Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous will include a turn-based combat mode

Owlcat Games has announced that Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous will include a turn-based combat option. While the previous game, Kingmaker, used a real-time with pause (RTWP) combat style, the new entry will allow players to swap between the two different gameplay styles at will.

Adding turn-based style combat to these CRPGs has become a bit of a trend in recent years. Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire introduced a turn-based combat mode in an official update well after release, while Pathfinder: Kingmaker has a well-received user mod, which acted as a source of inspiration for this new implementation.

The game's crowdfunding campaign, which launched on February 4, has now surpassed $1,000,000 with several weeks left to go. We've shared the Kickstarter update in full below. 

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is due out for PC via Steam and GOG in 2021. For more information, you can check out the Kickstarter launch video and announcement information.

Dear Pathfinders,

We know that many of you are eager to see a turn-based mode in our new CRPG. And though our creative vision for Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is real-time with pause—we’ve designed and balanced the game to be played that way—we don't want to ignore the voices of a huge part of our community that is asking for turn-based mode. We see all your comments, and we know just how much you want this. The truth is that we’ve been working on this for quite some time already, and the plan was to announce it later once we had a playable demo. But with all the enthusiasm in the community, we decided to share it with you now.

It is official now: we will be introducing a turn-based combat option in Wrath of the Righteous!

The mod community is amazing, and we are thankful for all the work they did with Pathfinder: Kingmaker. We took inspiration from Hsinyu’s mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/pathfinderkingmaker/mods/109

Once again, we want to stress out that our new CRPG is designed and balanced for RTWP, but with that, we're aiming to develop a turn-based mode to bring the game closer to a tabletop experience and give more control over combat for those of you, who prefer to play turn-by-turn. You will be able to control every action your characters take. More than that, we want to give you more tools to plan ahead and employ tactics based on your party's unique composition and abilities. You will be able to switch between modes on the fly, without the need to reload the location, which will give you the ability to fight any encounter in either mode at any moment.

There is still much work to do: we took the user mod as a starting point, and then we spent a long time reconsidering the interface, and also adding some useful features—for example, we will add the ability to see the exact path your character will take toward their target, taking static obstacles and other characters into account. You will also be able to see any attacks of opportunity that enemies are going to make if the character takes this path.

More info on turn-based mode will be revealed later, after we finish the Kickstarter campaign.

To arms, crusaders! Now it’s your TURN.

Owlcats