lets not beat around the bush: this game was proudly written and directed by a gamergater and it shows.

the elephant in the room is the cumans. now itd make sense that a bunch of uneducated catholic peasants would be resentful of the unfamiliar cuman mercenaries hired to pillage and murder across the peaceful countryside. but this game seems rather indulgent in having every single character loudly voice their opinion that the cumans are all godless savages, evil to the core. there is of course no effort to provide any sympathy or resolution for the cuman people at large. people love to pull the excuse of "well, [insert asian steppe culture here] isnt around anymore, so im not hurting anybody by calling them corrupt eastern barbarians" but its painfully obvious they just want an excuse to talk about how scared they are of asians.

a point of contention is that theres nothing but white people throughout the game. people love to shout about how of course there werent any black people there at the time, but whats actually relevant is that there were of course many different turkic people living in 15th century bohemia, but their only representation in this game are the foreign cuman murderers and rapists there to antagonize you the whole time.

another point of contention is the role of women. sure, you dont need to portray a world of total gender equality. but its very possible to have any sort of sensitivity, of which there is absolutely none to be found in this game. women tell you stories late at night in your bedroom of their husbands tragic death, and how good and strong you are; you rescue them from scary asian invaders; your characters mother doesnt even have a name before shes brutally killed because her husband failed to save her.

and now for things you gamers actually care about. the game is very poorly optimized for pc, with severe pop in issues and wildly unstable framerate. the game boasts of an open world full of quests, but every side quest is a blatantly half assed fetch quest. the game as a whole is a very promising immersive sim with very creative combat i guess, but most people wont like how intentionally punishing and inconvenient it is.

i really want to like this game. its a completely new take on lego star wars.

the graphics are fantastic, with light reflecting off the plastic character models and lightsaber blades blending colors as they clash.

the combat is like a simplified devil may cry with a solid third person shooter side. unfortunately, that simplification hurts my own enjoyment. lego star wars has of course always had very simple gameplay, but the combat is much more involved with a tighter over the shoulder perspective. but its simply too easy, with no chance to really engage with the combat at any meaningful challenge or depth

the format of the game is overhauled, with much wider but much emptier levels, with weird and vague sidequests. character progression also feels weird, with so many different archetypes that you level up very slowly individually. levels just feel off and uninvolved, and cutscenes have completely lost their charm, now being fully voiced straightforward reenactments of the movies

speaking as someone who loves pathfinder 1e the tabletop system as well as crpgs. this game is just not that good, but its taunting how almost good it is.

some of the characters are great, some fall flat. the adaptation of several classes and mechanics from pathfinder are great, some mechanics are missing, and some shouldve been reworked or left behind on the tabletop. the level design and quests are almost really cool, but plagued by numerous trash fights in a system that really suffers from that. i wouldve much rather had a more faithful adaptation of pf1e as a turn based game, no matter how much i love real time games like pillars of eternity.

the early days of the mcc on pc were rough. controller aim assist used to be even better than it is now, and its still too good. as far as i can tell theres still no reach forge. there were no graphics settings available whatsoever for a solid year, there was just a "performance mode" button that didnt do anything. but its still halo, and more content has come out, and fixes have been made. the seasonal model is kinda annoying but ultimately harmless and kinda neat tbh. halo is just a good game and im just so fucking grateful that i can play it on pc at all now

if i could give this game 6 stars, id give it 10. theres genuinely nothing about this game im not intensely in love with.

the gameplay: its so good it hurts. character builds are absolutely fascinating to get into. the core philosophy of building your character is centered around the idea of making any build viable. attributes are always useful for any class, and classes always have a variety of abilities to choose from that can make different builds of the same class feel totally different. the combat is intensely strategic and engaging, giving you so many options for how you want to approach it. the weapon enchantments, potions, scrolls and magic items could all make for a solid game of their own, and thats all on top of the phenomenal character building and customization.

the story: has brought me to tears through the sheer quality of the writing and storytelling on many occasions. the characters all genuinely feel like their own people with their own goals. its fair to say that this clashes with how they just follow the player around, but i think theres enough that the characters do and decide on independently to make it feel right. they always have something to say about what the player is doing or going through, they all have their own deep personal stories that utilize the premise and setting of the game excellently. which, holy shit the premise and setting of this game are remarkable and incredibly engaging. this is, without a doubt, by far the most ive gotten into the main plot of a game ive played. side quests never feel rushed or just thrown in, everything in this game has a worthy story to tell. i cant stress enough how creative and impressive the story of this game is.

the presentation: the 3d graphics/effects and the soundtrack are both just fine, pretty unremarkable in my opinion. but the hand drawn maps and environments are once again, fucking amazing. just, google "pillars of eternity backgrounds" it speaks for itself.

this is my favorite game of all time in every way i care about for video games. i cannot recommend this game enough to anyone who cares about story or strategic rpgs.