Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire One-Year Anniversary 5.0 Update Releases Turn-Based Mode

Published: May 8, 2019 3:40 PM /

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Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

Obsidian Entertainment released Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (Our Review) on May 8th last year. Today it completes its one-year anniversary, and Obsidian has just released a new update, version 5.0, to celebrate the occasion. The update adds new story elements, new ship UI, the final God Challenge, and, probably the most anticipated, the final release of the turn-based mode, which we had a chance to preview back in January.

The sequel to Pillars of Eternity (Our Review) had a very positive critical reception last year, though it struggled commercially, according to some leaked sales figures. The developers have been releasing patches since release to address a number of issues, as well as three story DLC, which we also managed to review here, here, and here. The refinement of the overall experience of Deadfire is great both in terms of post-release support and new content added. The final step is the console ports for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, which was delayed to 2019 last year, as per a report from US Gamer.

The 5.0 Deadfire update includes an overhaul of the ship combat UI, which could get a bit clunky, based as it is on a "storybook interaction" within the game. Obsidian also added new written story content, complete with new voice acting, which improves some aspects on the interactions with the gods Woedica and Eothas. For players looking for an extra challenge, you can now try the final God Challenge, enabling you to play Solo (no companions allowed), as well as the Trial of Iron (permadeath challenge), and the Path of the Damned difficulty. That's plenty of extra challenge for those with an appetite for punishment.

The turn-based mode is now out of beta, so players who were looking to start a new game and see how the new mode fares throughout the entire game will be able to compare and contrast with the game's native real-time with pause combat mode. You can read our thoughts on the turn-based mode here. And if you're also interested in trying out the Pillars of Eternity pen-and-paper, you can download the revised ruleset on the official website.

As you can see in the backer update video below, Obsidian is also holding a competition for the "Ultimate God Challenge" where you can win an embroidered patch from Obsidian with your name, class, character and level engraved, and it will hang in the Obsidian office for all eternity, or at least until the god of entropy consumes our universe. You can see the full guidelines for the competition on Obsidian's forums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2XfForaMaQ

What do you think of the update? Were you looking to try the final version of the turn-based mode? Let us know in the comments below!

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Richard Costa
| Staff Writer

Hack for hire, indentured egghead, maverick thoughtcriminal. Mainly interested in Western RPGs, first-person immersion, turn-based tactics, point-and-… More about Richard