One disclaimer; I'd rather had put a "maybe" recommendation on this. I picked 'yes' only because the game is decent and playable. Save-scumming is a HIGHLY recommended practice in this game due to the eurojank nature of this game, and die rolls being pivotal for almost every kind of interaction.

This game is a visualisation of the tabletop roleplaying game called Pathfinder (regarded as 2.5e D&D by the community) and the Adventure Path module. The issues the game has originates from this Pathfinder system.

Initially, you start as a single character and is introduced to your potential companions and plot hooks for you to bite. The barony or the kingdom management starts when you finish the first chapter. Truth to be told, many of the players and the community regard this aspect of the game as a mostly irrelevant minigame. Although it offers advantages for the world travel and combat under specific circumstances. The story is addictive and is interesting, the 12 (including 1 from the Wildcards DLC) companions feature interactions and lot of personal sidequests. If you care about your companions, then do them, as they do matter a lot for the finale. To the surprise of no one who is experienced with character roleplaying games.

However. I familiarize this game as a proper textbook example of a "eurojank" game. The interface is good and managable, but as the more I played the game, the more I experienced that the interface could have been lot better. Being a Pathfinder video game, it features needlessly cultivated mechanics such as resting, exhaustation, alignments, and terrains that negatively impact the world travel. Making the whole experience feeling like watching paint dry.

To summarize:

The good:
- The story is consistent and interesting enough to keep you addicted
- The class system is enjoyable
- Story difficulty is available for those who prefer a more casual experience and follow the Owlbear's narration of Adventure Path.
- The kingdom management minigame offers a change of pace and extra advantages pivotal for the future adventures

The bad:
- Pathfinder. Pathfinder, and a period. There are a reason why a good share of the players (same for DnD) choose to play with homebrewed (rpg-speak for "non-standard" or custom) rules that remove or trivialize mechanics and management.
- Limited choice of homebrew rules for difficulty. One example I'd wish to see would be disabling or making random encounters less likely. Removal of terrain modifiers on world travel speed. And perhaps making resting a less menial task that you've to repeat every half a minute.
- Some roleplaying choices are inconsequential on your relation to your companions and other allies. There are very specific choices and triggers that cause a companion to leave your company, or change their personality for good.
- The kingdom management minigame has a very ugly side. The interaction with it is rather shallow and there are no way to move your buildings around outside selling them (half their building cost returned) then rebuild them at a more desired place. It's a rather needless distraction. The only reason you might want to use it is the mage tower building, which offers you the niche but very useful mean of teleport to your settlements in other regions.
- The balance is rather odd. I personally found the Normal difficulty too hard on me and I had given up wanting a challenging experience. So I changed down to Story, enjoying the narrative and character interactions instead.
- One complaint that I share with other players, the alignment system. Some options require a specific position in the alignment to be unlocked and used in dialogues. When they could done as options that shift your alignment easily. Rather than barring them behind a very abstract system that is subjective.

The verdict is, if you enjoy a story and playing characters, looking to sink one week into a game from start to finish. Then this game might be for you as long you pick the Story difficulty and savescum relentlessy. Otherwise, outside of wanting a challenging roleplaying game and a potentially quite miserable experience, taking at least one week to complete the whole game, I can't recommend this game.

One disclaimer; I'd rather had put a "maybe" recommendation on this. I picked 'yes' only because the game is decent and playable. Save-scumming is a HIGHLY recommended practice in this game due to the eurojank nature of this game, and die rolls being pivotal for almost every kind of interaction. This game is a visualisation of the tabletop roleplaying game called Pathfinder (regarded as 2.5e D&D by the community) and the Adventure Path module. The issues the game has originates from this Pathfinder system. Initially, you start as a single character and is introduced to your potential companions and plot hooks for you to bite. The barony or the kingdom management starts when you finish the first chapter. Truth to be told, many of the players and the community regard this aspect of the game as a mostly irrelevant minigame. Although it offers advantages for the world travel and combat under specific circumstances. The story is addictive and is interesting, the 12 (including 1 from the Wildcards DLC) companions feature interactions and lot of personal sidequests. If you care about your companions, then do them, as they do matter a lot for the finale. To the surprise of no one who is experienced with character roleplaying games. However. I familiarize this game as a proper textbook example of a "eurojank" game. The interface is good and managable, but as the more I played the game, the more I experienced that the interface could have been lot better. Being a Pathfinder video game, it features needlessly cultivated mechanics such as resting, exhaustation, alignments, and terrains that negatively impact the world travel. Making the whole experience feeling like watching paint dry. To summarize: The good: - The story is consistent and interesting enough to keep you addicted - The class system is enjoyable - Story difficulty is available for those who prefer a more casual experience and follow the Owlbear's narration of Adventure Path. - The kingdom management minigame offers a change of pace and extra advantages pivotal for the future adventures The bad: - Pathfinder. Pathfinder, and a period. There are a reason why a good share of the players (same for DnD) choose to play with homebrewed (rpg-speak for "non-standard" or custom) rules that remove or trivialize mechanics and management. - Limited choice of homebrew rules for difficulty. One example I'd wish to see would be disabling or making random encounters less likely. Removal of terrain modifiers on world travel speed. And perhaps making resting a less menial task that you've to repeat every half a minute. - Some roleplaying choices are inconsequential on your relation to your companions and other allies. There are very specific choices and triggers that cause a companion to leave your company, or change their personality for good. - The kingdom management minigame has a very ugly side. The interaction with it is rather shallow and there are no way to move your buildings around outside selling them (half their building cost returned) then rebuild them at a more desired place. It's a rather needless distraction. The only reason you might want to use it is the mage tower building, which offers you the niche but very useful mean of teleport to your settlements in other regions. - The balance is rather odd. I personally found the Normal difficulty too hard on me and I had given up wanting a challenging experience. So I changed down to Story, enjoying the narrative and character interactions instead. - One complaint that I share with other players, the alignment system. Some options require a specific position in the alignment to be unlocked and used in dialogues. When they could done as options that shift your alignment easily. Rather than barring them behind a very abstract system that is subjective. The verdict is, if you enjoy a story and playing characters, looking to sink one week into a game from start to finish. Then this game might be for you as long you pick the Story difficulty and savescum relentlessy. Otherwise, outside of wanting a challenging roleplaying game and a potentially quite miserable experience, taking at least one week to complete the whole game, I can't recommend this game.