Developer Owlcat Games took to the Steam page of Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous to share what a long and strange journey it had been. From the release of Kingmaker to Wrath of the Righteous, to the DLC and Enhanced Edition, to the final updates to Devil and Golden Dragon, it’s been a long road that was worth every step.
“With the development of Wrath of the Righteous all but complete, it’s about time we pause, take a deep breath, and reflect on everything this journey has been. Enough to say, this was as much of an adventure for us, the studio, as it was for you, the players. With this chapter of our story finally coming to an end, we wanted to share how it felt to shape this magical world together with our players.”
Pathfinder: Kingmaker
The community had been present since the first days of Pathfinder: Kingmaker Kickstarter back in 2017, providing the developers with undying enthusiasm, countless conversations and priceless feedback. The developers admit that the release of Kingmaker was turbulent: the team overestimated their capabilities, and the release was riddled with bugs and technical issues. It was thanks to the community’s patience and faith that Owlcat Games had a chance to recover, learn from their mistakes, and repair what was broken.
“If you hadn’t given us the benefit of the doubt back then, we’d probably never be where we are now. Thank you. We will never forget it.”
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
In 2020, Owlcat Games announced Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous Kickstarter. The reception for the campaign was very warm. Players were so excited that Owlcats literally ran out of stretch goals and had to quickly brainstorm some more just to keep up with the campaign’s progress. At one point, the players also had to vote on a favorite race of their choice: Ratfolk, Catfolk or Kitsune, only one would be added to the game. Eventually, the foxes won.
Wrath of the Righteous released in September 2021. A lot of the elements in the second game were heavily influenced by the community’s feedback, including the turn-based mode, the timers, less annoying enemies, spell effect cancels, the option to skip cutscenes, and many, many other QoL features.
“The release of Wrath of the Righteous went smoother than Kingmaker. Not completely without technical issues, but this time we were better prepared, and it wasn’t anywhere near as disastrous.”
Check out the Steam post for more details on how the team approached the DLC, which lessons were learned from the Enhanced Edition, and much more!
