without masters, without gods even. Because it's possible.

Not that Aeldys particularly cares for the life of others, but she knows that nothing so powerful should ever be collected into the hands of one leader, one regime. After all, this is what allowed the Engwithans to commit genocide on their own people to turn themselves into gods and drastically change the landscape of life. Even the Huana as wonderful as they are, are not free from the pitfalls of power, as we traveled into the past to see the former kings downfalls. As we see an Ukaizo not simply run by one culture, but a congregation of many, as Eothas showed to us. He yearns for a multicultural and compassionate culture of the past, born again in a new age. A world where any one regime has control of rebuilding the Wheel, is frankly unacceptable. Aeldys sees this, Neia sees this. The world WILL be saved, but it will be on the terms of the people.

What?

So what in the holy fuck has this game done to me? I can't even begin to assemble the full depth of how it shook me. But the first thing I need to say is that this is such a tragic ending, bittersweet. Worst of all, no faction ending is particularly satisfying enough because of the insufficiencies of each faction. I believe the Huana ending is the most good, where the Deadfire is restored, the colonialism ended, but the strength of a centralized authority in the Deadfire retakes its form. It's something hinted at not being great, and costing a lot of social and cultural progress many others in the Deadfire were trying to make. There are skeletons in the closet of many powerful institutions in the Deadfire which should be challenged regardless of external threats. The horrifically stratified and suffering people of the Gullet in Neketaka, as well as the fact a dragon was imprisoned to empower the Watershapers who entirely lost touch with their covenant with the gods.

I want a better Deadfire for the Huana. I don't think Onekaza will give it. I don't think the Brass Empire will give it. I don't think the Vailian Republics will give it. I don't even think the Principi will give it. But one thing is clear. The colonialism has to end. You can't stop the colonizing without either siding with the Huana or siding with Aeldys' Principi. But sadly, the Vailians have the technological prowess and progress in Animancy that could potentially rebuild the Wheel faster than anyone else. The Rauatai have more advancements and understanding in the hard mechanics of old Engwithan tech too. With the combined influence of both of them, the Wheel could be rebuilt. But it's infuriating, as both have no place razing and terrorizing and enslaving the people of the Deadfire! The leadership of Neketaka refuse to see wisdom and only answer to everything with force to pull their constituents in line in ways they clearly don't appreciate or respect as you're sent as her envoy. You basically have to BEG to make them look the other way when Principi smugglers give the people of the Gullet medicine supplies and food that Neketaka REFUSE to give, refuses to help these people of the lowest caste.

GOOD FUCKING LORD! IT MAKES ME WANT TO SCREAM! Many people use video games to escape the politics and problems of the real world but here is this game throwing it all in my face. A world where everyone in a position of power is a horrible uncaring bastard, and it's through rare kindnesses and strength of conviction that the little guys and people of unique privilege take up arms to do the right thing in spite of the hierarchies, the problems, injustices of the world. It is a power fantasy for people who always felt they needed to fix the world, but at the same time curbing the extreme ends of the fantasy telling you that there's just some things one player character can't do. Just one person can't do. But one person can do a lot. In a video game, in the real world, to influence people in the right direction to make the right choices. But this doesn't mean everyone is going to do the right things, because they have all kinds of external pressures which compel them to do wrong.

People are endeared to the gods and follow their will because of their cultures in the game. It's not simply a matter of belief, but a matter of community or duty for many. It's unchanging for a lot of people, much to the frustration of everyone in the game who despises and challenges tradition and comes from a place of compassion and rationality and kindness. You're as much punished for trying to make the right choices as you are rewarded. And like the real world, it doesn't come without an immense and sometimes life changing sacrifice. Not just your life, but that of others will bear burdens of choices you make. So all the more reason to think communally and trust in each other to build the new future in the shell of the old. To which Eothas has now forced in the most literal sense turning this whole miserable fucking planet into a cicada shell.

I really see what Eothas was doing. I hate him. I really fucking hate Eothas so much. I don't think this was the right way to show the world the truth of the gods and help them all be free of their tyranny. He destroyed hundreds of thousands of lives, even if they technically may be reborn in the future. Each life precious, each with a family, with memories, with dreams, with a whole history they could've built for them, cut short by the destructive power of an ancient and terrible people who had no right to play with the lives of others to begin with. And now we have to suffer one more genocidal tragedy "for our own good" they say. And don't all of the horrible tragedies of this game remind you of the cruel realities of the world we live in on Earth?

Why must sacrifices always be made against our will by horrifically powerful imperial bodies with weapons of mass destruction, against a population of people seen as ignorant or deserving, either of the destruction or what good it might bring? Turn on the news. Does this sound like anything familiar? Open your history books and you will see many people allegedly with good intentions concentrating power. It becomes an inclination of those holding that power to defend it, more than it is to be accountable to others, to their people, in every case. My mind cannot be changed about this. Power itself is a cruel and ugly thing, but a reality of our world so I would see it be redistributed horizontally among the people. We may be weaker, more vulnerable in this way, less capable of governance on a bigger scale. I find it to be a small price to pay so that nobody may have power concentrated enough to hurt people on a mass scale. To create a slave trade. To drive our economy in the ground in an arrangement where we are forced to work and rent simply to live, where it's increasingly difficult to do so. To be able to create nuclear weapons, armadas, armies, imperial forces which prey on the weak for their resources. Pillars of Eternity and Deadfire are ultimately games which force you to see the true evils of hierarchy.

An Intricate faction system and wealth of content that can be a delight to explore, but many parts of the story, locations and quests feel rushed or unfinished. The writing is snappier, but mostly inferior to PoE's. We get more voice acting, which is great, but it also means we get more terrible voice acting; I especially wasn't a fan of the nasally, youthful sounding narrator. There is too much contemporary dialogue for my tastes and the immature, flirtatious, too cool for school, pirate talk is sometimes Bioware-cringingly bad.

There's also less chance to roleplay as you're stuck in the pirate setting with a fairly limited story and whilst the game is more open than PoE, your choices appear less important; there is also very little urgency. There were numerous occasions when none of the dialogue choices available for my Watcher were ones I wanted to pick. I also encountered situations where I felt the games writers where overruling my moral choices with their own, a good example of this being Maia's companion quest. These quests all end abruptly and with the addition of poorly implemented romances I feel that the companions have lost a lot of depth.

Loot is much improved this time around and the game is gorgeous to look at, with improved animations and lighting effects, although performance is still poor, and the game has lost some of its atmosphere. If you liked the first game for its strong writing and atmosphere then you might be a little disappointed in this one, as I am. It's not bad but it is quite forgettable.

6.5/10