Pillars of Eternity gets turn-based combat update

More than 11 years later, Obsidian’s old-school-style role-playing game Pillars of Eternity has added a turn-based combat mode on PC.

The turn-based mode update went live yesterday after months of testing, and it adds a fully featured alternate combat mode with turns “influenced by character speed”. This means very fast characters have the potential to act twice in a round rather than just once. Turn-based mode can be selected when starting Pillars of Eternity or it can be switched to in the menus while you’re playing. It’s flexible like that.

Obsidian adding turn-based mode so long after Pillars of Eternity was released is a welcome surprise but it’s not wholly unexpected, as Pillars of Eternity sequel Deadfire got the same treatment in 2019. The new patch also introduces a number of tweaks and fixes, and the Korean localisation has also been made available (and updated) in all versions of the game.

Pillars of Eternity was a return to the Baldur’s Gate-like experiences of the past before Baldur’s Gate 3 came and conquered all. In fact, in our Pillars of Eternity review, we said: “Pillars of Eternity is the Baldur’s Gate 3 we never got, returning to the Infinity Engine style of role-playing with flair.”

Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire was equally well received, pushing the previously land-based adventure into the ocean for a tropical, piratical take. “Layers of rum-and-sunshine soaked RPG adventuring to lose yourself in,” Bertie wrote in our Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire review. “Does it really matter if it doesn’t quite tie together in the end?”

The Pillars of Eternity series would indirectly continue in 2025 with the release of Avowed, a third-person action role-playing game set in the same Eora world. Whether it will continue any further, we’ll have to wait and see.