Thanks to @Detectivefail's very in-depth and well-written review of this game, and my urge to try yet another CRPG, I jumped right into it. 175 hours later, I can confidently say this is one of the best in its genre.

Like many others, I was immediately overwhelmed by the myriad choices during character creation, especially since I had no prior knowledge of the Pathfinder systems and ruleset. During that time, having rewatched the late 90's Berserk anime, I opted for a character reminiscent of Griffith. In hindsight, this choice was fitting with the theme of governing my own kingdom. Since I typically play neutral good characters, trying out a lawful evil one offered a refreshing new perspective on RPGs for me.

The writing for your companions is consistently excellent. A standout example is Valerie, a somewhat snobbish ex-noble paladin devoted to an art-loving deity, which doesn't quite align with her general demeanor. She just wants to live life on her own terms. Throughout the game, she and my main character had fantastic chemistry and often took on leadership roles in our diverse group of deep and non-clichéd characters. Overall, the dialogue is so vivid and crisp that it pulls you right into this world, making you lose track of time and your surroundings. This is one of those games you just can't play for only two hours a day.

The overarching plot is fairly typical for a CRPG, with godlike beings plotting schemes and manipulating "lesser" beings for their own benefit. It starts surprisingly slow and down-to-earth, without immediately overwhelming you with lore. Instead, you're gradually and organically introduced to the larger schemes as you progress.

As someone who usually prefers turn-based combat, I appreciated the option to use a turn-based mode. However, after some time, I noticed that the game is clearly designed for real-time combat. It often felt tedious when facing large groups of enemies, and there are many encounters like that, especially in the endgame. I switched back to real-time with pause, and it turned out to be a much better experience than I had anticipated.

What I didn't expect was how often I was completely obliterated on the 4th of 6 difficulty settings. In comparison, Baldur's Gate 3 feels like a walk in the park. I had to learn a lot and adapt to its systems just to stand a slight chance in most battles. Especially the final dungeons of each chapter introduced new ways to experience the battle system, making them particularly engaging.

The kingdom management was also quite addictive and well-integrated into the game. It's one of the few games where I genuinely enjoyed building something up from scratch. The political and role-playing choices during the numerous events felt deep and engaging, although they often lacked real consequences.

I'm really glad that games like this still exist today. From an economic perspective, it's quite daring to develop a 120+ hourish complex beast of an RPG, knowing that only a small percentage of players will even start or complete it. According to Steam, only 9.8% did.

I considered giving this a 5 out of 5, but I want to leave room for improvement, especially since Wrath of the Righteous is supposed to be even better.

This game is riddled with issues unfortunately, but despite it all it has a great world, characters, acting and soundtrack. It wasn't enough to keep me playing to the end, but it got 88 hours out of me at least.

I disliked the combat (despite being a fan of D&D) and lowered the difficulty just to tolerate it. The sheer amount of 'natural 1's you get in this game is INSANE. Just obnoxiously insane. Two nat 1s in a row CONSTANTLY, dozens of nat 1s a battle, and there's nothing you can do about it.

This is not 'gameplay'. It's ludicrous. But hey, many others enjoy Pathfinder's combat, so you can be the judge of that. The biggest issue is how incoherent the game is.

You will google answers about this game as much as you would for a Paradox grand strategy game. Pathfinder is that incoherent. I noticed from Chapter 3 onwards the nonsensical quest design became beyond ridiculous, with no clue whatsoever as to how to proceed most times.

Take for instance the quest where a guy lost his brother. This brother left Town A to go to Town B. He was last seen in Town A.

Ok, so I search Town A. Nothing. Is he in Town B? Of course not. The game expects you to scour the entire map to find a random unmentioned location to find out what happened to him.

All this in a game with:

A) a chapter timer constantly ticking down
B) no way of continuing the game after its ending
C) characters who walk like they're wading through molasses.

The game expects you to explore the entire map at your whim.

The game is constantly at odds with itself. Everything about Pathfinder Kingmaker is incredibly counter-intuitive:

Traditional RPG: "Do side quests before continuing main quest."

PK: "Do main quests before side quests."

Traditional RPG: "Gate off entire areas with high level enemies."

PK: "Sprinkle high level enemies amidst low level enemies everywhere."

Traditional RPG: "Come back later when you're higher level. Explore the map."

PK: "Come back later when you're higher level, explore the map. But also: don't actually explore the map because there's a chapter timer running throughout the entire game."

Traditional RPG: "First side quest is easy."

PK: "First side quest has spider swarms so go eff yourself and come back later scrub."

Traditional RPG: "Vendor trash is easily identifiable."

PK: "There's an Offer button which conveniently gives vendor trash to a trader. But also: not all vendor trash in the game is tagged as such (like books, alcohol and toys)."

Traditional RPG: "Recruitable companions join you in straightforward fashion."

PK: "Jump through convoluted hoops to recruit companions (took me ages to find a damn treasurer)"

Traditional RPG: "Here's how to upgrade something"

PK: "We're not going to tell you how to unlock more advisor slots. Google it."

Traditional RPG: "Go here on this date" - provides an in-game calendar to refer to.

PK: "Go here on Moonday." - doesn't present its fictional days of the week to the player, or provide a calendar of any kind. Mercifully you can see the current day of the week by clicking the hourglass, but only in a location, not on the world map you travel by. (of course not, that would be too intuitive!)

Traditional RPG: "Stumbled upon an enemy you literally can't defeat without a certain weapon? Flee."

PK: "You can't flee in this game. Reload."

88 hours and I couldn't take it anymore.