Pillars of Eternity

Play it on: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch

Current goal: No goals, just happiness

Having spent a good chunk of time playing next year’s Avowed this week, I’m desperate to find a way to spend more time in Eora. It then occurred to me, it’s been nearly ten years since I played the game’s first prequel, Pillars of Eternity

I almost never replay RPGs, because…I’ve just had three goes at typing out why, but I’m not entirely sure. It’s something to do with not wanting to re-experience a beloved story, but with the existential weirdness of not wanting to make all the same choices, and yet knowing I made all those choices because they were the ones that feel right to me. Also, revisiting a beloved RPG is quite different than returning to a favorite book, because the way RPGs tell stories is utterly different, not least in that a bunch of average skirmishes is a lot more hard work to do a second time than turning over a page.

Despite all this, and despite remembering the main beats of Pillars’ plot, I really have forgotten huge swathes of the story, and just want to be back in that world some more. It’s also the perfect time to play it (and its sequel) before February 2025 finally lets us get our hands on Avowed. — John Walker