DLC for Pathfinder: Kingmaker
You join Varn - as his general - and experience Varnhold's valorous history first-hand; the whole of it, not just the outcome! Just as you were claiming your first title, another hero of the Stolen Lands became a baron too: Maegar Varn, captain of the Varnling Host mercenary band and rightful ruler of Varnhold If you've played the main campaign, you already know what happened to him... or do you?
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could’ve been better had they implemented more impact on the main game, as it is your protagonist of the dlc can’t even join you as a mercenary in the main game and instead sits in the tavern doing nothing.
Unironically better than the main game in almost every way.
The entire thing is railroaded, which was a good thing, considering I didn't have to deal with the kingdom management; the main game has some really awful narrative pacing because of it, so Varnhold's Lot being a faster paced adventure module was a pretty good break from the slog. Owlcat seems to be good at crafting these smaller adventures (The beginning arc with the Stag Lord is the best part of Kingmaker), and this was made after they developed Kingmaker, so it felt a little more professional and well made.
The dungeon was conceptually cool but it dragged a bit near the ending. I thought the 'every object in this room is a mimic' gimmick was funny at first but then it got old because they reused it like 10 times.
I liked the dynamic between Varn and Cephal, but other than that, the writing was messy. As always with this game, the choices you make during the campaign hardly matter unless you follow a specific order of operations by choosing certain dialogue options for the 'best ending'. The endings themselves were pretty unsatisfying; I get that they wanted to tie it into the main game while not making too much of an impact on the narrative of varnhold's vanishing, but the choice of the MC doesnt really matter outside of whether or not they survive, or where you have to pick them up from later. The few sidequests here were well written but held back by the system; I liked the idea of the mystery quest but the entire investigation process being tied to dice rolls instead of logic made it annoying to finish.
The DLC is only $7, which is pretty cheap considering the entire experience is anywhere between 9-12 hours depending on how much you suck at the combat. Definitely worth picking up if you are just starting out or replaying the entire game, but I don't really think it would be worth it as a standalone experience.
The entire thing is railroaded, which was a good thing, considering I didn't have to deal with the kingdom management; the main game has some really awful narrative pacing because of it, so Varnhold's Lot being a faster paced adventure module was a pretty good break from the slog. Owlcat seems to be good at crafting these smaller adventures (The beginning arc with the Stag Lord is the best part of Kingmaker), and this was made after they developed Kingmaker, so it felt a little more professional and well made.
The dungeon was conceptually cool but it dragged a bit near the ending. I thought the 'every object in this room is a mimic' gimmick was funny at first but then it got old because they reused it like 10 times.
I liked the dynamic between Varn and Cephal, but other than that, the writing was messy. As always with this game, the choices you make during the campaign hardly matter unless you follow a specific order of operations by choosing certain dialogue options for the 'best ending'. The endings themselves were pretty unsatisfying; I get that they wanted to tie it into the main game while not making too much of an impact on the narrative of varnhold's vanishing, but the choice of the MC doesnt really matter outside of whether or not they survive, or where you have to pick them up from later. The few sidequests here were well written but held back by the system; I liked the idea of the mystery quest but the entire investigation process being tied to dice rolls instead of logic made it annoying to finish.
The DLC is only $7, which is pretty cheap considering the entire experience is anywhere between 9-12 hours depending on how much you suck at the combat. Definitely worth picking up if you are just starting out or replaying the entire game, but I don't really think it would be worth it as a standalone experience.