Confirmed earlier in the day, Obsidian Entertainment’s crowd-funding campaign for Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire is now officially live on Fig. The funding goal is set at $1.1 million though backers can also purchase $2.25 million in equity.

Here’s something crazy to note though: Despite only being live for a few hours, the campaign has already garnered $271,838 which is 24 percent of its funding goal. Given how well the first title was received, it only makes sense that fans would be gung-ho for the sequel.

Among the many features promised – including transferring your saved game to the sequel to see how your decisions impact the new location – players will also encounter “truly living cities” and “more freedom to explore the open world.”

Check out the campaign launch trailer below. Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire is currently in development for PC, Mac OS X and Linux. What are your thoughts on the features list thus far? Let us know in the comments below.

Polygon seemed to have broken the news early on Obsidian Entertainment’s next big game, Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. Though the post has been removed, a Reddit post has it archived with concept art and plenty of new details.

The sequel, which directly follows the original, will see its crowd-funding campaign go live on Fig later today. Obsidian is seeking $1.1 million though $2.25 million is available for equity.

The campaign sees players dealing with Eothas, the god of light and rebirth, now possessing a stone titan and leaving your base in ruins. It’s then a matter of tracking down said god and having a civil conversation with him.

Obsidian promises new cultures and levels, NPCs with their own schedules for the potential of dynamic quests and the return of old party members. There will also be land and sea travel, indicated in the above concept art, and it may even be possible to transfer your Pillars of Eternity save files to see how previously made decisions impact the world.

Psychological horror title Allison Road is finally on Kickstarter. The funding goal is set at £250,000 and thus far, things are off to a good start. As of this time of writing, 1333 backers have funded £46,764 of the goal with 29 days remaining.

Allison Road is intriguing in this post-P.T. world. As a sort of mash-up between the former Silent Hills and indie adventure title Gone Home, Allison Road offers survival horror mixed with exploration and mystery. From the demos we’ve thus far, there’s not a whole lot of information on what’s going on. But evil is afoot and that usually isn’t a good thing, even though Allison Road looks great.

Those who want to donate can head to Kickstarter right now to do the same. Reward tiers fall between £5 to £5,000 so go crazy with the funding. Let us know in the comments what you think of Allison Road and stay tuned for more information on its Kickstarter in the coming weeks.

Which is why GamingBolt had a chance to speak to Spiral House creative director Kevin Oxland, technical director Bobby Earl and assistant producer Amy Scott about the concept of Troll & I, the kind of gameplay gamers can expect and when we can expect the crowd-funding campaign will go live.

"Essentially without giving too much of the story away, our heroes are on an adventure through a vast expanse of land across Scandinavia. Therefore you will see varying environments including delving into the Troll world where things are a bit more fantasy-esque, and BIG!"

Troll and I is a very unique concept, meshing gritty realism with fantasy elements. What served as the inspiration for the setting?

Silver was the first game Spiral House worked on back in 1999. It was a multi-character based RPG where the player could swap characters at the click of a button. We wanted to go back to that and create a dual protagonist game with two very strong characters in their own right. Not only would the characters be pivotal to the story, but would have a real presence in the gameplay too. At the time of Troll and I’s conception, our Creative Director, Kevin Oxland, had an idea for a story about a Troll community living in Scandinavia, and a billionaire man who has a bit too much time and money on his hands who wants to catch a troll for his collection of rare animals. Both of these ideas came together to make the story of Troll and I.

Tell us a bit more about the environments we’ll be exploring. How much of the world is mired in reality and how much of it delves into the fantasy realm?

You can actually get a sneak peek of some of the environments via our website. Essentially without giving too much of the story away, our heroes are on an adventure through a vast expanse of land across Scandinavia. Therefore you will see varying environments including delving into the Troll world where things are a bit more fantasy-esque, and BIG!

Experience tells us that friendships between men and monsters often go awry. Will we see something similar with Otto and the Troll? If so, how does this play into the overall journey they embark on?

There is no such thing with our two heroes. They are both in their infancy, and rely on each other to survive. Their relationship will not go awry, but there are plenty more dangers out there to keep the duo on their toes. The player will experience the emotional journey the two characters go on as they come to discover each other, their worlds, and become great friends.

Can you tell us a bit more about the game’s factions and how they factor into the story?

Unfortunately we cannot say much without giving away a central point of the story. All I can say at this point is that a disaster happens very early on in Episode1 which opens up portals to a different world, leaking monsters into ours. This gives a whole additional ‘quest’ and enemy types into the game!

"We have a plan for crowdfunding all set out and ready to go. However, we have not decided yet if crowdfunding is the route that we are going to take. We should have more information in the coming months."

What can you tell us about the current combat system? We’ve seen Otto rely on quick slices while Troll smashes opponents. Will there be room for joint attacks or any special moves?

Otto is more suited to melee, ranged combat and stealth due to his size. Troll is a beast with massive power behind him, but he is cumbersome and slower. They are both young and learning much, so their skills and abilities will grow as the story progresses.

There are many facets to the game, one of which being the combat system; both melee and ranged. We’ve designed the game in such a way that you, the player, could choose different ways to approach every given scenario. For example, you could go in as Otto, brandishing a machete, ready to take on whatever comes his was in a melee situation. Or you could sneak in as Otto, and stealthily move around the scene taking out the bad guys as you go. The stealth approach requires patience, skill, and keen observational skills in order to avoid being spotted.

You could instead go in as Troll, and ask Otto to stay behind. Using Troll’s brute strength you could pound your way through a combat scenario. Or you could also go in as both characters and fight as a team.

Each method has their pros and cons, and some areas are designed with a particular approach in mind. It is up to the player to work that out, but we have not made other approaches ‘impossible’, just more difficult. For instance, taking Troll though a stealth zone is probably not a good idea, especially when enemies with old WWII sirens in the vicinity!

What is the current status of Troll and I’s crowd funding campaign? When can we look forward to it?

We have a plan for crowdfunding all set out and ready to go. However, we have not decided yet if crowdfunding is the route that we are going to take. We should have more information in the coming months.

Troll and I takes an episodic approach to its storytelling which has proven to be quite successful for a number of titles. How did it benefit the development process and the overall presentation of the story?

We wanted to create something of quality and something that stood out in its own right. However, we couldn’t do a tale such as ‘Troll and I’ as an entire ‘normal sized’ game in the timeframe we have due to our team size. So to retain the quality, we decided upon an episodic approach with the design and story being designed with that in mind from the ground up, rather than breaking up a whole game into pieces. Each episode works on its own and as part of a greater whole. The development has been a refreshing change actually, because even though we have the entire story arc written, we can really focus on each episode in lots of detail before moving onto the next.

Will players have absolute freedom in choosing how they want to play the game? Can they opt for a variety of approaches due to the nature of the two protagonists?

As previously mentioned, players will have freedom to play the game how they want, but some approaches will be much more difficult than others. In regards to the puzzle elements and the combat, you will have to learn each character’s strengths and weaknesses and use these accordingly.

"Troll and I is currently targeted at 1080p / 30fps on both consoles. The 30/60 fps debate has been ongoing, and for some 3D action games, especially ones such as Troll and I where you want to also tell a cinematic story, 60fps may not give you the best viewing experience."

Will Troll and Otto be available at all times or will there be certain missions wherein only one can be utilized?

Yes, both characters will be available at all times. You also have the option to give one hero commands whilst playing as the other hero. For example, when playing as Otto, you can ask Troll to stay behind, follow, call for help, pick you up, etc. but in the story, there will be times when they have been separated; but we don’t want to go into too much detail at this stage.

What are your thoughts on developing for the Xbox One and PS4? How do they differ from the PC’s architecture?

Our Spiral House Engine has been developed over the past 15 years, it has been cross platform since the beginning and adapted / re-engineered to each platform as it was released. The architecture, this time around, has been a lot closer than previous generations, getting the most out of a PS3 was a lot different than PC. I guess as an old analogy you could compare it to the IBM compatibles that came out in the early 80’s.

Hundreds of companies were developing computers at the time, but only when conformity of IBM clones came along did the PC software market stabilize. The same is true for game developers, the closer the architecture’s across platforms becomes, developers can focus more time on game code and worry less about the differences between platform architecture.

Will the game run at 1080p and 60fps on both the consoles?

Troll and I is currently targeted at 1080p / 30fps on both consoles. The 30/60 fps debate has been ongoing, and for some 3D action games, especially ones such as Troll and I where you want to also tell a cinematic story, 60fps may not give you the best viewing experience. Take the 50fps release of ‘The Hobbit’ in cinemas, a lot people did not like the feeling it gave them after watching. This doesn’t take away the fact that running at 30fps has other benefits as well, mainly twice as much CPU and GPU time. 60fps is essential for some games, but in our case 30fps was favoured for several reasons.

Is there anything else you want to tell us before we let you go?

If you want to keep on top of the latest news then you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and check out our websites and forum! We would love to hear the public’s views.

Chris Roberts, creator of Star Citizen and founder of Cloud Imperium Games, probably didn’t think that his online space-sim/open sandbox universe/first person shooter would have reached this far in terms of crowd-funding. However, it’s been more than two and a half years later, the space sim has amassed more than $74 million in funding and its halfway through $75 million.

Thus far, more than 767,718 people have contributed towards the game making it the most successful crowd-funding project in history. That includes just about every single form of media from movies to video games. As of now, Cloud Imperium is working towards expanding the overall game with the additional funds – in fact, season one of the single-player campaign will be debuting this fall while the commercial release will be next year.

What are your thoughts on Star Citizen thus far? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information in the coming months.

Cloud Imperium Games’ Star Citizen has passed another crowd-funding milestone by netting more than $73 million in funds. The current total is at $73,496,855 with 760,844 backers pledging their support.

This makes Star Citizen’s crowd-funding the most successful of any kind, video games or otherwise, in history. Crowd-funding for the game began in October 2012 and has only been on the rise as the developer added new features and modes (separating the game’s key portions in modules for a smoother development and release) over the next few years. The additional funds have been used to add a bevy of content including a first person shooter mode and planetside explorations.

The first season of Star Citizen’s single-player campaign Squadron 42 will debut this Fall and mark the “official” release of the game in many ways. Star Citizen’s full commercial release will be in 2016 however. What are your thoughts on Star Citizen’s success thus far? Let us know in the comments below.

Cloud Imperium Games’ Star Citizen continues to march forward in crowd-funding as it was recently announced that the space sim garnered more than $49 million in funds till date. Speaking to The Verge, creator and industry legend Chris Roberts talks about how such a thing wouldn’t have been possible with normal publishers.

“If I had gone up to any publisher and said, ‘Hey, will you give me $50 million to do a space sim on PC only?’ everyone would say, ‘Get out of here.’ But we’re in a situation where we’re getting to do that.

“The biggest amount of pressure comes from myself. I can see this game. I’ve got a very clear picture of what I want it to be, and I get frustrated when we’re not moving as quickly as I want us to move. I want it to be the best thing I’ve ever played.”

Though there are similar games like Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky on the horizon, Roberts believes star Star Citizen will stand out from the pack. “For me, it’s all about feeling like I’m in the world. There’s an attention to detail you need to suspend that disbelief and for me that is the motto of Star Citizen. We’re going for that extra level of detail, so there’s a real tactile sense to your environment. It feels like it’s lived in.”

Star Citizen is currently slated for release in 2015. Are you looking forward to it? If so, let us know below.

Chris Roberts’ open world space sim continues to expand as Roberts Space Industries recently announced that Star Citizen’s fund totaled $44 million overall.

The latest feature to be unlocked from this milestone is the Stellar Cartography feature with Updated Scanning Software to go into development for the game if the funding goal of $46 million is reached. You can also vote on the next stretch goal you want to see offered.

Star Citizen has caused a storm on the crowd-funding scene since arriving on Kickstarter in 2013. The game hit its funding goals fairly quickly and over the next few months, Roberts laid bare his ambitions for the game. It will be in the vein of Freelancer, including a massively multiplayer online universe wherein players are free to choose their own path. There will also be a single-player campaign that takes inspiration from the Wing Commander franchise.

Star Citizen’s full commercial release is currently expected in 2015 for PC.

Harmonix’s reboot of the classic rhythm action game Amplitude has finally been funded, reaching its $775,000 goal with 21 hours to spare. There are currently 12 hours left on the Kickstarter and the game has managed to accrue $809,047 in funding thus far with the support of 13,247 backers.

Amplitude will be releasing for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 in March 2015. It features an original soundtrack by composes and artists like Jim Guthrie, Anamanaguchi, Danny Baranowsky, C418 and many more. These include Kasson Crooker and Freezepop who both worked on the original Amplitude along with its cousin Frequency. Insomniac Games’ Ted Price will also be contributing an original song to the game thanks to a $7500 donation made towards the Kickstarter. It’s better if you ignore the song he intends to include in the game.

What are your thoughts on Amplitude? Will you be picking it up once it releases in 2015 for PS3 and PS4? Let us know your thoughts on the project in the comments.

Incandescent Imaging’s Caffeine, which is being created by Dylan Browne using Unreal Engine 4, is now available on Kickstarter for crowd-funding. The game is currently seeking $70,000 AUD in funding. It currently has 51 backers who have contributed $1,100 thus far with 28 days to go.

Caffeine takes place in the year 2097 where caffeine has become the major drug across the world. You wake up on an abandoned mining station and must traverse around to find out what’s going on before eventually escaping. You’ll find tons of different notes and audio tapes to find out what’s happening along with piecing together the world.

Funding for Caffeine will go towards full-time development and a 2015 release along with creating a better product. Caffeine will also support Oculus Rift and will feature a soundtrack by Bay Drive Sound Studios. What are your thoughts on Caffeine thus far and will you be funding it? Let us know in the comments below.