Alms for the Poor?

Obsidian's Countdown Ends in Kickstarter Reveal

For the past four days RPG developer Obsidian (Fallout: New Vegas, Alpha Protocol) has been teasing a new title in development through an intricate countdown timer on its website.
Obsidian is perhaps most famous for its inclusion of former Black Isle Studios members, a development studio that made a number of critically acclaimed RPGs back in the 90's, including the original Fallout, Fallout 2, and Planescape: Torment. On the kickstater page for their new project they claim they have longed to return to the roots of roleplaying games by making another isometric, PC-based roleplaying game, but due to publishing concerns they have been unable to secure funding. Now, thanks to kickstarter, they have a chance to make the game they have always wanted.

"The Ouroboros is a really underused symbol," said no one ever.

 When they first started the countdown, all we had was the number 4 and a somewhat cryptic message, "What do the words mean?" to which someone seems to reply "Nothing. The Dirge of Eir Ghanfath is sound without form, a lone voice crying out in mourning because it must." This lead some forum posters to speculate that it was a fantasy game, although with then number 4 so prominent, some people strongly suspected it might be a sequel to Dungeon Siege, but obviously those people are wrong now, so hopefully their crow tastes delicious. As for the people saying it was likely a kickstarter project, they were absolutely right. Those prescient people should probably start playing the lottery instead of forecasting video games.

Nothing was clear at this point.

The next day brought the revelation that the number was a countdown, and not part of the title, along with the new message "The book unread is unwritten. The reason we don't explain it is the reason we use it. Its power is in its mystery. That is the Leaden Key, in part, in whole. Is it clear?"
"Digging for truth buries the seeker."

On the third day, we were greeted by the number two, and the following message: "I recognize your pain. Your kind must learn it comes from straining against the turning of the world. It spins thus. You cannot stop it. One day, you will wake up. You will stop pulling. The pain will be gone. Until then, all your waking hours are suffering." Based on the fantasy language and the overall gestalt of what was coming across, most people agreed it would be a fantasy game. But of what sort?

Yesterday, the message changed to "This world wants to drag us down, it does. It made you a Watcher. No one asks for that. And the weight, that guilt they want to hang around my neck, you don't have to carry it one more step. You think they won't let you rest, but it's not up to them. It never was."


The game is called Project Eternity (although that is just the working title, so it might change yet). Obsidian claims combat will be tactical real-time, but with the option to pause combat whenever the player wishes. Works for me, but what will the story be like? Obsidian is known for their branching, complex plots. Hopefully, without publishers pressing them to release before its ready they will be able to produce a title that is not riddled with bugs (Fallout: New Vegas) or tragically rushed (Knights of the Old Republic II).

My prediction? An 84 on Metacritic.