Pillars of Eternity 2 campaign hits $1.1M in 24 hours

Obsidian Entertainment’s latest crowdfunding project, Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, succeeded in achieving the full funding of $1,100,000 in just 24 hours on crowdfunding platform Fig. The incredibly ambitious project currently sits at nearly $1.8 million, and the stretch goal for adding a seventh companion.

Pillars of Eternity, the first game in the series, released in March 2015, was funded through Kickstarter after raising over $4 million. The game was critically acclaimed, and is still held as a masterpiece of the RPG genre, because everything about it is a call back to classic RPGs like Baldur’s Gate. The story followed players as they realised their true potential as a Watcher in the world of Eora, which has been ravaged by a sickness known as the Hollowborn, a condition in which infants in the Dyrwood are born without souls.

In Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, Eothas has returned. This god of light and rebirth was thought dead, but after inhabiting the giant stone titan underneath the player’s keep, groaning to life and destroying said keep in the process, the world of Eora knows he is alive once again. Players, after recovering from the brink of death, must track down the god to save their souls and gain an answer for his return, which could throw the lives of mortals and gods into complete and utter chaos.

Deadfire, the setting of Pillars of Eternity 2, is made up of islands with many different cultures and environments to explore. Players need to explore the towns and villages among these islands, solving conflicts between cultures, aiding or exterminating pirates and traders in the process. The living, breathing, world is full of NPCs going about their routines no matter if the player is watching them, adding to the vivid realism of Deadfire. If players have finished the first game then they can bring their character across to Deadfire, and see how the decisions they made in the past affect their future.

So far the project has hit its first and second stretch goal, with the third not far away. The first stretch goal added sub-classes to the game’s standard classes, 2 per class. The second stretch goal increased the level cap from 16 to 18, and means the game will launch with Russian localisation. The third stretch goal will add a seventh companion, Xoti the Monk who can join the player’s party, and Polish localisation. Finally, the fourth stretch goal, should the project meet $2 million in the next 25 days, will add player AI scripting for companions and Spanish localisation.