Pillars of Eternity Celebrates 10th Anniversary with Turn-Based Combat Announcement

Pillars of Eternity, the beloved role-playing game from Obsidian Entertainment, is turning 10 years old. To celebrate this milestone, the developers have announced they're adding a brand-new way to play the game: turn-based combat.

The original game, released in 2015, has always used a "real-time with pause" combat system. This means battles happen continuously, but players can pause to give commands to their characters. Now, according to Obsidian's forum post, players will be able to fight enemies in a more strategic, turn-by-turn approach.

This change follows the success of a similar update to Pillars of Eternity 2, which received turn-based combat in 2019. The studio plans to invite players to test this feature before its full release, with more details on how to participate coming in the near future.

It's pretty rare to see a developer show this much love to a decade-old game. The move to add turn-based combat likely stems from the growing popularity of this style in modern RPGs, as seen with the success of games like Baldur's Gate 3.

The announcement comes at an interesting time for Obsidian. The studio recently released Avowed on February 18, 2025, for Windows and Xbox Series X/S. Avowed takes players back to the fantasy realm of Eora but in a first-person perspective. The game topped Steam’s US sales charts shortly after launch and reached third on the global Steam Top Sellers chart.