Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous — a classic party-based role-playing game with an isometric camera in a fantasy setting, operating under the rules of D&D 3.5 with a number of modifications and improvements. Created by the Russian studio Owlcat Games based on the popular Pathfinder tabletop game.

An independent sequel to Pathfinder: Kingmaker , featuring new characters, storyline, and setting. Demons from the Abyss have been attacking the mortals of Golarion for a century through an interdimensional rift. Only the Chosen One, gathering a squad of loyal party members and leading a Crusade, can stop the endless war. In the new part, players received several new races and classes, a system of mythic progression, and even more epic adventures.

The extensive, unique, and well-written universe of the Pathfinder tabletop game spans millennia of the fictional planet Golarion's life. The main part of the lore is subtly woven into the game — through adaptive interactive help and dialogues.

Golarion is a fantasy world with different schools of magic, numerous creatures, including exotic ones, a lifestyle characteristic of the early Middle Ages, and low technological development. The local humanity is just a small part of it; the world is inhabited by many races and cultures.

The events of "Wrath of the Righteous" take place in the era of "Unfulfilled Prophecies" — dark ages full of dangers and unimaginable horrors. Life here is harder than in Tolkien's "Middle-earth" or the "Northern Kingdoms" of The Witcher, but this gives anyone a chance to become a hero... or fade into oblivion.

The Worldwound is one of such horrors. The aura of chaos emanating from it warps the reality of Golarion, slowly but surely turning it into an alien Abyss. And the countless hordes of demons arriving from the portal will consume the entire planet much faster.

The only barrier in their path is the crusader kingdom of Mendev, where the game's action takes place. Neighboring the rift, it held back the evil as best as it could and tried to eradicate the Worldwound itself in crusades, protecting its borders with a chain of magical ward stones. But times have changed, and now only the Chosen One can save Golarion.

But times have changed. A new invasion of demon hordes into Mendev was sudden and devastating, the kingdom's mightiest fortress split in half under the blow of a demon lord, and instead of disciplined crusader legions, there was a rabble of adventurers, rogues, and mercenaries. Now only the Chosen One can save Golarion.

Despite a clichéd premise and typical heroic fantasy in five acts, the storyline of "Wrath of the Righteous" does not suffer from this. The player is immediately plunged into a whirlpool of major and minor subplots, shifting attention from the extensive main quest, and not hammering home that they are the arbiter of destinies and the world's sole savior. And since all parts of the story are consistent with each other, it is perceived as a cohesive whole.

The quality of the script and storytelling, the development of events and dialogues remain at a high level, regardless of whether it is the main storyline or a side quest, a companion's personal quest, or a chat with an ordinary NPC. Everywhere there may be a secret, a moral dilemma, or an unexpected twist. The writers avoided unequivocal situations and "right" sides.

Periodically, the narrative is interrupted by events occurring outside of Mendev that affect the state within the kingdom, as well as powerful forces lurking in the shadows responsible for many misfortunes. This creates a sense of presence in a large and complex world.

The dialogues read like a good book, their texts are so meticulously written. They are filled with important nuances and touch on both global issues and everyday life problems. The decisions made in the dialogues will affect future events and one of the endings.

The characters in the party are also detailed to the smallest aspects, assessing the player and reacting to their decisions based on their own motivations and life goals. The good ones are not necessarily kind-hearted and sweet, and the evil ones are not all scoundrels and mischief-makers. It's unknown who among them is more of a hero and who has a closet full of skeletons. Talking with them is always interesting, completing personal quests even more so, and with some, you can even start a romantic relationship.

“Wrath of the Righteous” offers extensive possibilities when creating a character. There are more than 20 classes: from typical warrior, rogue, or mage to exotic cavalier, oracle, or skald. Moreover, they are further divided into 3-7 archetypes. These determine the gameplay for the character, the operation of abilities and skills, and the available weapons and equipment. For example, a paladin can be a stern melee fighter in heavy armor or an archer in light armor.

Within broad limits, you can build a multi-class hero, choosing skills that best fit the play style from different leveling branches. There are also 12 prestige classes, each with its own set of abilities and skills. Many of them overlap with the capabilities of “ordinary” classes, further enhancing the character.

Over time, mythic paths (a total of 10) will open up — a parallel hero development system. It is connected to the character's alignment and chosen deity, and grants experience for chosen dialogue options, offering more powerful unique abilities and skills than usual.

Role-playing diversity is also provided by 12 races: the standard trio of humans-elves-dwarves is expanded with numerous half-breeds from unions with other inhabitants of Golarion. The familiar D&D base characteristics, such as charisma, strength, or intelligence (a total of 6), are enhanced by a variety of skills, from persuasion and world knowledge to stealth and agility.

The chosen one will influence both the plot and the gameplay. In dialogues, NPCs react to the character's gender, race, class, culture, religion, personality traits, and even origin (the game will add the necessary lines), creating a sense of a truly living character harmoniously participating in the story. Additionally, during the playthrough, a mini-quest for the favorite deity, an important situation, or a dialogue unavailable under other circumstances may appear.

Most of the time is spent on the familiar CRPG gameplay. We command a group of 6 characters (though the party can be much larger), travel through locations with diverse quest objectives (not just find/kill/bring), find secrets, and destroy all encountered along the way. The loot, gold, and experience gathered along the way are spent on leveling up, becoming stronger and stronger.

Сопартийцы получают уровни вместе с героем, а развивать их лучше самому, зарывшись в цифрах и подбирая способности каждого напарника под свой стиль игры и прокачку Избранного. Видов оружия и брони много, но без разделения на обычные—легендарные, перестраивать билд придется по мере поступления все более высококлассных вещей.

Уровни типовые для средневекового фэнтези: мрачные подземелья/замки, кишмя кишащие врагами. Воевать придется часто и подолгу. Баланс нередко ставит в трудные ситуации, где нужна сноровка и режим пошаговой тактики. В боях попроще с врагами можно разобраться в реальном времени.

Всё решается броском 20-гранного кубика, неважно, боевая это или диалоговая системы. А еще для победы пригодится знание множества нюансов D&D: модификаторы, баффы и дебаффы, броски инициативы, атаки и защиты, проверки характеристик и навыков, и т.д.

Другую часть времени займет управление Крестовым походом. Это глобальный режим на карте Мендева с десятками точек интереса, которые нужно оборонять, а вторжения демонов — встречать и разбивать. Победы генерируют финансы, материалы и энергию, которые идут на набор новых рекрутов и модернизацию армии Крестоносцев.

Происходит это в Дрезене, нашей главной крепости, также поглощающей часть ресурсов на строительство зданий и их апгрейд. Сюда же будут прибывать гости с разными предложениями и начнется не один десяток квестов, так что игнорировать развитие поселения не стоит. В целом, это не Total War, но как надстройка над CRPG сгодится.

Сами сражения геймплейно похожи на сильно упрощенную версию «Героев»: юниты выстраиваются друг против друга на поле из квадратных клеток и перемещаются по ним согласно инициативе. Можно атаковать, обороняться, использовать особую способность отряда и генерала, если оный присутствует в войске.