3.5/5 ★ – El_Cronofiro's review of Pathfinder: Kingmaker.

It's a good game? Yes. Did I have a lot of fun? Also. However, I can't say that this game is recommendable without reservations, as it has some gameplay choices that are so bad that they made me want to hit the first elderly person I saw on the street. Speaking of the good points first: Pathfinder Kingmaker has some very good characters that clearly received love in their creation (not all, most are pretty forgettable but not bad). The story is pretty cool and follows a line that puts you in several "separate" problems while building a bigger plot behind the scenes, the choices are cool too and really seem to have weight. The creation of builds and character evolution is very well done and although it requires you to read a lot to understand what is happening, it is built in a way that makes it rewarding to see a character become stronger and stronger (and it is very good that the game provides “premade builds”). Now about the bad points: there are some combats (more than can be endured) that are completely unfair, where the game throws you against enemies that you have no way of defeating, unless you spent all the time before the fight buffing yourself just for it (something that is only possible if you lost and came back on the save) and sometimes even that doesn't make the fight possible, forcing the player to decrease the difficulty. I experienced a lot of crashes in this game, all during the loading screens, something that would even be bearable if there weren't one for every new room the group enters. The whole system of taking over the kingdom is endurable at first but as the game continues, it becomes extremely annoying. However, I believe that the biggest problem with this game, which influences all other problems, is the lack of explanation of things, I felt that there was a little more time dedicated to the game tutorial, which only explains half a dozen things and the rest it's up to you to find out through your flaws, in which case that's not a nice thing. Luckily, there are several guides scattered around the internet that help a lot to understand the more complex mechanics. Overall, it's a great game for anyone who likes CRPG and has immense patience for the various unfair fights the game puts on you (sometimes it seems that the game breaks the rules just to kill you) or for anyone who is a fan of TTRPGs, as the whole game really feels like a campaign. It is definitely not for anyone who has never played another game of the genre.