One of the things that sets Pillars of Eternity apart from other games is the sheer breadth and depth of its world. While confined to a relatively small area of Eora it spoke of events and concepts across the entire setting. Its sequel expanded even further, heading to the Deadfire Archipelago for an adventure of an entirely different timbre, but there’s still plenty more to come. Avowed will show a new side to the world but developer Obsidian has also been considering going in a new direction, with a Pillars of Eternity tactics game floating around the office.
In an interview by the Limit Break Network with veteran game designer Josh Sawyer, the developer revealed that the idea of a Pillars of Eternity tactics game is something that’s brought up often at Obsidian. The RPG is a fertile ground for expansion, as seen with Avowed, and given its Baldur’s Gate-esque strategic interface it does feel like a tactical combat game would be a natural fit.
“There have been a number of people at the studio who have floated the idea of a Pillars tactics game,” Sawyer says in the interview. “Tactics games are interesting to me and they occupy a really interesting space in the marketplace because the audience for them is not huge, typically, but very passionate. People who are into SRPGs, tactical RPGS, they’ll play a lot of them even if they’re not that good.”
He then goes into some context about why, despite the idea of a Pillars of Eternity tactics game being compelling, it persists in not making it past the idea stage. “The cap on it is not huge, there are breakout hits of course, Fire Emblem is one that people often think of,” he says. “It’s something that people have talked about and thought about, it’s a hard one to make a case for, like, how big should it be what should the size of the team be, and every once in a while we’ll bring it up and be like, oh maybe, I don’t know, we could, maybe.”
So despite a Pillars of Eternity tactics game looking like it makes absolute sense as a concept, it would prove difficult to make a case for – at least on the business side. That said, there is hope, as Sawyer says that it could happen, “maybe someday.” When, and if, it does happen, I’ll be first in line to grab it, as a tactics game set in a world of that depth sounds like a dream come true, at least for nerds like myself.
Should you want to know why this idea is so exciting, check out our Pillars of Eternity review to see why we gave it top marks. You can also head to the Steam page to make up your own mind about the RPG.
If you’d like to head in a different direction, our guides to the best old PC games you can still play and the best strategy games will ensure you have some fine gaming company.
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