Come for the nostalgia, stay for the challenge

I’ve nearly finished this single-player isometric-perspective RPG, which was born from a wildly successful Kickstarter.

After a rocky start, I found myself digging this surprisingly grim (and PG-13) story of soul harvesting and dead gods. I like the characters in my party so much that I’m never tempted to swap them out for other classes. The quests are challenging enough to keep me engaged, but never googling the forums for help.

The game runs smoothly on my recent-era iMac, with fans rarely spinning up. In keeping with the fixed-camera POV, a lot of the UI is deliberately old-school, with slots and textures and a lot of clicking. But Pillars has made some smart updates for the times, with an intelligent combat system, flexible (and retrainable) skills, and essentially unlimited inventory. If you play on the easier settings, you can avoid entire aspects of the game like food and potions. If you want more of a challenge, go for the higher difficulty settings and keep your flasks handy.

In the end, I’d recommend Pillars to anyone looking for a classic D&D-style RPG.

johnaugust about Pillars of Eternity