Pillars of Eternity Review

August 2026

I liked Pillars of Eternity. I think it has one of the strongest and most cohesive fantasy settings in any game I've played, with some very unique and interesting ideas the developers demand you grapple with. The setting is an Obsidian original and you can tell it was made to serve the story and themes of this game specifically. The variety of companions is great, and some of them are especially interesting in concept and presentation. You can create fully custom hirelings too, which allows you to make the min-maxed party of your dreams if you so desire.

The main quest is quite slow, but I liked the general structure of it and I found the antagonist to be an interesting one, especially considering the setting he exists within. The Hollowborn Crisis is an awesome premise and Obsidian explores it quite well. The game feels very down-to-earth and serious in it's delivery, which is a nice change from other games that can be a lot more flippant in tone (which is not inherently bad, but I liked that Pillars was different).

The visual style of the game, while not wholly authentic to the classic cRPGs it's inspired by, still conveys a very classic-feeling character in my mind. The system used by Pillars is quite good too. The attributes scale incrementally rather than having a modifier bump every two levels, so having an attribute at an odd number isn't wasteful. The Chanter class is an interesting alternative to the usual bard class and feels much more distinct as a character role than just "Wizard with Crowd Control". The Cipher class was a lot of fun too, with a really nice balance between weapon effectiveness and magic capability, as dealing damage with your weapons is what allows you to cast stronger spells. Some of the fights in this game are quite tough, especially so if you're underlevelled, but it's very satisfying to figure out the solution to winning a given fight, and sometimes you can go from getting wiped instantly to winning with very little health lost throughout your whole party.

That said, there are a lot of throwaway fights throughout the game that, especially once you're at or above the intended level, require very little thought from the player and by the end of the game become quite tedious. It's not the worst, but it's not particularly fun either.

The game is also very text heavy. There's a lot of descriptive writing, and several characters have a particular talent for intentionally cryptic language that can be difficult to parse. I don't think this is a bad thing, and there were a few moments where I thought the text did a better job at painting a picture in my mind than a fully rendered cutscene could have. However, it's worth noting before getting into it that you really need to be in the mood for a lot of reading of dialogue, descriptions, and system rules if you want to actually make it through to the end of the game. Some of the companions are also a bit thinly written. They still serve a purpose in representing aspects of the setting and are reasonably interesting as characters but they don't have as much to say about your progression through the game as I'd have liked, and most of the companion quests are quite short and uneventful.

I can't speak too much on the reactivity of the game as I've only experienced one path through the game, but the disposition system is really cool. I like the way the game keeps track of your responses and NPCs will often reference your character's demeanour throughout the game. A lot of this is simply flavour, but there are a few instances of more concrete outcomes from your disposition, such as passing some persuasion checks for free by having a reputation for being honest to others.

Overall, I really liked it and would like to play it again at some stage.