Platform: PC
Developer: Daedalic Entertainment
Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment
Release Date: August 16th, 2017
Genre: Adventure / Point and Click
Nerd Rating: 7 out of 10
Reviewed by Kikopaff
Do you burn down a cathedral if it means giving your stepfather a job in masonry? Do you tell your lover the real reason for your departure, or plant a seed of hope in his broken heart instead? Do you betray your bishop for the sake of doing what’s right for your village? As a newcomer into the world that Ken Follett has built, The Pillars of the Earth is a magnificent, medieval tale about war, politics, loyalty, and love. Based on Follett’s best-selling novel of the same title, The Pillars of the Earth is a rich journey into a real period of history with captivating voice acting, allowing it to be one of the best storytelling experiences I’ve walked through in any video game. Journey into the story as three determined characters in the face of turmoil, and build a grand cathedral that brings awe and hopes to your village, your people, and ultimately, your country.
The Pillars of the Earth is set during England’s 12th century, a period rife with civil war, precipitated by the accidental death of the only legitimate son of Henry I. Kingsbridge, a small town in England, begins the construction of a cathedral to claim wealth and security for its people during a time of poverty, war and scarce loyalty. The story spans over three ‘books’ and 21 episodes, all of which are now available, with a timeline spanning over 30 years. You play as Philip, a meek monk and prior of Kingsbridge, Jack, an outlaw from the forest, and Aliena, a defiant noblewoman. The story alternates between these three characters, creating an interwoven web of relationships, each dramatically shifting the narrative one way or another. Through exploration, decision-making and rich dialogue, this point-and-click adventure allows you to change the events of Follett’s bestseller, making it a video game that both fans of Follett’s books and newcomers must encounter.
After over 20 hours of gameplay, what impresses me the most about The Pillars of the Earth is its unashamed navigation of dire consequences and pure evil, and how that creates a convincing narrative. It doesn’t bank on the promise of a hopeful, happy ending – it isn’t afraid to linger on the bad news or the defeat. This authentic and mature approach to storytelling forces you to wrestle with virtues and key decisions that need to be made. More importantly, it gives the player a real chance to think about the kind of story they want to build, and what prices you’re willing to pay to achieve the results you’re after. My first playthrough offered me a difficult, but satisfying conclusion, but upon reflection of my past decisions and responses, coming back to The Pillars of the Earth with a determined, alternate solution feels just as great as the first time. It’s just a shame that The Pillars of the Earth moves at such a snail’s pace.
With a story that spans over 30 years, you develop strong feelings for memorable characters like Jack.
For a game that focuses on adventure being fleshed out through engaging dialogue, the lack of action and adrenaline is a given for most Telltale-like games. But The Pillars of the Earth moves at a very slow, drawn-out pace that makes it difficult to recommend initially on the first impression. Part of what makes Pillars so slow is its decision to capture every facial animation. It’s a fair sacrifice; emotions really are felt on a deeper level when you can really witness the anguish on Philip’s face when forced to make a decision he doesn’t agree with. The hand-drawn art is impressive. But it’s also an awkward sequence of animations when waiting for your fellow monk to finish salting the fish, then turn around and recognize you’re still midway through a conversation, put the fish down, and finally answer. The Pillars of the Earth is confident that its patient approach to storytelling will give players a unique adventure, which it certainly does, but fair warning is required at the beginning of your gameplay as it isn’t quite as fast as I’m used to. It’s an experience that certainly rewards the player who is willing to see their decisions play out, and you will be satisfied at how deeply immersive Follett’s world is, even from just the idea of building a cathedral.
I hate William Hamleigh with a burning passion.
If storytelling isn’t enough to keep you in your seat, then you’ll be glad to know that the voice acting in The Pillars of the Earth is exceptional and convincing. The dialogue is poised, mature and raw. There are many things to take note when listening to your bishop or taking advice from your mother – tones, pauses, grunts. Every conversation feels real and decisions are constantly being weighed out because there’s a sincere concern or risk to consider. Throughout many conversations, you can choose how to respond, ranging from two to four options. Each dialogue option affects the politics at hand in different ways, and your contribution to the narrative genuinely feels important. Sometimes there’s a timer in which you must choose a response, other times, you have up to minutes to really consider your decision. And trust me, there are some scenarios where you will need as much time as you can emotionally handle. Despite the storyline being primarily a linear one, your choices still alter politics, relationships and agendas of the people around you, and is worth taking note what decisions you make as they do impact later scenarios. Thankfully, at the end of each chapter, you receive a summary of the choices you made which is worth taking screenshots of, as this really helps you to keep track for the rest of the story.
Exploration is a key component throughout The Pillars of the Earth. Interacting with objects around you uncovers breadcrumbs that contribute to the overall plot. Picking up objects like bowls, keys or food, can also unlock new ways to interact with other characters or creatively combine objects around you to discover new secrets and plot twists. Searching every room or area that you’re in is made easy, as holding the space bar quickly shows you points of interests instead of hovering your mouse over the screen, waiting for your cursor to change. There are also objects, buildings or views that your character can ‘interact’ with by pondering on them. The character’s thought process appears via lowercase text, which adds a layer of immersion and discovery. But over time, this mechanic never seems helpful enough to progress through the story and becomes something more of a distraction, rather than a means to understand your character’s feelings.
Playing as Philip, you can interact with characters by quoting scripture from your bible.
With a straightforward, linear storyline, the level designs are fairly simple. As you explore and interact, you receive clues which you can use as another unique method to interact with characters around you. Despite the way it’s been called, clues aren’t actually ‘clues’ but serve as the objectives that you need to accomplish in order to progress to the next part of the story. You can have a few ‘clues’ in your inventory at a time, with some overlapping with others. There are very few, if not any, ‘puzzles’ to solve through and for a game that focuses primarily on its storytelling, puzzles don’t seem to make sense to include anyway, although, for players who enjoy the two fusions, some may be more disappointed than others.
The world that Follett has built is visually gorgeous, thanks to its 2D hand-drawn animations, as well as its medieval score. Details are not missed in The Pillars of the Earth, especially for a narrative that focuses solely on the completion of a grand cathedral. Architectural details are captured, from the painted windows to the wood that’s being lifted onto the roof. Backgrounds are painted with generous spreads of color, allowing the forests to feel lush, and castles to feel grandeur. Each set also evokes a sense of depth in distance, as characters move further or closer to the camera. There are some animations that work in a bird’s eye view and captures even more details from shacks to workers in their stalls. The only shame that comes with such an aesthetically pleasing atmosphere, is its glitches in frame rates. Especially during cases of character dialogue, frame rates frequently jump causing strange animations. Disappearing necks aren’t exactly normal. Lip syncing is also a frequent dilemma, with many cinematics lacking actual mouth movements and a stiff face instead. For a game that includes such compelling storytelling and rich dialogue, its execution can sometimes feel poor due to glitches.
In a time of poverty, who do you prioritize with your limited resources?
The Pillars of the Earth is a beautiful tale of war, politics, and hope. Its medieval setting brings to light real periods of history and fleshes out its political climate through ordinary, determined and memorable characters. This point-and-click adventure forces you to make decisions based on virtue, empathy, and grit, with many tense consequences and agendas to consider and sift through. It’s a slow game, and may not always satisfy a pace that players are used to, but rewards the patient adventurer with a mature, captivating and satisfying conclusion. Its a visually beautiful world for such a barren, poverty-stricken era, but there are some animation glitches to bear through. Upon playing this game, I’m certainly picking up Follett’s book to see how my decisions altered the original narrative. Perhaps a third playthrough will be made when I finish reading the book, because hey, The Pillars of the Earth is that good. If you enjoy worlds such as Game of Thrones or Castlevania, you’ll enjoy what this gem has to offer. The Pillars of the Earth is available for free with Twitch Prime for the month of November 2018, which you can access here.
Written by Kikopaff
Kikopaff is an avid fan of comics, slurps many bowls of ramen, and lives in the Land Down Under. When she’s not writing about video games, she is playing Sid Meier’s Civilization VI or buried in a Terry Pratchett book. She also loves cooking up a storm in her kitchen.
