Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous Review
Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous is the second cRPG from Owlcat Games. It follows many of the classic cRPG tropes whilst taking on a personality of its own. Like other games in space the basic premise is party management throughout a fixed but branching story. The game currently has the original base game and two season passes of DLC. Overall the game does a great job in the genre but has some flaws.
The mechanics of the game should be familiar to anyone who’s played a cRPG before. The game features a series of scenario maps connected by a high level world map. Some scenarios are large and full of content whilst others are small random encounters. Other than the player’s main character your party can contain up to five other companions from a roster of around twenty.
The player character can be created from scratch or from one of a set of pre-built characters. Pathfinder has no shortage of classes and subclasses and the initial character creation can at times be overwhelming. Companions can either level up against a set progression or be customised and tweaked.
Some of the companions are unlocked on all playthroughs, especially those in the early game. Others are restricted to owning the DLC or locked behind specific choices or classes. Most are fairly simple to unlock and the roster is varied and interesting.
Combat can either be in turn based mode, which is my preference, or real time with pause. Turn based mode is well structured and adds a lot of tactical depth. Personally I only found real time useful for clearing out collections of lower tier enemies when waiting for the next turn to come around can be a little frustrating.
Character progression comes from two systems. Traditional levelling up through experience gained in combat and through questions and the game’s unique mythic level system which adds further customisation as the story continues to progress. These two systems combine to give the player a lot of options around character customisation and rerolling characters can become somewhat addictive.
The game’s storyline is a classic fantasy cRPG setting. There is an attacking evil and it’s your job as the player to fight back. The story has lots to unearth, plenty of branching content and choices that will change outcomes. Hidden amongst all of this is a fair share of lore and interesting side stories that are safe to ignore for players looking for a more gameplay focused experience.
Progression through the main story is mostly linear. There are some forcing functions which cause the story to progress after a certain amount of in game time has passed. This keeps things moving but can be frustrating for players looking to sweep all of the maps trying to uncover every hidden item, quest and snippet of lore.
Visually the game holds up well. It’s not a game that tries to distinguish itself on realistic graphics or large open vistas. The characters and maps are well modelled and keep things interesting. Animations and the few in game cutscenes are well thought out and flow together well.
The game features a combination of voice acted scenes and unvoiced dialog. Where there is voice acting it tends to be done well with an interesting cast of voices across the various characters. Beyond formal dialog, characters will shout the occasional battle cry which, while well voiced, can become a little repetitive after several hours of play time.
Where there is music and other sound effects, Pathfinder WotR does a good job of blending them in. Nothing felt particularly out of place or lacking audio but I wouldn’t be able to describe any of the games music or sound effects in any detail. They blend in well during the moment but don’t form a core part of the overall experience.
In terms of replayability, the game is brimming with it. Personally, I had logged almost one hundred hours before finally moving on past act one. I spent a lot of time rerolling and optimising characters as well as exploring the many branching options during the early part of the game.
The available DLC adds new scenarios as well as some new game modes. One is an alternative story line based around a collection of characters lacking the god like mystic powers seen in the main story. This provides an interesting alternative where players rely more on good old fashioned strategy then on becoming all powerful.
The DLC also adds a roguelike mode accessible both as part of a campaign or as a stand alone option. This has players dive into randomised scenarios fighting collections of progressively more difficult enemies. This gives the game an almost infinite play time but I would imagine most players will be more than satisfied with their time spent mostly in the main story.
While Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous remains a solid game, it’s not without some shortcomings. From my playthrough these mostly revolved around some of the additional features found in later portions of the game. Beyond act one there is a separate army management portion of the game that I found added very little to the overall gameplay and felt a lot like a chore holding up the more interesting story development.
Additionally, the sheer number of classes, subclasses and traits can be overwhelming. Many of these have little in the way of guidance or recommendations and players without some familiarity with the Pathfinder ruleset may find it too much. Beyond that, even with the many configuration options available there is sometimes a lack of impact beyond the general's high level RPG archetypes. Most builds fall into a set role and don’t feel distinctly different from one another.
Overall, Wrath of the Righteous is a good game that isn’t quite perfect. The first act is deep and full of interesting content but the later acts feel somewhat rushed and convoluted. Having a game like Baldur's Gate 3 as a natural comparison is a tough act for any developer to follow but the game lacks some of the polish and streamlining that has made BG3 such a success.
I’m glad to see Owlcat continue to make cRPGs. Having played the first Pathfinder game and now this one I can see a definite upward trend in quality. I’m yet to play their recent Warhammer 40k themed game but I am hopeful it has continued to build on the strong foundation set in Wrath of the Righteous.
If cRPGs are your thing, I certainly recommend picking this one up. It is on sale on steam often enough that you can likely pick it up with one or more DLC for a reasonable price. The many hours I spent playing never felt wasted and I look forward to seeing what Owlcat does next.
Rating: 3/4 - I'd be happy if more games were like this.
Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1184370/Pathfinder_Wrath_of_the_Righteous__Enhanced_Edition/