Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire: Obsidian Development Update
May. 29, 2017Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire: Obsidian Development Update
When we last checked in with the Fig (yes Fig not Kickstarter!) crowdfunding campaign forPillars of Eternity 2from Obsidian Entertainment, they had just wrapped up their campaign with a resounding success of over 4 million USD raised by the end of February. Since then the game went through a slacker backer period and the development team has been at work adding new features to the sequel to Pillars of Eternity and sister franchise to last year’sTyranny. The CRPG genre of games is alive and well with games likeDivinity: Original Sin 2, Wasteland 2 andWasteland 3as fellow proper sequels to franchises, with expansion content like Pillars of Eternity: The White March also performing well. Here’s what they’ve been adding since their crowdfunding announcement.
After hitting their initial funding goal, Obsidian proceeded to make their way through their stretch goals such as new sub-classes, a newcompanionand companion relationships, more ship variety and upgrades and other wrinkles and localization. In their slacker backer period, they hit one of their new stretch goals which was the addition of a crew you can hire and manage for your ship which will be your roving base. You can assign them roles on the ship and how they interact with each other will present you with dilemmas you will have to resolve. How they perform will play a role in events and battles you encounter at sea. Unfortunately they fell just short of the sea monsters and fishing final stretch goal.
From a design standpoint, they’ve been working on first and second passes on environments like adding lighting and elements, character components like basearmorsets, dialogue forquestsand more. They are also adding some clothing physics to the game for some extra realism. They are right in the middle of heavy development and have a lot more to go but they’re definitely making substantial progress.
As it pertains to the world and flavor, some of thefactionsthat will be present in the game were discussed, such as thePrincipi,Huana,Royal Deadfire Company(RDC) andVailian Trading Company(VTC) and they will give cultural and gameplay flavor to the game. The RDC is a trade and conquest group with an aggressive stance on exploration and conquest. The VTC are a group of traders motivated strongly by profit. The Principi are a devout group of sailors descended from refugees who count pirates, smugglers and mercenaries among their numbers. The Huana are the primary indigenous people of Deadfire who have a tribal structure to their civilization. All of these factions have unique geographic qualities and harbor different feelings about other factions. Some are antagonist to others while others are more tolerant but generally there is tension and enmity built up.
Along the way they’ve also hosted a handful Q&A sessions on Twitch where they’ve answered some questions from the fans, and you can watch thesesessions here. Much of the sessions revolve around game development questions and how the game is evolving from the first.
With post campaign fundraising, Pillars of Eternity 2 raised just shy of 4.75 Million USD and has set Obsidian up well to develop the game with the kind of creative freedom they crave. They did not do crowdfunding with Tyranny and instead went with a publisher arrangement with Paradox so it remains to be seen what the differences will be like this time around, although Deadfire is the true sequel, with Tyranny the alternative history sequel so fan response may vary. Regardless, it’s always comforting to know that Obsidian, one of the RPG stalwarts, is hard at work on another game. There is no Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire release date announced as of yet but we can anticipate it sometime next year. We’ll continue to keep you posted with updates, so be sure to check back often.
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Emergence
Editor at Fextralife. I look for the substantial in gaming and I try to connect video games to the emotions and stories they elicit. I love all things culture and history and have an odd fondness for the planet Jupiter. I think my dogs are pretty awesome too.
