Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire – The Beast of Winter is the latest DLC expansion to the popular top-down CRPG, Pillars of Eternity II. While the original game was developed by Obsidian Entertainment for PC on the 8th May 2018, the DLC was created by the same team and released on the 2nd August 2018. With this piece of DLC, players are expected to explore the frozen landscape that has been plagued with frost and death, with the player being commanded to solve the issue.
How to Download Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire – The Beast of Winter
To download the game simply click on the Download button which is at the end of the review. The game can be purchased and downloaded from Steam or from GOG.com
The DLC Review
The Beast of Winter DLC starts off with the player receiving a missive from the worshipers of Rymrgand, the god of entropy and disaster. As something called the “Duskspeaker”, the player is expected to bring an end to this frosty period in the land’s life. From beginning to end, the player will be working to solve the mystery and figure out exactly what needs to be challenged or confronted to finally solve the issue.
Gameplay in The Beast of Winter DLC is very similar to the main game of Pillars of Eternity II. Anyone that’s gone and played the first game or the content before this DLC will not exactly what to expect with this DLC, except this time around it takes place within a frozen town and its expanse. For the most part in this game, the player is expected to explore the land around them, figure out exactly what is going on while accepting a myriad of different quests. Then, of course, during regular intervals, the player is going to get attacked. The conversation system may be a nice way to try and circumnavigate attacking everyone the player sees, it isn’t always the most appropriate when a shuffling skeleton comes wandering towards them.
Just like any good CRPG, the combat is designed to be tactical, strategic, and addicting as the player’s party of heroes slowly get stronger and with new abilities with every level-up, along with gear to collect. A lot of the time during combat, the player is going to need to keep in mind the terrain around them. The reason behind this being, if the player can use it then it means the enemy AI can use it against them and it most certainly will. While the AI isn’t ground-breaking, they do enough to make the player think twice before agreeing to an action and committing to it.
When it comes to the comparisons, the biggest one would have to be the original Pillars of Eternity, Divinity: Original Sin, and classic CRPG’s, such as Baldur’s Gate. It takes a lot of its classic design choices and develops them into a modern setting, allowing for Pillars of Eternity II and its DLC to have the depth of a classic RPG, with the solid mechanics of modern day.
For anyone that enjoys CRPG’s or simply played Pillars of Eternity II and enjoyed everything the game had to offer, then this DLC is definitely worth their time. It may not change too much, but it does add enough to keep the game interesting and engaging from start to finish.
