This game has a special place for me. It was the very last Pathfinder Adventure Path my mother ran as a gamemaster before passing away.

I have completely the game after ~143 hours of game time, which is ridiculous for how much I paid for it as a kickstarter backer for the Premium Digital edition. I’ll keep this review spoiler free and update as the game continues adding and fixing its content.

For me it is very nostalgic, and while it will never be as good as the tabletop experience, it is very enjoyable as a veteran of this roleplaying system that I have been playing since its release with Rise of the Runelords. It expands upon the lore of the setting by providing additional details or events that were missed in my tabletop play though while simplifying some of the more complicated rules and systems that were specific to the Kingmaker adventure path and Pathfinder Rule system.

The experience isn’t perfect, as I have had multiple “path-finding” glitches where my characters just spin around in place, unable to get to their destination. I’ve had one save game corruption that I was fortunately able to recover from a slightly earlier quick or autosave. The difficulty is that of a murderous party-wiping GM, which we are fortunate to have the options to customize and tailor to our liking. Some encounters are simply too difficult for you at first, requiring you to come back to them when you are more prepared. There are also long load times when the game saves, and when you have to level up every character it autosaves in the middle of doing so per character which I’ve found frustrating. Some character abilities also lack details, showing they’ve taken the feat “Weapon Focus” but not telling you which weapon. Some abilities appear to be broken as well, such as the feat “Great Cleave” which has only given my character a second “Cleave” ability, the same as the first, and I’m unable to use both at the same time.

If I’d had to nitpick the game, as “Baron” of the lands, I don’t feel very much in control as I’d like. There are no choices of colors, banner, the in-game layout or design of your courtyard or throne room. Even visiting your villages, towns, and cities are copies of each other, with the trader having the same goods as the last. Not being able to respec\retrain your character or your companions other than those you hire, which costs an absurd amount of gold, has made me favor certain characters over others that I’d prefer to use. Horse are in the game, but you cannot use them to speed up travel. Can’t a baron have hirelings to help watch the horses, wagons, and camp as you adventure in the dungeon? Mounted combat would have been very exciting in the numerous outdoor areas this game has. And my final nitpick… I can’t even name my Ranger’s animal companion!? It’s just “Wolf”. No tricks, no interactions, he just appeared as I hit a certain level, and grew to the size of a horse at another certain level.

The difficulty ramps up in the sixth and final act to near impossible if you aren't prepared for it, and I was not as I was hoping for more time to build and develop my kingdom. I was unable to claim every region of the map due to bugs, I lost the kingdom management game due to repeating bugged events that I could not resolve which forced me into “Invincible Kingdom” mode. These issues almost made me scrap this review and write more negatively, but ultimately I enjoyed it and see a potential future in it, and really hoping for a Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords!

Overall the game is good, but needs additional fine tuning to make it greater. I’m probably going to play through it multiple times, and I can’t wait to see what is next for the CRPG world of Pathfinder.