Obsidian Announces Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

Obsidian has officially announced the sequel to Pillars of Eternity.

We’ve known for awhile that Obsidian has been working on a follow-up to Pillars of Eternity – back in May, Urquhart stated that the team was “starting to move forward on Eternity II, and that Obsidian would be looking to crowdfund.

But today, Obsidian officially announced Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, which is currently in development for Windows PC, Mac, and Linux. Obsidian also announced that it will be crowdfunding the sequel, using game-focused crowdfunding platform Fig. The campaign goes live today, seeking $1.1 million, and will have both equity and rewards – $2.25 million will be open for equity. In Deadfire, players will embark on a “second fantastic journey to the world of Eora, this time to the vast, uncharted, Deadfire Archipelago where they will fight for their souls as they hunt down a god.”

“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,” reads a description from the press release. “Ripping his way out of the ground, he destroys your stronghold and leaves 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.”

In the sequel, Obsidian says you will “continue the story you began as the Watcher of Caed Nua in Pillars of Eternity and see how your decisions and actions in the Dyrwood persist in Deadfire,” stating that you will be traveling by land and sea to “discover new cultures and environments.” There will be new and familiar characters, and Obsidian adds that companions will be “tightly intertwined with the fate of Eothas, Deadfire, and will change based on the player’s choices over the course of the story.”

“We are so thankful to our fans, who believed in us and made the original Pillars a huge crowdfunding success. For the sequel, we have turned to Fig for our fan-funding needs because we not only wanted our fans to help shape Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, but to financially share in its potential as well,” said Feargus Urquhart, CEO of Obsidian Entertainment. “Pillars of Eternity set the standard for quality among fan-funded games by not only delivering an amazing game, but also making good on everything we promised to our backers. Our goal for Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is to improve on what fans loved about the original while adding features our fans want to see, truly living cities, more freedom to explore the open world, and pushing what we do best at Obsidian – letting players define and play the role they want to play.”

Pillars of Eternity is one of the most successful crowdfunded video game projects ever. The game launched on Kickstarter in 2012, and raished nearly $4 million for development, releasing in March 2015 to largely positive reviews – including here at The Escapist, where reviewer Justin Clouse said that it is “a game rich with player agency, giving you tons of control to craft your story or explore different solutions to the presented problems. You know, actual roleplaying not simply a game with a leveling and stat system stapled on.”