Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
Tags: Isometric RPG, Adventure, High / Dark Fantasy (Dungeons & Dragons), Character Customization, Choices Matter, Multiple Endings, Story Rich, Turn-Based Combat
Brief Summary
Where there was once the mighty nation of Sarkoris, now there is the Worldwound. For almost a century, demons from the Abyss have plagued this wasteland and its mortal inhabitants. Four Mendevian Crusades have been launched, yet the war is ongoing, and the demonic threat persists.
Whatever the reason, you find yourself in the crusader city of Kenabres, one of the few pockets of civilization that remains in the region. It is here where certain events are set in motion, and the fifth – and final – Mendevian Crusade begins.
Personal Bias - Rant on Pathfinder: Kingmaker
Let me preface everything with some context: I vehemently dislike the first game in this series – Pathfinder: Kingmaker. It’s not a terrible game, per se. Gameplay is standard for a CRPG (e.g. Neverwinter Nights, Baldur’s Gate), and perhaps even good, especially considering how many different and varied classes it offers. The thing that I can’t get over is it’s shoddy storyline / plot development and utterly bland characters.
- Storyline: By the time I was in the final act, I was skipping through dialogue and rushing fights just to get to the ending so I could shelf the game forever. The most interesting part was liberating and acquiring your own land and kingdom. Everything else, I’ve largely wiped from my memory by now. Sure, medieval high fantasy settings are usually idealized / romanticized (i.e. glorified war, all-knowing sorcerers, capable armies, holistic tribes, etc.), but this game manifests “ideal” too bluntly, and I honestly don’t think there were any plot twists or interesting developments.
- Companions: Personally, companion characters make an incredibly significant part of whether I find a game memorable and meaningful – especially in a CRPG. It’s all about sentimental attachment, yeah? Well, most everyone in Kingmaker were utterly immemorable. Only Octavia and Regongar were mildly interesting, mostly because I was set on romancing Octavia, and Regongar’s involved in that. Every other companion follows some sort of DnD stereotype / cliché, and never acquires any actually interesting character development.
- Voice Acting / Dialogue: To each their own, but I found the Pathfinder voice acting terrible. Or perhaps it’s the written dialogue. Anyway, combine the two, and the result is a voice that’s forced and painful and cringe to listen to.
Also, there’s the option to romance the antagonist of the game, but I’m sorry to say she’s completely unsexy and not up my alley at all. 
I’m a huge RPG / CRPG fan, but I would never recommend anyone waste their time with Pathfinder: Kingmaker. It’s just that stale.
Thankfully, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous has little to do with Pathfinder: Kingmaker. Now, moving on…
General Impressions
Small Note: When I use the term “Pathfinder games,” I am specifically referring to Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous only. I’m aware that “Pathfinder” as a game exists in book / tabletop format, but I’ve no experience with those. I am only commenting on the two PC games that I’ve played through.
- Similar Games: For those that have played Pillars of Eternity or Tyranny, map exploration, dialogue, and other general gameplay mechanics should feel very familiar. Also a little bit similar to Neverwinter Nights in terms of character leveling, skills, and feat selection, but heavily expanded with way more classes and feats. And then there’s the turn-based combat system, which reminds me of the Divinity: Original Sin series.
- Character Creation: There’s a plethora of different races, classes, backgrounds, and other minor details to pick from, which is absolutely delightful. Class progression and leveling can be complex for first-timers, though. I’d recommend perusing a guide, or maybe test driving a class for a few hours first, before finalizing on a class. If the player ever wishes to change their build, a certain NPC has the ability to completely respec the main character.
- Mythic Paths: New to Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, the player character is able to select between 10 powerful mythic path classes, provided they meet the requirements. It’s not just a combat mechanic, though – mythic paths will have storyline consequences and path-specific choices unique to them. Pretty neat, all in all.
- Story Progression: Wrath of the Righteous is leagues and leagues better than Pathfinder: Kingmaker, and – thankfully – takes place in a time and setting that is separate from the previous title, so players do not need to play through Kingmaker to fully enjoy Wrath of the Righteous. The main questline is largely linear, but there’s a myriad of semi-main quests and in-game decisions that can affect how the story plays out and what choices / paths are available to the player. Makes for great replayability, too.
- Writing and Dialogue: Better than Pathfinder: Kingmaker, I think, in that questlines have plot developments that can play out heroically, somewhat dark, or utterly bizarrely. Writing is not completely faultless, however. If you use the phrase “only time will tell” in your character description, I’m writing you off as an amateur.
- Voice Acting: Still terrible, for some characters. Thankfully, not all dialogue cutscenes are voiced. I’m beginning to think it’s less the fault of the voice acting cast, and more the fault of the written dialogue.
- NPC Diversity: Very subjective progressive opinion, but I’m personally happy that Wrath of the Righteous included canonically LGBTQIA+ identities and official relationships for semi-main characters and doesn’t kill them off, like so many other games, stories, movies, and other media. Also happy to see that not every national leader, representative of significant power, or other lore-important authority is the default cishet white male.
- Multiple Endings: The epilogue is largely dictated by decisions made in the main questline, mythic path questline, companion quests / interactions, and interactions with other semi-important NPCs. Careful players, or players seeking a particular ending (best ending?) may wish to consult a guide – or even multiple guides and resources. It’s ridiculous how many characters’s survivability or loyalty hinges on a correct dialogue choice.
- Companions: A somewhat more varied and more memorable cast compared to Pathfinder: Kingmaker, but that’s not a high bar to pass. Unlike other CRPGs, companions don’t have numerical relationship scores / meters to keep track of, so most – most – questline choices won’t impact the player character’s relationship with them, despite the occasional opinionated comment. Rather, relationships with companions depends on choices made during their respective questlines, or during home base conversations. Companions can still permanently perish or leave the party, however, dependent on main or semi-main questline choices.
- Story Impact: With a few minor exceptions, companions have incredibly minimal impact on the main storyline, and as a result, some can feel like insubstantial characters. Ember and Nenio in particular contribute incredibly little to the crusade and may fade into the background, especially if the player often neglects to take them in their party.
- Lack of Bonds: Companions may banter when resting at camp, when suggesting or reacting to quest dialogue choices, or when offering advice in the citadel, but otherwise do not really interact meaningfully with each other. Each companion very much feels like an isolated entity; there’s no team cohesion, no sentimental bond tying your people together.
- Mary Sues: Pathfinder has a habit of blessing particular characters – many of the player’s companions, especially – with mysteriously acquired (usually by a patron deity) and uniquely powerful or fortuitious powers, with little explanation or development. On a personal and philosophical level, I extremely do not agree with special snowflake Mary Sue characters and with the idea of acquiring abilities that haven’t been earned through some meaningful trial, even if these are fictional characters in a magical setting. One or two? Acceptable. An entire band? Nuh-uh, that’s just plain amateurish. If you’re able to look past lazy and shallow character backstory writing, your opinion of Pathfinder probably will not be as critical as mine.
- Addendum: Before anyone comes harping at me for being contradictory – criticizing some characters as too stereotypical and others as too snowflakey – I’d like to say: It
is perfectly feasible to conceptualize a realistic and unique personality. Heroes don’t need magical powers to be heroes. If you strip away a hero character’s powers or superlative ability, and find what’s left is a hollow and boring shell, you aren’t writing your character’s identity right.
- Adventure and Exploration: Each of the story’s acts takes place in an area different from the previous – the city of Kenabres, a small portion of the Worldwound, the Abyss, then back to the Worldwound but expanded westward. Environments and terrain are considerably varied (Dragon Age II was lazy with this, lol), and are pleasantly cluttered with details and descriptions for a generally immersive experience. Special mention goes to the Abyss – navigating it is much more nonconventional than pointing and clicking on the map, which can be frustrating for some, or seen as an innovative new mechanic by others.
- Lore and Context: Pathfinder games seem to be decently lore-rich, but – quite conveniently! – relevant contextual info / historical trivia that’s perceived as common knowledge is usually highlighted, and may be elaborated on in a tooltip. Extremely helpful and easily digestible, for players that aren’t familiar with the Pathfinder series (like m’self).
- Combat Mechanics / Difficulty: Can be played in real-time mode or turn-based mode. Regardless of modes, combat encounters are decently challenging. Most miniboss and boss battles require copious buffing and potion chugging (and maybe some save scumming) to prevail. Spellcasters – players and enemies – are particularly powerful in Pathfinder.
- Real-Time Combat: What most RPGs follow (e.g. Neverwinter Nights, Baldur’s Gate, Dragon Age, etc.), wherein everything happens at once, and the pause button only momentarily pauses combat (but not actions) for the player to asssess the situation. Compared to turn-based combat, it’s significantly faster, but can turn out more hectic, and subsequently, more difficult. Unlike the player, enemy A.I. has instantaneous reaction time.
- Turn-Based Combat: Every character engaged in combat follows a strict timeline, dictated by their initiative dice roll, before performing an action. Once all characters have executed their turn, the round ends and the next begins. I’ve only seen Divinity: Original Sin execute turn-based combat well, but it may be used by others. Battles are more controlled, but significantly longer compared to real-time combat.
- Kingdom Management: Carried over and expanded upon from Pathfinder: Kingmaker. As the Queen’s appointed Knight-Commander, the player has the authority to issue decrees, accumulate and spend resources, and organize armies against the opposing demonic threat. May or may not be to people’s liking – while it offers another gameplay experience in an RPG, it’s time-consuming and can block world map exploration (occupied forts) until dealt with. Poor kingdom management also can have storyline consequences.
Companions
Only the main companions are covered here. Other unlockable companions are available, but mostly for specific mythic paths.
- Seelah: Human Paladin. Typical good-aligned paladin and a decently loyal friend. Tends to emphasize idealistic and kind choices over pragmatic or law-abiding ones.
- Opinion: Prime example of Pathfinder’s classic, depthless stereotyping. IMO, she started off as a fine character to introduce as a friendly friend, but her idealistic suggestions really get on my nerves. There’s an unrealistic dissonance between her frontline warrior role (horrors of war, hello?) and her adolescent-like / sheltered hopefulness. Constantly espouses and reacts to events with aggravatingly excessive leniency (e.g. show mercy, they’re just confused). If she didn’t explicitly mention she was raised as a thief on the streets, I would have thought she was yet another cloistered starry-eyed knight – she certainly acts like it.
- Camellia: Half-Elf Shaman (Spirit Hunter). An elegant noblewoman, but very mysterious and private – the player isn’t even privy to her alignment on her character page! Seems to unnerve characters that rely on intuition (e.g. shamans). Prior to her companion questline, dialogue with her is amicably polite, but very succinct.
- Opinion: Here we go! Moving on from someone totally clichéd to someone totally not. Spoiler: She’s a an unhinged serial killer. Camellia’s character, I like – morally bankrupt, but intelligent and disciplined enough to flawlessly conduct herself within high society. She’s kinda shit at lying, though. It’s incredibly obvious her intent to “heal” the bloodthirsty spirits of the land is just a noble-sounding excuse to continue killing, and that she’s making up the story about Mireya – every other line of dialogue is contradictory. Also, a romance option, but only for male characters. Hilariously (frustratingly?), her romance path is a freaking rollercoaster ride full of mixed messages and “I expect you to read my mind” traps.
- Lann: Mogrel Zen Archer. A capable warrior with an adventurous spirit. More open-minded and a little bit more worldly compared to others of his kind, who were underground dwellers until recent events.
- Note: A romance option, but only for female characters.
- Wenduag: Mongrel Fighter. Beast-like personality that only respects strong characters, and seems only interested in serving her own needs.
- Note: Romance option for male and female characters.
- Woljif: Tiefling Rogue (Eldritch Scoundrel). Typical rogue, almost a parallel to Neeshka from Neverwinter Nights 2 – same race, same rogue class, similar flighty personality, similar powerful demon heritage – with a few tweaks and additions for the Pathfinder setting.
- Ember: Elf Stigmatized Witch. Homeless orphan beggar previously burned and mutilated for her magical powers. Despite all her suffering, she retains a pacifist and selfless personality.
- Opinion: I think she’s meant to be a sympathy-inducing woobie, but I completely do not feel anything towards this character at all. Her entire story is contradictory and unrealistic – borderline Mary Sue. Burned at the stake and mutilated, but no PTSD. Constantly bullied or targeted for her poverty or kind nature, but still ridiculously empathetic and pacifist (and will still kill enemies in combat). The very epitome of blind faith and blind idealism, all words and no (or very few) deeds, which I unfortunately do not share and do not respect.
- Daeran: Aasimar Oracle. Deviates from the “good aasimar” trend. Shamelessly revels in the hedonistic lifestyle afforded by his noble lineage, and responds to authority with caustic wit. Intelligent enough to maneuver around and manipulate high society gracefully, though usually only out of petty contempt or his self-indulgent pleasures.
- Opinion: Insufferable. More tolerable later on, when it’s proven he’s not infallible to others’ political machinations and when he’s sufficiently more amicable (but still sardonic) with the player character. Another snowflake character with special powers, but his Mary Sue-ness is utterly overshadowed by his exaggerated self-opinion. Also, a romance option for male and female characters.
- Nenio: Human (Kitsune) Wizard (Scroll Savant). An extremely inquisitive and extremely eccentric scientist – or what passes for a scientist in a high fantasy world. Classic high intellect, low wisdom DnD character. Possesses the unique ability to instantly forget memories.
- Opinion: Maybe not everyone’s cup of tea, but I find Nenio’s selective memory, non sequiturs, and hyperfocusing incredibly entertaining. Unfortunately, her questline and dialogue is probably the least emotive of all the companions. Her single companion quest is basically a fetch quest that spans multiple acts, and her research-focused memory leaves very little room for meaingful introspective talks.
- Sosiel: Human Cleric. Priest of Shelyn, the goddess of art, beauty, love, and music. Pious, but not an obnoxious preacher. Struggles with a minor crisis of moral integrity and brotherly devotion. Token gay.
- Note: A romance option, but only for male characters.
- Regill: Gnome Hellknight. Unusually dispassionate for a gnome, but an exemplary Hellknight. Serves the Hellknights as Paralictor, is stern on those under his command, and even stricter on himself. Often regards events impassively, and selects or advises the most logistically efficient course of action.
- Opinion: Regill, I’m extremely fond of. I like his imperturbable stoicism, and his logical pragmatism in wartime scenario. Pathfinder classifies him as “Lawful Evil,” but I’d argue “Lawful Netural” might be more accurate. He never exhibits any self-serving motives (standard definitions of DnD’s “evil”), but rather is wholly dedicated to the war against demons and to “order” as a concept. Spoiler: He even goes as far as to plan and execute his discharge from the Hellknight Orders just to bolster the alliance between the player’s crusader forces and the Orders, which furthers the crusade’s cause. That’s some selfless behavior, right there.
- And before anyone brings up his introductory cutscene, in which he mercilessly kills the wounded crusaders under his protection in a dire situation, I’ll argue that one wartime decision doesn’t holistically reflect on a person’s character alignment. He’s severe and disciplined, not cruel or self-serving.
- Arueshalae: Ascending Succubus Ranger (Espionage Expert). A reformed demon and a veritable special snowflake. Demure and delicate. Harbors a lot of regrets regarding her past lifestyle, and initially is fraught with self-doubts and low self-esteem, but can overcome it with the Knight-Commander’s confidence. Very “I must resist my evil demonic nature” trope. Seems to be particularly doted on by her good-aligned deity, to whom she’s very respectful towards, but is not the overly pious type.
- Opinion: Since her shtick is all about resisting her demonic impulses, she has a lot of dialogue and events that are completely introspective and tangential to wartime concerns. Up to the player whether to intrepet these as endearing heart-to-heart talks, or indecisive whining. Also, a romance option for male and female characters.
- Bias: Okay, but she’s really cute and sweet and bi, so she gets a pass from me for being a snowflake.
- Greybor: Dwarf Slayer. Assassin by trade, values coin and professionalism above anything else. Very neutral-aligned – doesn’t judge and doesn’t like to be judged.
- Ulbrig (DLC Character): Human Griffonheart Shifter. Chieftain of the Olesk clan when Sarkoris still existed as a nation, but was displaced from his time to present day. Of the honorable sort. Wildly unfamilar with urban environments, current events, and recent history.
- Opinion: Surprisingly worthwhile DLC addition to the game. His questline has a sizeable amount of content, and he has dialogue integrated in the main story and multiple side quests, so he retains relevancy even outside of his companion quest / DLC environment. Also, a romance option for male and female characters.
Other Notable Characters (NPCs)
There’s many more plot-significant NPCs, but I’ll only be commenting on the ones that are the most memorable to me.
- Anevia: Human Rogue. Transgender, married to Irabeth. Perceptive, sly, and tactful. A capable scout and recon leader, who always keeps a watchful eye over the crusade’s people. Loyal to the crusade, but willing to overlook rules and regulations for the Knight-Commander’s sake. She’s one of my favorite NPCs.
- Irabeth: Half-Orc Paladin. Commander of the Eagle Watch. Married to Anevia. A resolute and loyal crusader, and an inspiration to her soldiers. Loyal to the crusade, but suffers PTSD in the hands of demons and her spirit and motivations after that event are dependent on the Knight-Commander’s influence on her.
- Galfrey: Human Paladin. Queen of Mendev, and leader of the Mendevian Crusades. Initially introduced as an unconventionally sassy and generally wise crusader monarch, but later (inevitably) places the Commander on trial for blatantly envious and ignobly petty reasons. I thought her decently respectable until that trial event – now my opinion of her’s taken a complete 180°.
- Hand of the Inheritor: Angel. Herald of Iomedae. A total bro in the beginning – even sticking up for the Knight-Commander in the face of Galfrey’s petty base accusations – but completely abandons them as soon as he learns the origin of their mysterious power. Spoiler: It’s the blood of demons, but distilled and purified of its evil influence. Like, wooow – racist much?
- Nocticula: Succubus. Our Lady in Shadow, Demon Lord of Darkness and Lust, Ruler of the Midnight Isles. Ambitious, devious, and cunning. Central to player character’s fate, as they discover later. One of the better voiced-acted characters, or so I thought? Oddly, she sounds perfectly fine in Act 4, but sounds super out of place in Act 5. Also, I’d like to mention her profile portrait is [*wolf whistle*]. Appears as a foil to Iomedae in a certain cutscene, and I honestly vastly prefer Nocticula’s scheming over Iomedae’s righteous idealism.
- Iomedae: Deity (formerly Human). The Inheritor, Light of the Sword, Lady of Valor. Embodies righteous valor, justice, and honor. Insufferable. Hypocritical. I detest holier-than-thou personalities.
Guides and Resources
- Character Creation Guide (Steam Community): An extremely detailed and decently well-written guide, covering character creation and summarizing the game’s many available classes. Less of a step-by-step tutorial, and more of a list of brief gameplay descriptions and recommendations.
- Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous Walkthrough and Guide (Neoseeker): A very detailed and decently comprehensive guide that covers the majority of the game’s quests, characters, and important in-game choices.
- Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righeous Wiki (Fextralife): Decent resource for character build suggestions and a main questline guide, but not very comprehensive. Some quest pages are poorly written / formatted inconsistently, and minor quest / NPC pages are unfinished and / or have no content.
- Note: Fextralife pages embed a twitch.tv video that autoplays (but is muted) at the bottom of every single page. To block these autoplaying vids, I’d recommend adding the following to your adblock filters:
embed.twitch.tv
- Toy Box (Nexus Mods): Utility mod used to cheat and / or fix things. Incredibly versatile – able to tweak game UI, toggle little conveniences on / off, view flags in quest progression, as well as other typical cheating things (e.g. add items, add gold, edit character stats, instant heal, etc.).
- Extremely and Highly Recommended: Pathfinder games have a tendency to bug out or soft-lock quest completion if steps aren’t performed in order, but Toy Box has the tools to view and manually toggle these flags to fix your game (if necessary).
Closing Comments
I’m sorry this turned out longer than I anticipated. 
Uh, TLDR:
- Significantly better and significantly more dramatic plot development, questline, and character cast compared to Pathfinder: Kingmaker.
- Mythic path mechanic, which has impacts on both the storyline and gameplay, is a very welcome addition.
- Decent replayability value, due to the multitude of storyline decisions and mythic paths available.
- Still suffers from the occasional terrible character concept, terrible dialogue writing, and terrible voice acting.
- Still suffers from one-dimensional companions that have little impact on the main storyline and little interaction with each other.
- Turn-based combat system echoes that of Divinity: Original Sin, and is refreshing and fun.
- Combat difficulty is challenging, at times frustrating, but may be adjusted for an easier experience. Could be attributed to my lack of skill with games in general, though.
I’m genuinely enjoying Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. I went into this game expecting it to be as terrible as Pathfinder: Kingmaker and to write off all Pathfinder games as a loss, but I’m happy my opinion has been swayed.
Not sure whether I’ll stick it on my favorites list. It feels very similar to the Pillars of Eternity and Divinity: Original Sin series, both of which I’m extremely fond of, but Pathfinder suffers from such… dismal… writing.
For CRPG fans that liked Neverwinter Nights, Pillars of Eternity, Tyranny, Divinity: Original Sin, Dragon Age, and other similar titles, I’d say Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is worth giving a shot.
Just don’t bother with Pathfinder: Kingmaker.
), different identities, different preferences, different ethics / morals, different stories, all. Whitewashing? Nooone of that. The people of Night City feel so alive.
Building those friendship levels do sometimes have in-game benefits, though.
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