Obsidian have released news and a video detailing the changes coming in the final patch of Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire.

Update 5.0 is coming one year after the game’s initial launch.

You can read the patch-notes below (along with other fixes here on their official forums), but we shall be going into detail about them:

• New Ship UI
  • An update to the UI has been implemented that will come up any time you engage with a ship on the seas that brings a more elegant way to perform ship-to-ship encounters.
• Turn-Based Mode Out of Beta
  • Thanks to feedback from the community, we have made a lot of changes to turn-based mode to account for bugs and balance fixes and it is now in full release with the 5.0 patch.
• New Story Content Added
  • After listening to feedback on the critical path of the game when it came to reactivity with Woedica and Eothas, so we’ve decided to go in and write new lines and get them recorded by the original actors to add more to that aspect of the game.
• Anarchist Path Adjustments
  • Some critical path items have been moved out of Neketaka to other locations in the Deadfire to address the difficulty and length that the game had if choosing to not side with a faction at Ondra’s Mortar.
• The Ultimate
  • The final God Challenge will be live with the 5.0 patch. This challenge, “The Ultimate” will turn on all other God Challenges, Trial of Iron, Path of the Damned, and Solo mode.

Firstly, “The Ultimate” challenge has been introduced. This activates all eleven other God Challenges (including food and gear degrading over time, following the main quest-line within certain dates, protecting a following small child NPC, and more), the highest difficulty of “Path of the Damned”, Trial of Iron mode to force only one save slot that cannot be save-scummed, and being unable to hire any companions.

Despite the grave difficulty- so much even some of the game’s testers feel it is unbeatable- the prize means you will not be forgotten by Obsidian staff any time soon:

“The challenge is not for the faint of heart, and only the most devoted and erudite of our players stand even a chance in this challenge, but the first twelve players to triumph will be immortalized in Obsidian’s studio lobby for all to see. The first twelve Watchers to succeed at the challenge will get their names and their Watchers’ names, classes, and levels upon our Deadfire Ultimate Challenge plaque hanging in our lobby. And yes, that means that everyone who comes through our studio will bear witness to the glory of your triumph.”

The first fifty players to complete the task will receive a patch (for their clothes, not the game) with “I Beat The Ultimate – Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire –” emblazoned on it with Josh Sawyer’s face (the Studio Design Director)

To prove you have done so, the rule can be found in the news linked above and below:

In order to streamline the review and vetting process, please read the following submission guidelines and terms:

1. Cheating, including save-scumming, use of third-party tools or mods, and/or doing anything in a manner contrary to the spirit of the challenge is prohibited.
2. Console commands that do not require the “iroll20s” command be enabled are allowed.
3. Submissions must include a video of the entirety of your run and a save file of the run completed.
4. We reserve the right to disqualify a submission without notice or explanation.

If you have completed the challenge and wish to send it in for review and judgment, please send the following evidence to [email protected]:

• We require full video evidence of your run – acceptable forms of video include: Youtube playlist links, or direct download links via Dropbox.
• We also require the save game file with the completed challenge.

In addition the update includes an update ship UI, the long-requested turn-based combat mode, new story content around Woedica and Eothas, and adjustments to the Anarchist Path to ensure a fairer difficulty. To do the latter “Some critical path items have been moved out of Neketaka to other locations in the Deadfire to address the difficulty and length that the game had if choosing to not side with a faction at Ondra’s Mortar”.

Finally the Pillars of Eternity Pen and Paper ruleset has been finalized and released to the general public. It will become available to the general public later today via the official website here (or the direct link here).

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is available now on Windows PC, Linux and Mac (all via Steam, GOG, and the Humble Store). In addition it is coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2019. In case you missed it, you can find our review for the game here (we highly recommend it!).