Obsidian Entertainment Launches Project Eternity on Kickstarter

Over the last week, Obsidian Entertainment have been dropping hints left and right of a new RPG entitled “Project X.” First, there was a countdown on their web site detailing bits and pieces of game lore. Next, there was Josh Sawyer’s trolling of fans on Twitter with secret messages and announcements of video shoots. And just yesterday, a new Kickstarter page for Obsidian Entertainment was discovered. Now, we can finally draw back the canvas.

It is with great excitement today that we can reveal the veteran studio’s brand-new RPG: Project Eternity. Let’s just skip the preamble and get right to the details:

• Project Eternity is based on an original game universe by Obsidian Entertainment’s Chris Avellone, Josh Sawyer, Tim Cain, and Adam Brennecke.
• The game is a top-down party-based RPG heavily inspired by Infinity Engine-style games like Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale.
• Instead of 3D graphics, Project Eternity uses 2D pre-rendered and hand-painted backdrops, just like old Infinity Engine titles, but improved by modern technology.
• Project Eternity uses its own rule set built from the ground-up by Obsidian, and features party-based, real-time-with-pause tactical combat.
• The character system will feature not just extensive combat abilities, but non-combat ones as well, from diplomacy to deception.
• The game features adult subject matter and will explore social and political issues that some other RPGs shy away from.
• Project Eternity features voice acting as “flavor”, while allowing for extensive, reactive conversation trees in the style of Planescape: Torment.
• Players take on the role of a single fixed character and are accompanied by companions throughout the game, similar to Baldur’s Gate.
• The game will be funded on Kickstarter in a manner similar to Wasteland 2 and Shadowrun Returns.
• Project Eternity is PC-exclusive, and will be later ported to Mac and Linux.

Currently, the game’s Kickstarter page has gone live, with a $1,100,000 goal.  It’s not at all unreasonable, considering how other old-school RPGs have been doing lately! There’s also a good chance chance that, should the project exceed its goal, that money will be put to use on even more content.

But that’s not the only way to donate. Right now, we’ve put up a GameBanshee page on ChipIn, which will allow you to donate to Obsidian on behalf of our humble web site. What does it get you? Aside from showing your appreciation for the in-depth RPG coverage we’ve provided for the last 12 years, we’ll immortalize contributors on a special web page, and a $100 contribution or more will net you either a GameBanshee mousepad or t-shirt. Plus, it will help secure GameBanshee-exclusive content that comes with some of the Kickstarter page’s higher reward tiers (themed tavern, anyone?).  Please consider showing your support for Obsidian, GameBanshee, and computer RPGs all at once!

Last, we have a very special announcement. As some of you may have guessed, we’ve had insider information about the game for the last week or so, and Buck himself had a small role in Project Eternity‘s inception. As a result, we were fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to write up an interview between GameBanshee’s owner, Buck, and Obsidian Entertainment CEO Feargus Urquhart.  It goes without saying that we’re very pleased to provide this world-exclusive coverage to the RPG community!

For now, it’s worth saying that Project Eternity, whatever its final name turns out to be, is a game that many, many RPG fans have waited years, if not a decade for.  The GameBanshee staff here are all certainly those sorts of fans, and Project Eternity could well be the crown jewel on what’s shaping up to be a shining rebirth of Western RPGs. As a final call out to the game, we leave you with the Kickstarter promotional video: