Based on Paizo Publishings’ tabletop franchise Pathfinder, Owlcat Studios developed an isometric RPG named Pathfinder: Kingmaker. This rich conversion to the digital realm was published by Deep Silver on Windows, macOS and Linux back in September 2018. Pathfinder takes the traditional ‘Dungeon and Dragons’ pause then fight mechanic seen in cult classics such as Neverwinter Nights and Icewind Dale.
Pathfinder: Kingmaker was praised for its emphasis on character customization and alignment system. This allowed characters to change alignments in-game and in real-time due to a players choice during their playthrough. Its modding community has also developed a keen following, more-so with modder Hsinyu’s turn-based adaptation of the titles battle system. The mod was so popular, it triggered Owlcat studios to implement their own turn-based system around a year ago for its planned console ports.
Alexander Mishulin, creative director and directly responsible for Pathfinder: Kingmaker‘s development, took an hour out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions and to show off the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 ports coming on 18th August (he double-checked the date, it’s real:).
PlayStation 4 & Xbox One Receiving a Modern RPG Classic
First, let’s dive into some detail for those of you who haven’t come across Pathfinder: Kingmaker before. Players are tasked with managing a party of adventures with various skillsets, alignments and races to raid various dungeons and areas, all of which is managed by a three-part HUD Menu system. The left-hand side is used to viewing current party members and enemies in and out of battle, clicking on these panels will reveal that characters stats, current buffs and other useful information.
The central menu is where the magic, bloodletting and overall enhancements happen. Players can pin abilities to the bottom half of the menu bar, with the top half showing current battle activity such and movements and attacks. The right-hand side of the menu is for live battle information which comes in handy for planning out the next round when playing in turn-based mode.
A Non-Traditional Home
Turn-based and Real-Time battles can be toggled by clicking R3, which comes in handy for grinding weaker enemies and executing well-thought-out strategies when fighting bosses. The controller bumpers flicks through active party members for direct control of thor actions, with cursor movement being reserved for movement and attack planning phases only. This is no lazy PC port by the looks of things.
Strategy is the heavyweight gameplay mechanic in Pathfinder: Kingmaker, with higher-level abilities having a usage cap per day or requires rest to execute again. This is further expanded upon by players being able to pre buff and heal before battle for that edge over opponents.
The now age-old mechanic of looting enemies is also ever-present within the title, alongside some lovely texture and level design. Character animations and magic effects are also quite impressive for the limited detail an isometric RPG can display given its viewpoint.
We Had Some Questions
During the presentation, myself and a few other press types had some questions for Alexander Mishulin regarding Pathfinder: Kingmakers console port:
TechStomper’s Christian Wait: The game looks very polished, how much time did it take to port the game to console?
Alexander: Roughly a year without a full team effort, with some team members working on the second installment.
CW: What are the main differences between PC and console?
Alexander: Gamepad and Turn-Based Gameplay support mostly, content is the same. It’s the enhanced edition of the game.
CW: Do cooldowns and use of moves limit force players to save the best attacks for the right time?
Alexander Mishulin: Moves use follows the Pathfinder board game rules, so no cooldowns. Moves and spells can be used so many times a day or have to rest, which allows for proper player management and to plan. For example, a particular ability will have 50 rounds per day.
CW: Are you planning a Nintendo Switch version?
Alexander: Nintendo Switch is an excellent platform for these titles, although it’s a tricky platform to port to. After the Xbox One and PS4 releases, we will consider whether this is possible
CW: Are you considering next Gen, maybe an update via smart delivery for example?”
Alexander: That would be nice, but not at the moment
CW: Have there been any graphical enhancements in-game?
Alexander: In terms of details or additional textures? No. It’s not a console remaster.
CW: Do you believe your team has provided an accessible experience for newcomers to the franchise? And also, is there a robust training mode initially to support accessibility?
Alexander: We looked over and updated our tutorial, as well as having various difficulty settings to allow new players to jump in and allow players unfamiliar with Pathfinder to jump in.
The tactical qualities of Pathfinder are optional and provide a flexible experience. The tutorial spans the prologue which covers the first hour of the game. This covers spell casting, character moment, everything. Kingdom management is also covered.
CW: Will PC gamers be receiving these improvements?
Alexander: Yes
Promising Ports
For the most part, it looks like Pathfinder: Kingmaker is an isometric RPG to look out for at the end of this current generation. In fact, it’s great to see such a strong title coming out for current-gen consoles this late into their lives. With backward compatibility a dead cert for the coming Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, I think Pathfinder: Kingmaker is going to be a great addition to anyone’s library.
You’ll have to come back for the review though. Just to make sure…
