Verdict

Hellbreakers tells an epic, thematic (though not overly nuanced) story of political resistance. Its first act is offputtingly formulaic, but a few standout set pieces make it worth sticking with, because the second and third acts of the campaign are vastly more impressive.

Pros

Varied encounters
Exciting set pieces
Topical and impactful

Cons

Makes a rocky first impression
Narrative lacks complexity

Pathfinder's latest adventure path wears its heart on its sleeve. Hellbreakers casts you as a scrappy group of revolutionaries, rebelling against a nation's tyrannical rulers. Your journey from ground-level grunt to uprising leader is a perilous one, and Hellbreakers sometimes struggles to capture its moral complexity, but overall, the story offers a cathartic kind of hope. Things can and do get better.

I mean that in a broader narrative sense, but the same can be said for the actual adventure design. The early chapters left me feeling cold. If I'd bought a copy myself (thank you to Paizo, by the way, for making this review possible), I might have put the adventure down and never picked it up again.

Stick with it, though. Once it gets going, Hellbreakers is stuffed with explosive set pieces. Expect murder mysteries, epic sieges, and expansive sandboxes. Like life, things really do get better.

We have to eat our vegetables before we have dessert, so let's start at the beginning (expect mild campaign spoilers from here on out). You'll begin as first-level members of the Hellbreakers League, a rebellious organization that opposes the government of Isger, itself a vassal state of the Asmodeus-worshipping Cheliax. Basically, you're a bright-eyed, optimistic new recruit in the fight for independence.

The first few chapters see you performing odd jobs for the cause. That means resupplying, rescuing fellow members from a few tight spots, and lightly menacing the Isgeri government and the Hellknights, a group of Chelaxian knights whose desire to maintain order puts them at odds with the Hellbreakers.

It also means doing good deeds to improve the organization's reputation. You can gain and lose reputation points depending on your actions. It's a neat mechanical way to represent your characters' narrative efforts, but it often massively oversimplifies the tense political situation.

There are many examples. Case in point: We solved a mystery for this town! Sure, it may have happily supported Cheliax for decades, but since our reputation score is a 12, we won't have much trouble getting its support.

This small village adores the local nuns that serve Asmodeus, but after they clash with our noble Hellbreakers once, the townsfolk seem pretty cool about arresting them. We performed one fetch quest for a neutral group of bandits, but they'll readily agree to only rob our political rivals.

Hellbreakers struggles to capture the nuance of political change, and it can feel toothless at times. At this stage, you're not playing morally complex characters making difficult decisions for the greater good; you're an idealistic hero who always does the righteous thing. No unnecessary violence or collateral damage needed.

For some people, this fantasy escapism will be a positive point - not everyone wants to be reminded of human suffering at all times - but others might wish for a little more grit.

The lack of complexity isn't just moral, either. The actual monsters you encounter are varied (and, in many cases, are apt representations of the evils of fascism), but the adventures feel simplistic and repetitive. There are multiple back-to-back missions where you're sent to retrieve a missing Hellbreakers member. Several times, the book instructs the GM to make it seem like the characters' choices affect the plot, but in reality, the results are the same.

There are still moments of delight here. I particularly enjoyed a fire-fighting minigame and the antics of a magical shrinking tree. However, these early chapters feel too much like filler. They're the setup for more exciting things that can only happen to you when you've earned enough level ups. They're overly linear and often forgettable.

Chapter four shakes things up. You're suddenly thrown into a ballroom gala with Isger's most influential folks. It's a who's-who of key figures, but it's also a whodunnit, as multiple mysteries are thrown in your lap. This is a detailed set piece with many paths to victory, and a lot of thought was clearly put into it.

By now, your Hellbreakers are established members of the team, and you're tasked with staging multiple uprisings. Each feels unique and offers a mix of playstyles, from espionage, social intrigue, skill-checks, and good-old-fashioned combat.

The adventure still, at times, suffers from an immersion breaking lack of player agency. Why, for example, are we taking all our mission ideas from an eager new recruit rather than developing them ourselves? The necessary quest-giver mechanics don't seem to match the scenario's narrative.

However, for the most part, the latter part of Hellbreakers offers much more freedom. Major cities come with gazetteers, which expands the ways in which your team can interact with the world. There's a large-scale infiltration mission in later chapters which is a full-on-sandbox, and it's one of the highlights of the campaign.

Characters you meet during uprisings might join the Hellbreakers' League, which, at this stage in the story, comes with plenty of risk. We finally get to see our rebels impact the world, make tough choices, and face consequences. The campaign is no longer happening to us; we're key players in Pathfinder's Hellfire Crisis metaplot.
The climax features a full-on siege which, while it's going to require a lot of bookkeeping, feels appropriately epic.

Hellbreakers makes me appreciate Paizo's new one-book approach to adventure paths. I would probably have abandoned Hellbreakers after part one, but I'm so glad I stuck around. The story doesn't make many bold statements, but it's still worth telling.

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