# Pillars of Eternity - Work: Computer RPG - Date: 2015 (Windows, OS X, Linux) - Made by: Josh Sawyer (Director & designer); Chris Avellone (Writer & designer); Feargus Urquhart (CEO, Obsidian Entertainment) - Houses: Obsidian Entertainment - Platforms: Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/works/pillars-of-eternity/ > Veterans of Black Isle asked fans to fund the kind of isometric RPG publishers had abandoned, raised almost $4 million, and built a new world of soul-reading Watchers in the style of Baldur's Gate. **Why it matters:** Pillars of Eternity was the flagship of the 2010s crowdfunded revival of the classic isometric CRPG, proving that the Infinity Engine style of game still had a large audience and helping to save the studio that made it. ## Quick answers **When was Pillars of Eternity first released?** Pillars of Eternity was first released in 2015 (Windows, OS X, Linux). **Who created Pillars of Eternity?** Pillars of Eternity was made by Josh Sawyer (director & designer), Chris Avellone (writer & designer) and Feargus Urquhart (CEO, Obsidian Entertainment). **Who published or developed Pillars of Eternity?** Obsidian Entertainment. **What kind of work is Pillars of Eternity?** Pillars of Eternity is a computer RPG in the Western Computer RPGs (CRPG) tradition, released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. **Why is Pillars of Eternity important?** Pillars of Eternity was the flagship of the 2010s crowdfunded revival of the classic isometric CRPG, proving that the Infinity Engine style of game still had a large audience and helping to save the studio that made it. ## Overview In the Dyrwood, children are being born without souls. The "hollowborn" plague has lasted years, and people blame the gods, the animancers who study souls, and each other. The player's character, a traveler caught in a supernatural storm on the way to a new settlement, wakes up changed: a Watcher, able to see the past lives in other people's souls and hear the dead. *Pillars of Eternity*, developed by [Obsidian Entertainment](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/obsidian-entertainment/) and released on March 26, 2015, was a deliberate return to the isometric, party-based [computer role-playing games](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/computer-rpg/) of the late 1990s, [*Baldur's Gate*](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/baldurs-gate/), [*Icewind Dale*](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/icewind-dale/) and [*Planescape: Torment*](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/planescape-torment/), many of them made by the same people. It was paid for by fans on Kickstarter, where it raised almost $4 million, and its success made it the flagship of a crowdfunded revival of the classic CRPG. ## Origins Obsidian was founded in 2003 by veterans of Interplay's [Black Isle Studios](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/black-isle-studios/), among them [Feargus Urquhart](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/feargus-urquhart/) and [Chris Avellone](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/chris-avellone/). By 2012 it was in trouble: a game for the next generation of consoles had been cancelled, and publishers were not interested in the kind of game its staff were best known for. Encouraged by inXile Entertainment's successful Kickstarter for *Wasteland 2*, part of a broader wave of nostalgic crowdfunding that was also transforming [tabletop publishing](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/crowdfunding-tabletop/), Obsidian took its pitch to the public. Urquhart said a traditional publisher would find such a game "next to impossible" to fund. Director [Josh Sawyer](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/josh-sawyer/), who had led *Icewind Dale II*, said freedom from a publisher would let the team take on mature themes such as slavery, prejudice and the drug trade. The Kickstarter for "Project Eternity" went live on September 14, 2012, after a teaser showing a number 4 inside an ouroboros. It reached its $1.1 million goal in just over a day and closed on October 16 at $3,986,929, briefly the most-funded video game in the platform's history; with PayPal pledges the budget reached about $4.16 million. Obsidian later said the money saved the studio from closing. Eric Fenstermaker, a writer on *Fallout: New Vegas*, became lead narrative designer after his story pitch with George Ziets beat competing proposals, and Justin Bell's score drew on the music of *Baldur's Gate* and *Icewind Dale*. Paradox Interactive signed on in 2014 to handle marketing and distribution while Obsidian kept the rights. ## How it plays The game uses the look of the Infinity Engine games, 3D characters over detailed pre-rendered 2D backgrounds, at much higher resolution. Players create a Watcher from six races, humans, elves, dwarves, the towering Aumaua, the small, furry Orlans and the god-marked Godlike, and choose among eleven classes including the chanter, who fights with chanted verses, and the cipher, who wields the power of souls. Combat is [real-time with pause](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/real-time-with-pause/), with a party of up to six, and Sawyer designed its own rules rather than licensing [Dungeons & Dragons](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/original-dungeons-and-dragons/), built around accuracy, deflection and damage reduction. The writing is dense and literary; companions such as the Grieving Mother, a midwife haunted by the hollowborn, have long, melancholy stories. There is a stronghold to rebuild and a mega-dungeon, the Endless Paths of Od Nua, beneath it. ## Reception & impact Critics received it as a worthy successor to the games it honored. *PC Gamer* called it Obsidian's best game to date; others praised its combat, world and writing, while some found the quests stock and missed the humor of *Baldur's Gate*. It won a number of best-RPG-of-the-year awards for 2015, sold over 500,000 copies by October 2015 and over 700,000 by February 2016. A two-part expansion, *The White March*, followed in August 2015 and February 2016, and console versions arrived in 2017 and a Switch port in 2019. ## Legacy A sequel, *Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire*, crowdfunded on Fig and released on May 8, 2018, moved the series to a pirate archipelago. Microsoft acquired Obsidian later that year, and the world of Eora returned in 2025 in *Avowed*, a first-person action RPG. Sawyer later said the two *Pillars* games were his most compromised work, because backers wanted conservative design rather than his new ideas. But alongside *Wasteland 2*, *Divinity: Original Sin* and later [*Divinity: Original Sin II*](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/divinity-original-sin-2/), *Pillars* showed that the dense, tactical, text-rich CRPG still had a market. That revival prepared the ground for [*Baldur's Gate 3*](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/baldurs-gate-3/). ## Facts - Obsidian teased the project as 'Project X,' a number 4 encircled by an ouroboros, before its Kickstarter went live on September 14, 2012. - It reached its $1.1 million goal in just over 24 hours and closed at $3,986,929, then Kickstarter's most-funded video game. - The crowdfunding reportedly saved Obsidian, which had been in financial trouble after a console game was cancelled in 2012. - Its story pitch, by Eric Fenstermaker and George Ziets, won an internal competition among several pitches. - The player is a Watcher, able to read the memories in other people's souls, investigating a plague of children born without souls. - Josh Sawyer later called the two Pillars games his most compromised work, because backers wanted conservative design. - The world of Eora returned in Obsidian's first-person RPG Avowed in 2025. ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillars_of_Eternity) - [Official site](https://eternity.obsidian.net/) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.