In 2 days, Pillars of Eternity fans will finally get what they've waited over a decade for. Obsidian finally reveals details on the long-awaited feature

Obsidian Entertainment studio has announced that on November 5th, a new public beta update for Pillars of Eternity will launch, allowing players on Steam and in the Xbox Store to test the turn-based mode. This is a big event for fans of the classic RPG, celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.

Below, I've described the most important modifications that the turn-based mode in Pillars of Eternity has received compared to Deadfire.

1. Turns will depend on the character's overall speed, making attributes and mechanics more important compared to the real-time system with active pause.
2. Things like switching weapons, drinking potions, or opening modal windows will be free actions, but you can only do one of each type per turn.
3. The pace of combat will be faster, and the mortality will be higher, making every fight way more intense.
4. Players will be able to freely switch between turn-based and classic modes, both at the start of the game and during gameplay.

The beta is going to last for an unspecified amount of time, and Obsidian is encouraging players to actively share their feedback and report any bugs they come across. The studio will plan further improvements based on this and prepare the mode for full release.

When they announced the beta tests, the creators also dropped a special video where Josh Sawyer, the Creative Director, shares his thoughts on how important the turn-based mode is for Pillars of Eternity and how the community helped shape this update.

We first heard about this new gameplay mode for Pillars of Eternity in March of this year. At that time, I wrote that Obsidian planned to make it available to fans and announced that turn-based combat tests would take place later in the year, but they didn't reveal any details. Now we have learned the specifics.

Pillars of Eternity

March 26, 2015

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