Obsidian Entertainment announced Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, the followup to its immensely successful 2015 role-playing game Pillars of Eternity. The announcement came on Obsidian’s website, noting that it will be the studio’s first sequel in its 13-year history. You can watch the lengthy announcement trailer above.
Like the original, Obsidian is seeking your help to make the game possible via crowdfunding. However, in an interesting move, Obsidian has chosen to use Fig instead of Kickstarter. The lesser-known Fig is a crowdfunding platform exclusively for video games. Notable upcoming games like Psychonauts 2 and Wasteland 3 have reached their goals on Fig and now Pillars of Eternity 2 will take its turn.
Obsidian set a goal of $1.1 million. Less than a day after the campaign started, that goal has been met and exceeded. As of publication, more than $1.14 million has already been contributed by more than 10,000 backers. The campaign is scheduled to continue until February 24, so barring an early shutdown by Obsidian, that number should see substantial growth. When Pillars of Eternity was on Kickstarter in 2012, it garnered about $4 million. At the time, that was the most for a video game crowdfunding campaign. That mark has since been shattered by numerous games, including the$141 million-plus raised for Star Citizen.
Here is the setup for Pillars of Eternity 2, according to the game’s Fig page:
“Eothas has returned. The god of light and rebirth was thought dead, but he now inhabits the stone titan that sat buried under your keep, Caed Nua, for millennia. Ripping his way out of the ground, he destroyed your stronghold and left you at the brink of death. To save your soul, you must track down the wayward god and demand answers — answers which could throw mortals and the gods themselves into chaos.”
The world of Deadfire will always keep moving, even as you are off on quests. The first game’s narrative was partially altered by your choices. Obsidian plans on deepening this mechanic in the sequel. Deadfire will bring back some favorite characters from the original, include a dynamic weather system, and a plethora of islands to explore by way of sea travel.
As long as the crowdfunding campaign continues to go well, Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire is expected to release on PC in early 2018. If you pledge at least $29 to the campaign, you will receive a digital copy of the game upon release.
Story originally published in January 2017. Updated on 01-27-2017 by Steven Petite: Adding that the game has surpassed its crowdfunding goal.
