The Pillars of the Earth, book one, review - A slow-burning narrative game that's well worth the commitment

Like any genre, point and click narrative games can be amazing, awful, or just so-so. The Pillars of the Earth is easily one of the best looking out there at the moment and it's rich in setting and story.

It still has a couple of minor problems which stop it from being the amazing experience it could be but, so long as you've got the patience to watch the tale unfold, it's a dark, emotive, and at times harrowing journey.

The devil hunts the men

The Pillars of the Earth is a historical interactive adventure game set in 12th century England. Based on the novel of the same name by Ken Follett, you play through seven initial chapters and follow several different characters as a plot of political uncertainty, a testing of faith, and personal determination unfolds.

Switching between Jack, an apprentice stonemason, Philip, a monk, and Aliena, a disgraced noblewoman, together these three characters aid the construction of one of the greatest cathedrals England has ever seen.

Jack was raised in the woods by his mother and must still discover the parts of his past she never told him and Philip, Kingsbridge's elected Prior, balances the fate of England on his shoulders as war threatens to spill over

After getting over the initial awe of the game's stunning 2D art style and wonderfully fluid animation, the story is compelling and interesting enough on its own, but it's the characters that make it.

From its protagonists to its secondary characters, the majority aren't just pulled from a box of stereotypes and that's a real relief.

Each scene is excellently animated, and the soundtrack and high-quality voice acting really makes the game feel premium.

The lighter puzzles used to uncover more of the story break up the monotony of information nicely. When you discover a new fact about something or someone, you can then ask others in the scene about it and potentially change the outcome of the game.

Of course, despite the fact that the story is ultimately linear, the smaller details allow for change in a deeper way than I'd expected. You can choose to answer people or to stay silent, to complete your tasks or do them half-heartedly, and even the smallest gestures can have repercussions when you least expect it.

Hunger is the best seasoning

Though the audio is fantastic there are a couple of annoying technical issues that I encountered. Sometimes, when cutscenes played out, the music would stop suddenly before starting up again a second later which was really jarring.

At a point near the end of chapter one some of the environmental sounds seemed to be stuck on a loop and, for whatever reason, were so loud that I could barely hear the dialogue, despite having turned the music and SFX down originally.

It's also rather problematic that you can't access the settings menu when playing out an important scene. This means you can't adjust the various volumes or stick on subtitles if you're having problems hearing.

The Pillars of the Earth isn't going to be for everyone. It's mostly a thrilling ride, but at times it's also spoon-fed and rather tedious to get through, too. If you're impatient and not a fan of narrative games, you're not going to like this.

If you love the lengthy, drawn-out reward of a great plot, interesting characters, and wonderful environment, I can't recommend this enough.

Bear in mind that the game still has a couple of parts to release in future updates, so you can't complete the story just yet.

The Pillars of the Earth, book one, review - A slow-burning narrative game that's well worth the commitment

The Pillars of the Earth is a detailed and rich narrative adventure with a few irritating audio goofs that break the immersion
Score
Emily Sowden
Emily Sowden
Emily is Pocket Gamer's News Editor and writes about all kinds of game-related things. She needs coffee to function and begrudgingly loves her Switch more than she lets on.