Pillars of Eternity

Moderate overall intensity
Highest flag: Dark themes — graphic
FantasyRPGStrategy

What's in it

Dark themes graphic
High

Central plot concerns infants born without souls (the hollowborn), plus infanticide, mass death, cult atrocities, and unsettling experiments on souls and living people.

Violence realistic
Moderate

Party-based tactical combat against humans, undead, and beasts shown from an isometric view with blood effects; stylized rather than gory.

Substances depicted
Moderate

Alcohol is served and consumed at taverns and inns, and fictional drugs exist within the world's lore and settings.

Prostitution / sex work depicted
Moderate

A brothel in a major city is a visitable location where sex-for-pay is depicted and discussed as part of a quest.

Sexual content innuendo
Moderate

Suggestive dialogue and adult situations, including a brothel where encounters and services are alluded to.

Horror & psychological spooky
Low

Some creepy, unsettling locations such as an ancient underground dungeon, spirits, and undead enemies create atmospheric dread.

Crime & lawlessness crime depicted
Low

The player can commit theft, lie, and make morally gray choices such as siding with criminal or violent factions.

Animal combat combat mechanic
Low

Standard creature combat against wolves, bears, boars, and other beasts as ordinary gameplay.

Torture referenced
Low

Dialogue and quest lore reference torture and cruelty inflicted on characters.

Language mild
Low

Dialogue includes scattered profanity such as coarse insults and cursing.

Who can reach your kid

What it is

Pillars of Eternity is a single-player fantasy role-playing game played from an overhead isometric view, where you build a character and party and explore the world of Eora through tactical, pausable combat and heavy dialogue-driven storytelling. Combat against humans, undead, and wild creatures shows blood but is stylized rather than gory. The story is thematically dark: it revolves around infants being born without souls, and threads through cults, dead and murdered children, grief, and morally ambiguous choices. The world includes taverns with alcohol, references to drugs, a visitable brothel tied to a quest, and grim references to torture and cruelty. There are no microtransactions, no gambling, and no online or social features.

How it's framed

The game presents its violence and mature subject matter through a somber, morally complex lens, repeatedly asking the player to weigh hard choices with no clean answers rather than glorifying cruelty. Notably, the design rewards non-violent resolutions as fully as combat, and its darkest content—soulless infants, cults, and death—is framed as tragedy and moral dilemma to be reckoned with.

Details

Developer
Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher
Xbox Game Studios
Released
Mar 26, 2015
Metacritic 89critic score (third-party) · out of 100

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