Pillars of Eternity has finally gotten its tenth anniversary gift. Obsidian have been busy beta testing a turn-based mode for the RPG since November last year, and this week’s seen them properly whip the cover off it before shouting ‘ta-dahhhhhhh’.
This reveal, which I assume made pillars blush and mouth ‘you shouldn’t have’, came via a Steam post and trailer yesterday. “We recognise that this is a large feature and while we have squashed the largest bugs that presented during the beta window, more issues may yet to be discovered,” Obsidian noted. “Still, please know that we will continue to release patches for this feature for a short while longer.”
In addition to running down how the new mode differs from the game’s default real-time with pause battles and the Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire’s turn-based fights, the latter being something director Josh Sawyer discussed around the time the beta went live, the post runs through notes for the patch which has arrived with it.
There are some general combat tweaks you’ll want to be aware of. Using quick items or disarming traps while spiritshifted and downing a potion of major recovery should no longer backfire on you. Overlapping unconscious and prone effects, meanwhile, is no longer a way to move about freely and stacking the likes of stun, paralyze, or petrify won’t see characters taken out for longer than they should be. Obsidian have also made some handy interface and control tweaks to make the key inputs you’ll need when getting up to speed with turn-based mode a bit more convenient.
Naturally, I’ve made sure to scour the patch for amusing fixes. “Fixed characters sometimes being stuck in a running animation during cutscenes” caught my eye, though I’m sad to report that a quick google hasn’t provided any examples that indicate whether it’s as funny a bug as it sounds.
If you’ve not tried a run through Pillars before and this turn-based mode’s got you considering trying one, here’s our Pillars of Eternity review.
