In 2015, Obsidian Entertainment launched Pillars of Eternity, a party-based real-time tactical RPG. Now Obsidian is making one of the most significant changes to the game in the last 10 years by introducing a turn-based mode. And Pillars of Eternity players will be able to get their hands on it this week.
On the game’s official site, Obsidian announced that the public beta for Pillars of Eternity’s turn-based mode will go live on November 5. The real-time combat was inspired by the system used by the game’s sequel, Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. The studio also released an announcement trailer for the new mode to demonstrate it in action.
According to Obsidian, the following real-time improvements were made after taking fan feedback from Deadfire.
- Unbound Turns: All turns are now influenced by a character’s overall speed, improving the value of Real-Time with Pause attributes and mechanics.
- Smarter Free Actions: Actions like swapping weapons, drinking potions, or enabling modals are now free actions. Each free action is limited to one per turn per type for balance.
- Faster Pacing: Combat lethality has been significantly increased for both enemies and players to keep battles tense and impactful.
- Mode Flexibility: You can choose Turn-Based Mode alongside difficulty when starting a new game — or swap freely between Real-Time with Pause and Turn-Based Mode in the game options. We’re also investigating a direct HUD toggle for even more convenience.
As noted above, players can choose whether or not to embrace turn-based combat, or switch between real-time and turn-based at their desire. The beta test doesn’t currently have an end date, but Obsidian notes that it will release future updates in support of this before adding turn-based mode to the game as a permanent feature.
Josh Sawyer–who directed both Pillars of Eternity games–has suggested that if Pillars of Eternity 3 ever goes forward, it will embrace the influence of Baldur’s Gate 3 and switch from an isometric perspective to a 3D-style game.
Earlier this year, Obsidian released Avowed, an action-RPG that takes place in the same universe as the Pillars of Eternity games.
