Pathfinder: Kingmaker

Pathfinder: Kingmaker 

By: Owlcat Games, Paizo

Published by: Deep silver

Before playing any game, you probably do the obvious thing and watch a trailer. Some trailers don't show a lot of what's actually playable, but the trailer for Pathfinder: Kingmaker will not leave you disappointed, and will leave you, wanting more. 

Menu for creating your character

After starting up the game and obviously knowing it was an RPG, I was expecting a few customization options for my character, maybe a few different roles to choose from like 'wizard' or 'hunter', this game however, is very very specific. So much attention to detail, even before starting the game. There are over 20 classes to choose from and then inside each class was a specific role you could choose. I spent about 45 minutes just choosing which I wanted. The class I was instantly fascinated by was 'Barbarian' as you could then choose a role called 'mad dog' where you could have a companion. After selecting your class you choose your characters name and then add points to what you want their strengths to be (e.g. charismatic, stealth) and then you're off into the game.

You start off in Swordlord Jamandi Aldori's mansion, where your character and other adventurers of different classes and races have been summoned. The reason you have been summoned, in basic terms, is to try and claim the stolen lands, an unsettled region with no real ruler. All the adventurers are to be put into teams, and whichever team can take down the stag lord, a bandit leader who thinks he has the stolen lands and then defeat anyone else in their path, becomes the true ruler of the stolen lands. Before you're about to set off on your mission, the mansion is attacked and you're left to try and get out and save as many of the other adventurers as possible, however not many of the others are left and so only two teams are set up, your character being the leader of one of them.

Amiri

Linzi 

There are a few characters in the game that have a real charm to them, one of them being Linzi, an author who wants to write a book about a 'hero', and the person she has coincidentally chosen to write her book about is your character. She accompanies you on your journey and is one of the main players in your team. Another character that really stands out, and one of my personal favourites is Amiri. She's a Barbarian and when you first meet her at the mansion she seems a bit off, not liking many of the other warriors and is bit of a lone wolf. However, after you save the remainder of the people in the mansion, she requests to join your team. Her sarcastic dialogue just adds a good amount of humour to the game, mostly with her witty and pretentious comments towards being 'powerful' or enemies being 'easy' to defeat. 

In all honesty, this game is full of potential to do anything you want, there are so many side quests, things to collect, people to battle, places to visit. That you are left with hours of content. Playing about six hours of the game, I got absolutely nowhere with the story as there is just so much to explore and I kept getting distracted by all the new places and people, and saw it as a chance to collect XP, which you definitely need to do as Pathfinder: Kingmaker is a very tactical game, working off a board game engine. The board game elements are some of my favourite things about this game. There's a charming little board game animation when you travel on your quests and when you defeat an enemy on your path, the little board game piece is knocked over, just as it would be in a real board game. 

Travelling to different locations

Here's a quick summary of the things that Pathfinder Kingmaker has that I was majorly impressed with:

• Diverse and endless story 
• Vast characterization options 
• In detail dialogue that really helps the story flow
• Amazing characters that give the story lots of life 
• EVEN more content with the DLC to open up new stories and other items
• Lots of ways to level up your characters (Without having to just go through the main story)
• Soundtrack that fits the feel of the game perfectly

One thing that would be really great to add, is a multiplayer feature, not necessarily so it becomes an MMO but just being able to link up to a friends game and go on quests together, it would be a nice touch. 

Pathfinder: Kingmaker stays true to the board game, using the dice-based system and rules. This means, you have to be very tactical at your approach towards certain things like traps, or attacking enemies because your attacks could end up missing or not doing as well as you hoped for.If you're not used to this type of game, it would probably be good to start out with one of the pre-made characters where all of the stats would be balanced instead of just choosing random ones that don't link together very well. However, I chose to make my own character and didn't feel like I was at any disadvantage, even not knowing all of the game mechanics very well at all, it's still a very thrilling adventure that you could spend hours and hours playing. 

For adventures in the Stolenlands, go buy Pathfinder: Kingmaker now on Steam .