Baldur’s Gate 3 has revived the classic series begun by BioWare nearly three decades ago and introduced a new generation of fans to the joy of video games based on tabletop RPGs. Larian Studios’ new entry in the franchise has won praise from critics and earned a large and passionate fanbase. New content continues to be rolled out through patches and the game is so massive and full of choices that it would take hundreds of hours to hope to see most of what it has to offer. Still, players will eventually want to move on to something new and many will be looking for something else to scratch the TTRPG itch. Devoted fans of Baldur’s Gate 3 will likely find lots to enjoy in Owlcat Games’ Pathfinder: Kingmaker.
Released seven years ago, and five years before Baldur’s Gate 3, the RPG didn’t receive nearly the same attention as the newer title. While it quickly became a cult classic, with its share of die-hard supporters, many gamers missed Pathfinder: Kingmaker when it launched. Fans of Baldur’s Gate 3, eager to continue adventuring in a fantasy world, will certainly want to check out what they missed and give it a chance.
Pathfinder: Kingmaker Uses an Alternate TTRPG System
D&D Fans Will Have Fun Trying Out a New Set of Rules
Committed fans of tabletop role-playing games know that Dungeons & Dragons isn’t the only option out there, with numerous alternatives the grandfather of RPGs. From science fiction to cyberpunk, there’s no shortage of settings and lots of iterations on the basic mechanics of stat-building and dice-rolling.
Pathfinder arguably stays to D&D while putting its own spin on the material. Still set in a fantasy world largely inspired by medieval Europe and utilizing a D20 system for resolving challenges, it features an original setting and more than a few twists on the old formula that make their way into Pathfinder: Kingmaker.
Pathfinder: Kingmaker offers a more flexible combat system, doing away with the differentiation between standard and bonus actions. Further, it utilizes real-time with pause combat, the style that was much more common in PC RPGs before Larian Studios shook things up.
- Pathfinder was first published in 2009 and is largely based on Dungeons & Dragons 3.5.
- Before developing its own TTRPG system, publisher Paizo was in charge of the official D&D magazines.
- A second edition of Pathfinder was launched in 2019, less than a year after Pathfinder: Kingmaker was released on PC.
Advantage and disadvantage in combat are more complicated, allowing for different degrees of both conditions, encouraging players to think more about positioning, spells, and passive bonuses, to maximize their chances of landing hits on the enemy. All of this adds up to fights that are more fluid while also having greater depth for those who take the time to fully learn its intricate rules.
Greater complexity extends outside of combat as well. Where Baldur’s Gate 3 offers twelve classes to choose from, Pathfinder: Kingmaker features fifteen, along with one more added through DLC, and seven Prestige Classes which can be unlocked and multiclassed into. When creating and advancing characters, players also have more options when it comes to selecting skills and improving their proficiency in them over time.
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Finally, Pathfinder: Kingmaker includes far more feats and gives players many more opportunities to acquire them. In short, the older game goes much further in encouraging customization. These changes, along with a downgrade in graphics and fewer voiced characters, will likely put some off.
Given a chance, however, Pathfinder: Kingmaker is sure to impress plenty of players with the sheer degree of choice it offers. Further, while it’s different in many ways, it still honors the tradition of Dungeons & Dragons. At their core, Baldur’s Gate 3 and Pathfinder: Kingmaker have a lot in common.
Pathfinder: Kingmaker Will Still Seem Familiar to BG3 Players
Great Fantasy is Great Fantasy
Pathfinder: Kingmaker may take place in a different world, but the Stolen Lands of Golarion look quite similar to the Forgotten Realms’ Faerûn. A fantasy world teeming with magical creatures, horrific monsters, loyal heroes, and despicable villains, it offers a mix of wonder, action, and mystery.
The setting of Pathfinder: Kingmaker is truly massive, essentially covering an entire small country and players are able to wander across, facing monsters, uncovering secrets, and meeting colorful characters. In many cases, they’re able to take varying approaches to challenges, from sneaking to fighting or talking their way out. As with Baldur’s Gate 3, players have a party of companions to take on their journeys who will react to their choices and become friendly or antagonistic as a result.
- Pathfinder: Kingmaker was originally a series of adventure modules for the TTRPG published in 2010.
- The video game adapts the module and adds lots of new content.
- Owlcat Games followed up Pathfinder: Kingmaker with Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, which is based on another set of adventure modules.
Some can become close companions and some can be romanced and all have their own stories to learn and quests to help them complete. In terms of quests, characters, and the time it takes to see it all, Pathfinder: Kingmaker certainly rivals its more famous peer.
While it’s a different universe and Paizo, the publisher of Pathfinder, doesn’t have the rights to all of D&D’s creatures, Kingmaker still has many of the classic creatures fans know and love. Throughout the game, the party will encounter orcs and goblins, trolls and zombies, and a myriad of other monstrous foes, both cunning and terrible. The plot is entirely original, but the core elements will be completely familiar to veterans of Baldur’s Gate 3 or any other fantasy game.
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The kind of character players can make will also fit right into this setting. Pathfinder: Kingmaker features more options, but all the classics are there. From rogues, fighters, and rangers, to wizards, warlocks, and druids, the hero can fit into any of the standard fantasy tropes or mix and match elements to form something more original. Whatever sort of protagonist they create, players will get to be a part of a story at least as epic as that told in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Pathfinder: Kingmaker Features an Epic Story and Unique Mechanics
Where Balur’s Gate 3 begins with a crisis, a Mind Flayer tadpole in the protagonist’s head, Pathfinder: Kingmaker opens with an opportunity. A perpetually unstable piece of land has been taken over by a bandit leader and the neighboring kingdom will grant the land to whomever can defeat the brigands and restore order.
The player character joins a group of adventurers eager to take advantage of the offer but soon learns that the situation is far more complex than it seems. While the opening act sees the bandits defeated and the player gets their very own kingdom to start developing, they quickly discover that they’re surrounded by other countries on the verge of war with one another.
- In contrast to Baldur’s Gate 3, Pathfinder: Kingmaker features more permanent companions, having twelve (counting a DLC addition) instead of ten.
- Pathfinder: Kingmaker also features a larger adventuring party, allowing for up to six characters, including the player character.
- Pathfinder: Kingmaker draws more inspiration from the first two Baldur’s Gate games in terms of gameplay and visuals.
What’s more, it seems that the land itself resists stability of any kind. While much of Pathfinder: Kingmaker involves exploring the world from a top-down view, adventuring, and looting dungeons, the game also features a mechanic for developing the realm. Players find cities, select what buildings are constructed, and work to balance the needs of economic growth, security, espionage, population morale, and other factors. All of this feeds back into the campaign, providing benefits or penalties for the player’s party when out in the world.
Over the course of a campaign, players will see their small barony grow into a prosperous and sprawling kingdom and fend off increasingly powerful threats that will test both their ruling and adventuring skills. They’ll uncover the secret of the Stolen Lands, turn the tide of war, and determine the fate of thousands. By the end, a successful gamer will feel like a true fantasy hero and worthy of their kingdom.
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Pathfinder: Kingmaker is a bit older than Baldur’s Gate 3 and will be a step down in graphics and polish. It will also take some getting used to for anyone who first got into TTRPGs with D&D 5e. Those who can get past those issues, however, will find a game with as much depth and quality writing as the current fan-favorite. Anyone who’s seen everything to see in Faerûn may want to check out the Stolen Lands and give this cult classic a try.
Pathfinder: Kingmaker
- Released
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September 25, 2018
- ESRB
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t
- Developer(s)
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Owlcat Games
- Publisher(s)
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Deep Silver
