Today, Obsidian released their first screenshot of Project Eternity (PE). Upon seeing said screen shot, two things immediately happened.

1)      My brain exploded with its sheer awesomeness.

2)      The following words kept repeating in my head, over and over again “You must gather your party before venturing forth”.

The former is obvious. The latter will only make sense to fans of the Baldur’s Gate series.

Obsidian has made it clear that PE is attempting to bring back the magic of old school RPGs, a large part of which includes the look and feel of titles running on the Infinity engine.  Not many people appreciate the fact that having pre rendered 2D backgrounds can make a game look beautiful for a much longer period of time than any 3D engine. Case in point: Baldur’s Gate 2 still looks gorgeous on my 24 inch display (albeit after using a mod for widescreen compatibility). Dragon Age 1 on the other hand, a game that released a mere 3 years ago, has aged rather poorly. The incessant push towards 3D in the late 90s was great for extending the boundaries of technology, but in many cases it did little to actually improve game play. A fact that Josh Sawyer touched upon in the interview I conducted with him.

The screenshot hits that point home and hits it hard.

After hitting their original goal of 1.1 million in just a DAY, the PE kickstarter campaign is in its final phase now. Having already hit many of its stretch goals and with just under 4 days to go, Obsidian has waved a couple of rather humungous and juicy carrots in front of our faces. At 2.8 million, the very talented George Ziets joins the team (as I write this, it looks like a foregone conclusion). At 3 million, players get their very own stronghold. Ever wanted your very own castle? Well, here is your chance. But wait! There’s more! At 3.5 million (gulp!) players get another major city! To put things in perspective, that’s like having 2 Baldur’s Gates in one. In other words ZOMG!

The next few days are going to be exciting.