Developer Owlcat Games released the fourth major DLC for cRPG Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Titled The Last Sarkorians, it expands the game with the addition of a new companion, new class, a number of items, feats, spells and more. You can acquire it as a part of Season Pass 2 (which will grant access to two more DLCs once they are out) or purchase it separately if you are not interested in the rest of the seasonal content.
Drawing the comparison between Wrath of the Righteous and Kingmaker, Through the Ashes follows a similar structure to that of Varnhold’s Lot while The Treasure of the Midnight Isles invites players into a monster-infested endless dungeon in the similar vein to Beneath the Stolen Lands. Naturally, The Last Sarkorians is Wrath’s take on KM’s The Wildcards with its approach. Instead of featuring a separate cast of characters or a post-game sequence, the latest DLC actively expands the main campaign with new content. There is no new race, however.
Before we dive in, there are going to be light spoilers ahead, referring to the new companion, the circ*mstances in which you meet him and the overall setting of his personal quest. No details about how the quest ends are shared.
The biggest – and loudest – addition of the DLC is one Ulbrig Olesk, a Shifter companion hailing from Old Sarkoris of the times before Areelu Vorlesh opened the Worldwound. His abilities allow him to turn into a majestic griffon and take on your enemies with claws and beak. As a man plucked out of his time and forced to face the world he can no longer recognize, Ulbrig struggles with moving on, yearning to see the return of Sarkoris and its old ways. Perhaps the Commander can help him on this journey of acceptance and resolve if they were to decide to take part in his personal quest chain.
For the first time, you meet the Shifter in the very beginning of the game. Turned into a stone statue of a griffon, he can be found in the Blackwing Library of Kenabres alongside the Storyteller and a number of cultists. However, you cannot recruit him just yet.
Depending on when you decide to take part in the DLC, be it playing through the game from the beginning or loading one of your existing saved games, there are a few ways it can go:
- Ulbrig can be recruited in Act I after the tavern defense battle sequence. This approach will let you learn the most about the character through his interactions with other companions and reactions to your decisions and story beats. This way, his personal quests will take place in Act II, Act III and Act V respectively;
- If you load a saved game sometime mid-Act III and spend a certain period of time resting in Drezen, Ulbrig will approach you himself and ask to join your party. His personal quests then will trigger in Act III and Act V;
- Lastly, you can recruit him and complete his personal quests in Act V in one go at any point before Threshold. Just rest in Drezen in between his quests long enough to trigger the next step.
In one of the trailers dedicated to the expansion and the new companion, the developers from Owlcat Games have noted that if you’d like a chance to win the heart of this Sarkorian chieftain, you should recruit him as early as possible. Ulbrig is a potential love interest for both male and female Commanders:
“To see all the content this DLC has to offer, we recommend that you start a new game or load a save from before your first visit to the Blackwing Library in Kenabres. Or, if you’re not interested in kindling a romance, you can load a save from chapter 3 or 5, wait for Ulbrig to appear in your throne room, and follow him on his personal quest.”
Unwilling to accept the dark fate brought upon Sarkoris by the Architect of the Worldwound, Ulbrig decides to search for his lost kin. This journey brings him and his traveling companions to a small town of Gundrun, one of the last few remaining vestiges of his culture.
Much like Ulbrig himself, the town struggles between two separate ways forward: one, represented by shaman Ysenna, is to completely turn to what little remains of the old ways and largely refuse the outside world. Another, proposed by the chieftain Sigvorn, is to embrace the change: recruit Numerian mercenaries, including arcane casters, enjoy the fruits of progress and, most importantly, survive no matter what.
Ulbrig’s sudden appearance gives both leaders something to ponder. And, while the town is going through a crisis, Olesk is forced to confront his own past. What happened before he was turned into a statue? How come he was asleep for a hundred years? His personal quest chain seeks to answer all of those questions and more, while giving players a chance to glimpse at what Sarkoris was about before demons destroyed it almost overnight.
The Last Sarkorians also introduces a new playable class, the Shifter, coming with its own six archetypes. Note that Ulbrig’s archetype is Griffonheart and it is unique to him, players have no access to that particular option.
Shifters can enhance themselves with various animal aspects, grow fearsome claws to rip enemies to shreds and even swap their form to that of their patron entirely with major transformation. The base class has access to 10 animal forms and there are some more exotic options that only come with certain archetypes.
Unlike Druids or Shamans, Shifters are focused on dealing physical damage with natural attacks. Still, the animal aspects and the archetypes provide certain differences and variety when it comes to gameplay. For example, the Child of the Manticore archetype allows your Shifter to become a ranged damage dealer that grows spikes instead of claws. Meanwhile, Feyform Shifter gets access to the Ankou form that allows you to use Sneak Attacks. You also get Rogue talents, Evasion and more, all using your Shifter levels to determine the appropriate damage. Trickster, anyone?
Check out the Steam page to read the introduction to the Shifter class shared by Owlcat Games. In the post, the developers outline each of the six archetypes and what makes them tick. Regardless, the variety provided by the archetypes and multi-classing allows you to create a build fitting the Shifter of your dreams that will be working with your chosen Mythic Class like clockwork.
Of course the new class comes with a variety of spells and a bunch of new gear scattered around the game and given to vendors. Players will also have to face the new Swarm enemies in areas related to Olesk’s quests. The new DLC continues the tradition of using small in-engine cutscenes that started in Through the Ashes. While it is a seemingly small addition, it does wonders for the overall immersion.
The Last Sarkorians DLC did not introduce major gameplay additions such as the Tailwinds in The Treasure of the Midnight Isles or the milestone experience system in Through the Ashes, but between the new class (available to you via Ulbrig himself if you decide to go for something else or continue an existing playthrough), new storyline and a variety of new spells and feats it feels far from dull.
The structure of the DLC and the fact that it actively expands the contents of the main campaign and gives Commander more quests to do almost automatically lifts The Last Sarkorians to the top of my personal expansion list. Even if the DLC was actively fighting against me and won’t let me trigger/turn in the quests until the developers rolled out a couple of patches.
While trying to creep through the burning Kenabres as commoner or facing the nigh-invincible enemies as the Excess was thrilling in its own way, for me Wrath of the Righteous is the story of the Commander of the Fifth Crusade, and having more of it has been a treat.
Add to it that the base game left Sarkoris largely unexplored (with the exception of Wintersun and a few lore crumbs here and there) and Ulbrig himself is a surprisingly enjoyable addition to your motley crew of misfits, and you have some more great Pathfinder time on your hands.
Now for something highly subjective that had no effect on the overall score of the expansion. The addition of the Shifter class made my yearning for a “neutral nature” (or a “neutral arcane”, like Archmage for those who just want to study without abandoning their mortality) type of Mythic Path rekindle and double in scope. Sure, it has great gameplay synergy with the existing Mythic Paths, like the Demon (like Kalavakus + base Shifter with major Wolf aspect for trip & hit combo) and flavor-wise Azata has the nature thing going for them, but both are far from neutral and Azata’s vibes in particular don’t work for me. However, the game is already struggling with providing enough content for all Mythic Paths, especially the late game ones, so it does make sense that a line had to be drawn somewhere.
The Last Sarkorians is the first DLC of Season Pass 2. Two others have been announced: DLC#5 will continue where Through the Ashes left off, while DLC #6 will bring your party back to Kenabres for a little break. Stay tuned to find out more once devs are ready to share.
Note: the early access code for the The Last Sarkorians DLC was provided for the purpose of this review but the Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous Season Pass 2 is a verified purchase by the author.
Similar to:
- Pathfinder: Kingmaker – The Wildcards
