CRPGs are generally difficult to make, especially those that come from indie developers. After all, they're the purest form of what an RPG can be. That's why they're often a labor of love and passion—fans exceeding the required Kickstarter threshold pledge is testament enough. Sadly, that kind of pressure also means plenty of things could go wrong during development.
Sure enough, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous (WOTR) is not without flaws. Such was also the case during the near-release periods of its predecessor, Pathfinder: Kingmaker. Thankfully, many of WOTR's kinks and wrinkles can be ironed out. All it takes is a bit of player base patience and an in-depth look at some of these shortcomings.
10 Better Contrast
WOTR is notably darker in theme and in color compared to Kingmaker. The first few hours and the opening sequence are proof enough. The whole game shoves its players into a dank cave where they must fend for themselves through the dark recesses of Kenabres' underbelly.
Once they get to the surface, however, things don't change too dramatically in the palette segment. The game needs better contrast effects and even visual cues to differentiate the party members from the hordes of demons. Brighter or even less brown or yellow colors ought to have helped a bit in making the action more discernible.
9 Action Queueing In Real-Time Mode
Speaking of action, WOTR added a turn-based mode this time around to make combat more tactical and manageable. The caveat with that is turn-based combat takes longer especially if there are too many enemies. If players want zippy combat, then they've no choice but to resort to real-time mode.
Too bad character positioning and action designation in real-time mode can get janky real fast. At the time of writing, there's no unmodded way to queue the party's actions. Players will have to micromanage each one of them in real-time mode, leading to a rather disruptive number of pauses that they might as well play the game in turn-based mode.
8 A More Minimalist User Interface
Want to know that a game is an old-school CRPG without looking at it for more than one second? Then shoot a quick glance at the character portrait screen. If the portraits are oversized and have inelegant HP bars, then that's the indication. Kingmaker had the same UI trait and this extends well to WOTR.
That by no means is bad— it can even be a subjective taste, but the UI can easily overwhelm players who prefer a more minimalistic approach. Character portraits take too much space. Their HP bars could also have been better. At times, spell or action selection can block the combat because of the size of the party bar.
7 Less Artificial Difficulty
Lots of numerical calculations are happening in WOTR's background and this is how the game can sometimes add difficulty for certain enemies. Be it increased HP, higher chances to hit, or an unbelievable amount of Will save. It seems WOTR implements that kind of system generously.
At times, that's even noticeable. Some players will surely find the bloated difficulty frustrating especially if they've prepared for certain battles only to find out that their enemies have unfair saves are able to do multiple attacks per turn. Fairer balancing would have helped in a way that doesn't cheapen the RPG's combat system.
6 More Interesting Crusade Management
Gone is the kingdom management in Kingmaker and was replaced by something called Crusade management. There, players will build up an army and control it instead of running a duchy daycare. They can also send this army to fight in virtual chess matches against the enemies' demonic army.
The problem is, a lot of the negative complaints about WOTR comprise of a worrying bulk about Crusade management. Common gripes point to it being too simple but artificially difficult. Lack of innovation and poor UI also hamper the experience. Thankfully, players can turn off that aspect of gameplay via automation.
5 A Truly Optional Crusade Mode
Sadly, putting Crusade Management on automation (which is practically turning it off) will bar players from certain achievements or rewards. Some Mythic Paths are linked to Crusade Management and could only be unlocked through that gameplay aspect.
Putting the Crusade Management on automation means players don't get access to said Mythic Paths or achievements. That in turn, somewhat removes the optional values of the said game mode. All in all, this is an area of the game that needs the most improvement.
4 A Smarter AI
Granted, most RPGs with companions or party-based combat are bound to have issues like this. It's just that WOTR's combat can be unforgiving and some vexing deaths or catastrophic party-wipes could have been easily avoided if only the AI was a little brighter.
Getting someone to disarm a trap, for example, can often result in the whole party walking all over the trap. Other times, party members will also block their comrades through narrow corridors in the heat of combat. Some ranged characters will also waste their shots attacking enemies blocked by a wall.
3 Simpler Ability Descriptions
It seems it's become a tradition for CRPGs to be inaccessible for beginners or neophytes in the genre. Their UI text and descriptions all consist of tabletop RPG jargon and some odd numbers and symbols. These would only make sense if the reader is already an intermediate D&D or Pathfinder player.
Even finding out what some spells do is a chore because their descriptions are either too long or aren't the first information shown to the readers. The developers need to note that not all their players are going to be theory-crafters or min-maxers. Some just want a more accessible version of a tabletop RPG.
2 More Sensible Evil Choices
Again, this is a standard RPG-genre fault these days and even in the past. WOTR is no exception. It does include some evil choices in its black and white narrative but it feels as if the game was made with the "good" choices in mind.
Most of the "evil" dialogue options in the game boil down to killing the current conversation partner or being a different shade of psychopath. There are little to no nuances such as lawful evil or neutral evil options. It makes evil playthroughs appear dumb and uncalculated.
1 Bugs, Glitches, & Other Technical Issue Fixes
Apart from the rather problematic Crusade Management and all the other problems mentioned, one big problem that's driving away some WOTR players are technical issues. Since the game is still near its release period, that's to be expected.
However, some cases are too extreme such as whole saved games becoming unplayable due to bugs. Crashes are also present and some combat glitches ruin encounters and tactics. Overall, it might take numerous feedbacks and a bit more time before one can play WOTR as intended.
Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous was released in 2021 and is available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.