In 2015, Obsidian Entertainment launched Pillars of Eternity, a party-based real-time tactics RPG. Now Obsidian is making one of the biggest changes to the game in the last 10 years, introducing turn-based mode. And Pillars of Eternity players will be able to get it this week.
On official website of the gameObsidian has announced that the public beta for Pillars of Eternity's turn-based mode will be released on November 5th. The real-time combat was inspired by the system used in the game's sequel, Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. The studio also released a preview trailer for the new mode to show it off in action.
According to Obsidian, the following real-time improvements were made after receiving fan feedback from Deadfire.
- Unrelated turns: All turns are now affected by the character's overall speed, adding real-time value to attributes and pause mechanics.
- Smart Free Actions: Actions such as swapping weapons, drinking potions, or enabling modals are now free. For balance, each free action is limited to one per turn of each type.
- Fast pace: Combat lethality has been significantly increased for both enemies and players to ensure battles remain intense and impressive.
- Mode flexibility: You can select turn-based mode along with the difficulty level when starting a new game, or freely switch between real-time with pause and turn-based mode in the game settings. We are also exploring the possibility of directly switching the HUD for even greater convenience.
As noted above, players can choose whether to use turn-based combat or not, or switch between real-time and turn-based at will. The beta does not currently have an end date, but Obsidian notes that it will release future updates to support it before adding turn-based mode to the game as a permanent feature.
Josh Sawyer, who directed both Pillars of Eternity games, suggested that if Pillars of Eternity 3 were ever released, it would feel the influence of Baldur's Gate 3 and switch from an isometric perspective to a 3D-style game.
Earlier this year Obsidian released Recognizedrole-playing game set in the same universe as in the Pillars of Eternity games.
