*This is my 2nd favorite game of 2018 (RDR2 being the only game to pass it this year), loved it to death. It is sad that it didn't sell to well, give this wonderful game a chance people, it is improved in nearly every way from the first game*

So I just beat the game a few minutes ago, after 128 hours. Is it any good? It is the most fun I have had in a Obsidian game since Fallout New Vegas! This could easily be the Dragon Age Origins sequel we never got (Come on DA2 and DAI could not measure up) or the Baldurs Gate 3 game we never got, it is that good! So far this is 2018's Game Of The Year, without question the best writing, art design and overall game I have played this year, nothing else is close.

This is not only the best game Obsidian has ever made but it really does feel like a true total package, let this be an example to other devs on how to improve from the 1st game in a series to the 2nd game. So much has improved from Pillars 1, I don't even know where to start tbh!

I enjoyed Pillars of Eternity but there was things that could be improved. I was hoping Obsidian would step it up for the sequel and they sure have, every single aspect is improved. From the deeper combat, to the pretty graphics, to the much improved side quests (there are tons of them to!), to the performance, the vastly better pathfinding and better writing, you can tell alot of effort and love went into this game. If Pillars Of Eternity 1 was a 8/10, Pillars 2 is a 9.5/10 or 10/10, it might also just be Obsidians best game they have ever done (New vegas, Mask of The Betrayer and KOTOR 2 being my 3 favorites before this game came out).

Add on the new features and aspects they have added like ships (reminds me of Pirates! and Pirates Gold!) and exploration. We have a wonderful roleplaying game here that has all the right parts to make it one of the best modern roleplaying games and up there with Divinity Original Sin 2 as my favorites of the CRPG resurgence of the last handful of years.

THE GOOD:
- Improved Combat
- Improved Performance and less bugs (I only had one mission out of what seemed like hundreds that didn't work properly). No fps issues, no crashes,etc..
- Improved Skill Tree's and leveling up
- You can really get in depth with customizing how your party acts, from how aggresive they are to so much more. This is great if you only like controlling one character in the party
- Graphics and Art Design look even better when compared to POE1
- The new Ship stuff is so fun (Both fighting on ships and the ship to ship mini game)
- Improved world Design
- Better setting
- Better Quality Side Quests (more of them to!)
- Pathfinding bothered me in the last game, that has been cleaned up alot to
- Writing is better than it was in Pillars 1. Not the best writing they have ever done, but still very good quality and an improvement over the last games writing.
- Interesting group of factions to pick from, reminds me of deciding who to join in FNV


THE BAD:
- There are not all that many portraits for your character to pick from, thankfully you can import ones others have made or ones you care to bring in, so in the end it is not a huge deal.
- The loading is very annoying! (Before I had a SSD hehe)
- Needs some work on the balance for POTD difficulty

WHAT GAMES DOES IT REMIND YOU OF KOZZY!?:
- Part Pirates! with the theme and ripping around on the crews ship going island to island
- Part Crpg goodness like Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale and Pillars of Eternity
- Part Fallout New Vegas with the wonderful exploration and interesting factions
- Part Witcher 3 with the super high quality side quests (There are alot of them this time to!)
- Improving in Every way possible (improved writing, combat,etc..)
- Part Dragon Age Origins, I love all the stuff you can customize for each party member. You can edit right down to what spells/skills your teammates like using, instead of just defensive or aggressive personality.
- Part brand new, wonderful ideas and features


This was a big improvement over Pillars Of Eternity, Well done Obsidian and Mr Sawyer, well done! This is up there with Divinity Original Sin 2 and Witcher 3 as the best modern rpgs around and imo it is one Obsidian's best game yet and one of the best total packages for a roleplaying game around. Go buy it ASAP, best of Obsidians latest games imo!

Pillars Of Eternity 1 was 8/10 for me, Deadfire is a 9.5/10, a near perfect CRPG.

**Years later, just wanted to add one thing.. I Hope we get a Pillars Of Eternity 3 if Avowed does well next year! Since it is in the same world as the Pillars games**