Obsidian Entertainment"s RPG from last year Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire is about to get a whole new combat system, giving players the opportunity to experience the title"s numerous fights using a turn-based system.
In an interview with PCGamesN, design director Josh Sawyer confirmed that for the first time in the Pillars series, turn-based combat is coming to the game with a free update on January 24. Following the update, players will have the choice between selecting the current real-time with pause system or the new turn-based format.
The massive endeavor has made Obsidian redesign the combat UI, rebalance enemy encounters, and do "extraordinary amount of work." The system is partly inspired by another recent massively popular RPG, Divinity: Original Sin 2, which used turn-based combat to great effect.
Obsidian added that the addition of turn-based combat into Pillars of Eternity 2 now - eight months after launch - might also have the effect of giving veteran players a reason to come back and maybe even try some of the new story DLC that have released since then.
The turn-based combat mode and a new ship battle interface were leaked by the developer back in December before the update was pulled from Steam. It"s possible that this ship UI - among other changes - will also drop with the January 24 update.
While this update is for the PC version of Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, the game is slated to launch for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch sometime this year. It"s possible the console versions will solely rely on the new turn-based system from the get-go to make combat less tedious using a controller.
Source: PCGamesN