After sinking in 68 hours into beta 2, my Kingmaker journey has come to an end due to a game breaking bug. I'm really sad, I was having so much fun
Still haven't even finished the Chapter 2, so you can guess just how massive this game is!
All in all, I'm in love with this game even with encumbrance/fatigue issues + bugs.
I found the story quite engaging. The first chapter involves claiming your own barony, while the second chapter lets you concentrate on strengthening the barony, which leads you to make the land safe, building up the relationships with other lords in neighboring regions, finding out the source of curse etc.. lots of diverse and interesting quests!!!
Stolen Lands is a harsh place - once you step out into the wilderness, there are so many monsters waiting to… send you to a better place
I've been zapped, poisoned, mauled, crisped to death by so many different creatures like Will-o'-Wisp, giant centipede, owlbear, Linnorm…. good fun!
The combat requires a bit of micromanagement since it is fast paced and one wrong move can be the end of you… This game definitely has a steep learning curve, especially for people who haven't played other D&D or Pathfinder games imo. A lot of time, you will have to get correct spells and/or potions ready to win the battle, which mean you will also have to rest quite frequently.
As I said before, I love the camping system. This is where you refresh your health and spells, buff your party by cooking an excellent meal for the next day while you bond with the companions.
One thing I find a bit underwhelming is party banter… I didn't find it all that engaging… or maybe the Rusky humour isn't getting through to me
So far I found Linzi, Harrim and Jubilost most fun to have around. Unfortunately, they aren't in my party often due to low strength/constitution
I should add though, encumbrance/fatigue system becomes more manageable as you progress the game as you gain more stats via level up + magical items. Still haven't found Nok-Nok, I think he's the only one I haven't met yet. There are 11 companions in total - Linzi, Jaethal, Harrim, Valerie, Amiri, Tristian, Octavia, Regongar, Jubilost, Ekundayo and Nok-Nok.
Obtaining companion is important for your Kingdom building too as they act as your advisors and without them, kingdom events and project cannot be done. I also enjoyed the kingdom building aspect a lot. A successful completion of event and project will boost your kingdom stats, provide additional building points, and may also lead to adventure quest to progress the main story. If you fail or neglect certain events, it will result in reduction in your kingdom stats and eventually will end in game over (or so I heard).
I didn't find it too difficult to juggle the kingdom building and adventuring - the new kingdom events/projects pops up at the beginning of the month, so make sure you are back at your barony to pick the advisors, start the event and off to adventure! As long as you visit your barony hall every once/twice a month, it should be fine.
Well, that was a lot longer than I intended
I'm so eager to experience the whole game, will definitely write a review on this game once I'm done playing it through fully.