Pillars of Eternity is the surprise recipient of a patch to add turn-based mode, developer Obsidian has announced.

Fresh from releasing Avowed, Grounded 2, and The Outer Worlds 2 this year, the Microsoft-owned studio has gone back to its isometric, party-based fantasy RPG over a decade after it came out with a fresh update.

Obsidian announced a new public beta for Pillars of Eternity opens on November 5 for players on Steam and Xbox PC, which adds the turn-based mode. The reveal comes alongside a message from game director Josh Sawyer (last seen directing Pentiment), with his thoughts on what turn-based mode means for Pillars of Eternity.

“Fans who enjoyed experimenting with turn-based mode in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire will find familiar ground here, but with key improvements shaped by your feedback,” Obsidian said in a blog post. More details are below.

How turn-based mode works in Pillars of Eternity:

• Unbound Turns: All turns are now influenced by a character’s overall speed, improving the value of Real-Time with Pause attributes and mechanics.
• Smarter Free Actions: Actions like swapping weapons, drinking potions, or enabling modals are now free actions. Each free action is limited to one per turn per type for balance.
• Faster Pacing: Combat lethality has been significantly increased for both enemies and players to keep battles tense and impactful.
• Mode Flexibility: You can choose Turn-Based Mode alongside difficulty when starting a new game — or swap freely between Real-Time with Pause and Turn-Based Mode in the game options. We’re also investigating a direct HUD toggle for even more convenience.

As this is a public beta, please expect bugs and ongoing adjustments, Obsidian warned. The beta will run for “some time” as the developer continues to roll out updates and prepares for a full release.

IGN’s Pillars of Eternity review returned a 9/10 back in 2015. We said at the time: “Obsidian (and its Kickstarter backers) have done it: Pillars of Eternity is one of the best RPGs since Baldur's Gate.”

Obsidian followed PoE up with Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire in 2018, before Microsoft bought the company later that year. Obsidian went on to release the likes of The Outer Worlds and Grounded, and has become one of the most prolific Xbox Games Studios developers Microsoft has on its books.

Will there be a Pillars of Eternity 3? Sawyer has commented on the prospect in the past. In 2023, for example, Sawyer said he would love to develop Pillars of Eternity 3 — under the condition the game receives the same budget as Baldur's Gate 3.

"I think if it truly was an unlimited budget, I think I would try Pillars 3 because I know what the budget was for Deadfire, which was not a whole lot and I have heard from multiple people what the budget was for Baldur’s Gate 3, and I’m not gonna talk about numbers, but if I got that budget, sure, I’ll make Pillars 3,” he said.

Sawyer added that if he were to make Pillars 3, he would employ a turn-based combat structure. Obsidian has yet to announce its next game.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.