Owners of Pillars of Eternity II who logged onto Steam this Thursday may have noticed the game receiving a mysterious 2GB patch. Those of them who happened to start a new playthrough with the patch were startled to discover the existence of a fully functional turn-based mode(!). Obsidian were quick to withdraw the patch, but it was too late. A Reddit user named raggnarok may have been the first to break the news, including screenshots (and there's a video too if you think these are photoshopped).

Those of you who remember our 2015 April Fools joke will find this news both amazing and hilarious. How much did Tim Cain know and when did he know it? Looks like inXile aren't the only ones splurging on that Microsoft cash! I guess it makes sense to put this together for the console release next year. If you'd like to know more, Codex Deadfire cultist Safav Hamon has done some datamining and figured out the details of how the game's mechanics will be adapted for turn-based gameplay. If you'd like to try it yourself, user Nryn has helpfully provided instructions for retrieving the revoked version from Steam. The patch also includes a completely new ship combat UI, so I guess Josh Sawyer really was working on that. When will this be released for real, you ask? Obsidian aren't talking. It's probably safe to assume we won't get any official answers until next year.