Pillars of Eternity is credited with revitalising the CRPG genre. I believe this praise is justified.

PoE1 is a solid CRPG built around the classical formula of Infinity games from the past with some quality-of-life improvements that make it more accessible to the modern audience.

What I liked the most was the grim atmosphere, the tragic well-written stories, and that it's NOT using the DnD mechanics. Albeit the combat and classes are mostly the same as in DnD, all stats are relevant for each class, the min-maxing is not as crucial as in Infinity games, and the action outcomes are not decided by random dice throws (there is some probability involved, but to a lesser extent than in DnD).

If you take the time for reading the stat and ability descriptions, the game's cyclopedia, and the combat log, you start to realise how everything comes together. For example, you can choose between high armour rating with slow execution time or low armour rating with fast execution time; strong, but slow weapons or fast, but weak weapons; high accuracy (one-handed weapons) at the expense of attack frequency (dual-wielding), strong defence (shields) at the expense of accuracy (one-handed) or high attack frequency (dual-wielding) at the expense of accuracy (one-handed).

But the great thing is that all those choices work, if only you stay consistent and build upon them. The game is very flexible in this regard.

Different weapons and different spells provide different types of damage, different armours have different resistances and different enemies require a different approach. That's why you have to study the bestiary before each encounter, plan which weapons, spells, and items to use and how to position your party ahead of the combat. Since the combat is real-time with pause, the positioning is somewhat problematic, but it is still possible to use narrow passages, traps and flanking to your advantage. Everything can be bypassed and countered in this game, and that's what made the combat so enjoyable for me.

Although, I do have to admit that this level of micromanaging is not for everyone. Less patient people probably should just play on the normal difficulty. I grew tired of it by the end of the game myself. On the other hand, after progressing beyond level 8, most of the encounters become a cakewalk anyway. Only some of the high-level areas (in White March and Caed Nua) and bosses (like dragons) are somewhat challenging, unfortunately, mostly because of buffed-up damage resistances and health.

I also have to add, that in the typical Obsidian fashion, wizards and area attacks get the preferential treatment, even to the point that some of the scripted text adventures (there is such a thing in the game) require a wizard for the best outcome.

I also was not happy with the following. You can't dual-wield pistols and blunderbusses (like in PoE2). Weapon focuses don't increase the damage, but only the accuracy (by mediocre 6 points). Weapon focuses don't synergise with weapon styles well enough — each focus includes at least one two-handed, at least one one-handed and at least one ranged weapon, whereas the styles are: the one-handed style, the two-handed style, the two-weapon style, and the weapon-and-shield style; there also some passive talents for ranged weapons. With the two White March expansions the level cap is 16, which restricts the flexibility of your builds quite a bit. Consequently, some of the passive talents are not worth the cost. I guess this was done because the players get too powerful by the middle of the game. Likewise, the traps were nerfed and the talents that improve the traps and potions were dropped from the final game version.

Fortunately, all of these minor problems might be adjusted with the IE Mod to your heart's content.

As to the other major aspect of the game, the story, I can say that it's solid. It's nothing mind-blowing, but it's solid. It's a story that takes itself seriously. The game takes place in post-war Dyrwood, where children are being born without souls, wizards are experimenting on prisoners and lunatics, bandits are roaming the countryside, tyrants are oppressing the population, and various factions are competing for power. The quests are well written, intricate, and usually offer more than one way of solving them. If you pay attention to the details, you realise that more often than not they are also tragic. Sometimes, solving a quest requires choosing between a bad outcome and a worse outcome. But which is which — that is for you to decide — since morality in this game is rarely black and white. It's exactly this aspect that made me enjoy this game so much.

I only wish that the companions were more likeable. I didn't develop a sense of attachment to any of them. Only after completing the companion quests, did I learn to appreciate them more. I have used the word "tragic" a lot in this review, but their stories are precisely that — a tragedy. All of them have suffered some kind of injustice, personal loss, or a deeply traumatic event at some points in their lives. So, your job as a watcher (a soul-reader) is to help them to overcome the trauma in one way or another.
Or not. You can also play solo (the game does not favour that, especially, on the hardest difficulties, but it’s doable) or hire custom-made companions (with potentially better stats). Or you can use the canon companions and modify their stats and even classes with the IE mod.

Before concluding my review, a few words about the economy, graphics, and the soundtrack.

The economy is somewhat problematic. Everything is expensive, and fully upgrading your keep and items takes considerable effort and time. Perhaps, this was done to make stealing more viable, I don't know. Either way, you won't be swimming in money until the final chapter or until you have completed the White March expansions, which not only offer you the best unique items in the game, but also the most amount of loot to sell. Doing White March is not recommended until about level 10, so it's kind of late game anyway.

As to the graphics, well, what's not to like about pre-rendered 2D backgrounds? They look good even in the Infinity games, even more so in a modern game on a high resolution. It's hard to pick up the details on the 3D models, though, but you can adjust the zoom level with IE mod and a console command.

The soundtrack fits the atmosphere, although I'd say that it's somewhat generic most of the time — you know, your classic epic fantasy stuff you hear in Hollywood films and similar RPGs.

So, in total, I'd rate this game with 8/10. It's a solid CRPG with a good combat system and a great story. It doesn't reach for the stars, but “solid” is good enough for me. PoE tried to deliver the best of the old Infinity games to the modern audience, and I think it has succeeded in this task. With its relatively low budget, it's a praiseworthy achievement.