More than a decade after release, Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity gets a surprise patch to add a turn-based mode

pillars of eternity Developer Obsidian announced that it has unexpectedly received a patch that adds a turn-based mode.

The Microsoft-owned studio, which just released Avowed, Grounded 2 and The Outer Worlds 2 this year, is returning to its isometric, team-based fantasy RPG in more than a decade with a new update.

Obsidian has announced that a new open beta for Pillars of Eternity will be available to players on Steam and Xbox PC on November 5, adding a turn-based mode. Game director Josh Sawyer (last seen directing Pentiment) sent a message expressing his thoughts on what turn-based mode means for Pillars of Eternity.

“Fans who enjoyed trying out the turn-based mode in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire will find a familiar foundation here, but with key improvements based on your feedback,” Obsidian said in a blog post. More details below.

How the turn-based mode works in Pillars of Eternity:

• Unconstrained turns: All turns are now affected by the character's overall speed, increasing real-time value through pause attributes and mechanics.
• Smarter freedom of movement: Actions such as swapping weapons, drinking a potion, or activating a mode are now free actions. For balance, each free action is limited to one of each type per turn.
• Faster pace: Both enemy and player combat lethality has been significantly increased to keep combat tense and impactful.
• Mode flexibility: When starting a new game, you can select turn-based mode and difficulty, or freely switch between real-time pause mode and turn-based mode in the game options. We are also working on direct HUD switching to provide more convenience.

Obsidian warns that since this is a public beta, expect bugs and ongoing tweaks. The beta will run for “some time” as developers continue to roll out updates and prepare for the full release.

IGN Pillars of Eternity Review Back in 2015, the game received a 9/10 rating. We said at the time: “Obsidian (and its Kickstarter backers) have done just that: Pillars of Eternity is one of the best RPGs since Baldur's Gate.”

Obsidian follows up on PoE Pillars of Eternity II: Deathfire Before 2018 Microsoft acquired the company later that year. Obsidian went on to publish games such as The Outer Worlds and Grounded, and became one of Microsoft's most prolific Xbox Game Studios developers.

Will there be Pillars of Eternity 3? Sawyer has commented on the prospect in the past. Taking 2023 as an example, Sawyer said he would be happy to develop Pillars of Eternity 3 – provided the game received the same budget as Pillars of Eternity. Baldur's Gate 3.

“I think if it was really an unlimited budget, I think I would try Pillars 3 because I know what the budget for Deadfire was, which wasn't a lot, and I've heard from a lot of people what the budget for Baldur's Gate 3 was, and I'm not going to talk about numbers, but if I had that budget, of course, I would make Pillars 3,” he said.

Sawyer added that if he were to make Pillars 3, he would use a turn-based combat structure. Obsidian has yet to announce its next game.

Wesley is IGN News Director. Find him on Twitter: @wyp100. You can contact Wesley at [email protected] or privately at [email protected].