Kingmaker (CRPG)

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Pathfinder: Kingmaker

Video game - Computer RPG

Genre

Role-playing

Modes

Single-player

Developer

Owlcat Games

Publisher

Deep Silver

Engine

Unity

Platforms

Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows

Release date

September 25, 2018

Precedes

Wrath of the Righteous (CRPG)



This article covers the computer roleplaying game (CRPG). For the Pathfinder Adventure Path, see Kingmaker (adventure path).

Pathfinder: Kingmaker is an isometric computer RPG developed by Owlcat Games and published by Deep Silver, which was released on September 25, 2018. The project was officially announced on May 17, 2017 by both Owlcat and Paizo Inc. Like the Kingmaker Adventure Path upon which the game is based, Pathfinder: Kingmaker features dozens of hours of adventure, including exploration, combat, and kingdom-building.

Story elements and characters from Owlcat's Kingmaker CRPG were later adapted into the 2024 Pathfinder Second Edition Kingmaker Adventure Path hardcover and its Companion Guide featuring all thirteen of the CRPG's companion characters.

Development

Development on Pathfinder: Kingmaker began when members of Owlcat's team pitched the game to Paizo executives at Gen Con 2016. By the following spring, a "vertical slice" of the game had been built, consisting of much of chapter two. Previewed for the first time at PaizoCon 2017, this demo was enough to garner excitement for the Kickstarter campaign which would follow shortly thereafter. The game proceeded through alpha and beta phases beginning in early 2018. Development on post-release bonus content began in late summer 2018, with the majority of the team working on fixing bugs and releasing patches to the base game after its September 25 launch.

Kickstarter campaign

In June 6, 2017, Owlcat launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $500,000 in additional funds to expand the scope of the project. The campaign concluded on July 11 with a total of $909,057 raised and 18,351 backers. In addition to reaching their primary funding goal, the campaign also reached five stretch goals, resulting in the following additions to the game: a camping feature ($550k); the addition of the magus as a playable class ($600k); a new story chapter above and beyond the original six chapters of Kingmaker and a Mac & Linux version of the final game ($700k); at least three archetypes or alternative features per class ($800k); a new, goblin companion ($900k). Owlcat continued to take preorders and backer pledges after the conclusion of the Kickstarter campaign, counting those funds toward further stretch goals. Before they cut off additional content in the summer of 2018, they had unlocked an additional stretch goal of an additional playable race; a backer poll determined that this additional race would be aasimar.

Credits

Pathfinder: Kingmaker was developed by Owlcat Games, led by executive producer and head of studio, Oleg Shplicevsky. The game's creative director was Alexander Mishulin, who was supported by the following team leads: Art Director Victor Surkov; Technical Director Aleksey Drobyshevshy; Lead Area Designer Evgeniy Sanin; Audio Team Sergey Eybog; Core Design Team Alexander Gusev; Narrative Design Team Alexander Komzolov. Additional narrative design credits include contributions from industry veteran Chris Avellone and Paizo Inc. editorial staff writers John Compton and James L. Sutter.

Score

The game's theme was composed by Inon Zur. The bulk of the game's score was composed by Sergey Eybog, Dmitry V. Silantyev, Alexander Fomichev, Mikhail Kotov, and Dryante. The digital album was released as a standalone purchase, as well as a Kickstarter backer reward and a component of the game's Noble, Royal, and Imperial Editions (see Release below) in fall 2018.

Voice credits

Pathfinder: Kingmaker features English full audio including voiceover for many of the game's cinematic scenes, companion interactions, and major antagonists. While not every character is voiced, and not every line of dialogue from voiced characters has corresponding audio, this is the first digital game to offer such immersion into the world and characters (previously, only the Pathfinder Legends audio dramas from Big Finish Productions had given voice to the Pathfinder Iconics).

Further information: Kingmaker voice cast

Release

The game released internationally on September 25, 2018 for Mac and PC on Steam and GOG. It remained number one on the Steam charts for 6 days until it was unseated by Assassin's Creed: Odyssey. In its first week of release on Steam, the game had an average active player count of over 16,000, with a peak player count of over 22,500 on Sunday, September 30.

Four versions of the game were available upon release with the following contents:

Explorer Edition

• A downloadable copy of the main game

Noble Edition

• A premium downloadable copy of the game, which contains 2 in-game items to help an aspiring adventurer (a signet that allows you to bless your party several times a day, and a belt with bonus disease and fatigue resistance). Premium in-game items are designed to not break the game balance.
• Two additional portraits. Images of a fearless warrior from Cheliax and a skillful elf wizard will be included in the gallery of portraits available upon creating a character.
• A digital art book. 176 pages with sketches of characters, monsters, items and the game world, lovingly selected by our artists.

• Official soundtrack. Contains a complete set of in-game music, created by Inon Zur and Owlcat Games' composer.

Royal Edition

• All content in the Noble Edition plus
• A digital module for board game adventures. This module has been created from scratch by game designer Chris Avellone assisted by Paizo experts to express gratitude to the entire pen-and-paper RPG community and the Pathfinder universe for providing support and being a source of inspiration for working on the game.
• A digital high-resolution map of the Stolen Lands. This detailed map can be used as a desktop wallpaper. It can also help navigate the dangerous and mysterious territories of the Stolen Lands.
• A red panda. This pet not only greets its owner, standing adorably on its hind legs. It will also increase your negative effect resistance.

Imperial Edition

• All content from the Royal Edition plus
• A Season Pass. The Season Pass will automatically get you access to the first three packages of post-release downloadable content. These additions expand the world of the Stolen Lands and add new companions, locations, buildings, items, and most importantly—new adventures, memories and emotions for you to experience!

Reception

The game debuted to mostly positive reviews, with players giving it a Metacritic score of 8.3 in its first week. Of the first 2,300 user reviews on Steam, over 70% were positive. Professional reviewers were slightly more critical, with one claiming the developers played it too safe to stand out from other titles in the genre.

Downloadable content

Owlcat and Deep Silver have announced at least three packages of post-release downloadable content (DLC), available individually upon their release or as part of a season pass (included in the Imperial Edition of the game). On November 20, 2018, Owlcat released the roadmap for the first three paid DLC packages which comprise the season pass. Each DLC chapter sells for $7.99 on its own or can come as part of a trio of DLC in the Season Pass for $24.99.

The Wildcards

December 14, 2018

Encounter the tiefling kineticist, a new playable character serving as the debut of her race and character class, complete with her own rich and engaging storyline.

Varnhold's Lot

February 28, 2019

Brave the challenges of a new bonus campaign. While celebrating victory at Jamandi Aldori's mansion, adventurers meet another hero of the Stolen Lands: the mercenary captain Maegar Varn. While the player is building a barony in the Shrike Hills and Narlmarshes, Varn and his people are establishing the nation of Varnhold in the rocky foothills of Dunsward.

This new story explores the challenges faced by Varn's party in its venture, and the consequences of choices made can be exported and implemented into Pathfinder: Kingmaker's main campaign. This exciting new side story equals the size of one chapter of the game's central campaign and will take 6-12 hours to complete, depending on preferred playstyle.

Beneath the Stolen Lands

Expected April 2019

For the days where jumping into an unpredictable gauntlet of combat sounds more enticing than discovering the Stolen Lands' rich lore, this DLC will introduce a rogue-like randomly generated endless dungeon, complete with a new unique boss. The dungeon offers two options. It can be explored in a separate game or experienced within an adventurer's main campaign.

Free DLC

In addition to the paid DLC packages listed above, Owlcat has also released a number of free DLC add-ons to the main game.

• Bloody Mess (October 24, 2018) – Adds persistent blood on party members and enemies
• Arcane Unleashed (March 20, 2019) – Adds six new spells, a new arcane merchant, improved models for chromatic and metallic dragons, and a new familiar

Gameplay

The gameplay is largely modeled on the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game First Edition along with classic computer RPGs such as Baldur's Gate; it features an isometric perspective and launched with a real-time-with-pause combat system, and a later update added the ability to swap between the real-time system and a turn-based combat system. One of the game's main distinguishing features is its emphasis on realm-building—a player's decisions as a local lord affect gameplay. Character customization is also a key feature, along with an alignment system where a character's alignment can change due to player choices. While the player begins with only one character of their creation, the game is party-based as companions join them along the way; these include both established Pathfinder characters and newly-invented characters. The game's core plot is estimated to take around 40 hours to complete, while full completion of side-quests and companion-based story lines can push the total playtime of the game to well over 100 hours.

Player options

True to the Pathfinder RPG upon which its rules are based, Pathfinder: Kingmaker offers players a selection of eight races (aasimar, dwarf, elf, halfling, half-elf, half-orc, and human) with a ninth race (goblin) available as a companion; fourteen classes (alchemist, barbarian, bard, cleric, druid, fighter, inquisitor, magus, monk, paladin, ranger, rogue, sorcerer, and wizard, each with three optional archetypes; six prestige classes (arcane trickster, dragon disciple, duelist, eldritch knight, mystic theurge, and stalwart defender); over 150 feats and over 300 spells.

More player options were as downloadable content (DLC) following the game's initial release, including the tiefling player race and kineticist class.

Alignment

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Exploration

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Kingdom-building

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Plot

Companions

The following characters are available in the game as companions to the baron/baroness. Eight of the eleven launch characters are available during the prologue and chapter one, with the other three gained during the course of chapter two. With the exception of Linzi, the game's narrator, all companions can be dismissed should the player not wish them to accompany the protagonist any longer. At the conclusion of the prologue, the player also has the ability to create custom companions, though hiring such characters comes at a somewhat hefty cost of in-game gold. Each companion (custom characters aside) has a series of side-quests and subplots that explore his or her background and strengthen the bond formed with the protagonist throughout their adventures. Four companions (Octavia, Regongar, Tristian, and Valerie) have additional romance subplots should the player choose to pursue them. Two characters (denoted with a superscript ^DLC below) were released as part of the first paid DLC package for the game, The Wildcards.

• Amiri — a Kellid barbarian from the Realm of the Mammoth Lords in search of a new tribe that will value her abilities.
• Ekundayo — a Garundi ranger from Absalom who seeks revenge for the death of his family at the hands of marauding trolls.
• Harrim — a dwarven cleric of Groetus with a rather pessimistic outlook on life.
• Jaethal — an undead elf inquisitor of Urgathoa fleeing retribution from past crimes in her native Kyonin.
• Jubilost — a gnome alchemist known throughout the world (at least in his own mind) as an expert traveler, historian, and academic.
• Kalikke^DLC — a tiefling hydrokineticist cursed to share a life with her sister while being forever apart from her.
• Kanerah^DLC — a tiefling pyrokineticist cursed to share a life with her sister while being forever apart from her.
• Linzi — a halfling bard, originally from Galt but most recently expelled from the Academy of Grand Arts in Pitax for offending the city's king.
• Nok-Nok — a goblin rogue with ambitions of godhood who finds better company among the "longshanks" than his own kind.
• Octavia — a half-elf arcane trickster with an optimistic outlook and kind heart, despite her upbringing as a slave of Numeria's sinister Technic League.
• Regongar — a half-orc magus who, like Octavia, escaped the Technic League's clutches, but seeks vengeance and hedonistic pleasures instead of simply freedom.
• Tristian — a human cleric of Sarenrae on a pilgrimage from the Padishah Empire of Kelesh to investigate the nature of curses in the Stolen Lands.
• Valerie — a human fighter who escaped an unwanted life as a paladin of Shelyn despite her natural beauty who seeks only to serve her lord or lady well.

Locations

Pathfinder: Kingmaker takes place entirely in the region of the River Kingdoms known as the Stolen Lands. The region, which eventually comprises the player's entire kingdom, is broken into a number of regions which can each be explored and conquered independently.

This section is a stub. You can help us by expanding it.

See also

• Kingmaker Original Game Soundtrack
• The Art of Pathfinder: Kingmaker
• Category:Artwork from Kingmaker CRPG

External links

• Kingmaker on Owlcat Games website
• Kickstarter campaign
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker on Steam
• Strategy guide and walkthrough on GamerGuides.com