To start off this new series of blogs, I'm here to talk about one that was "re-launched" recently after having a rough start. Yes, I'm talking about Precursor Games first big project...
Shadow of the Eternals
Made as to be a spiritual successor to the psychological horror Gamecube gem Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem by Silicon Knights with some members of the original team working on the successor including the infamous Denis Dyack. Shadow of the Eternals is being developed for PC and the Wii U with CryEngine 3. While not only it was bringing back a lot of the elements from Eternal Darkness, it was also asking people who pledge the game to have their input within a special part of the forums called "The Order of the Unseen" where they can share and discuss ideas on how the gameplay should be handled, what insanity effects should be placed, etc.
While it had a rough start with it's first attempt back in May with the goal for $1.35 million dollars for a game that was going to be episodic but how they handled it was rather strange with the funding of the first crowd-fundraiser to only produce the first episode of the game, it also didn't help that they had this on their website and due to a high amount of demands, they made a separate Kickstarter page in order for their pledges to be more secure...but it only got rather worse from there.
Dennis Dyack who was known for the CEO of Silicon Knights hasn't been having a good track record as of late. While some of their earlier games like Cyber Empires (or Steel Empire as it's known in other countries), Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Eternal Darkness and the Gamecube remake of Metal Gear Solid have been praise-worthy titles for good reasons. The last two games put out by Silicon Knights haven't been up to par, such as the nearly-decade long developed Too Human on the Xbox 360 which received mixed reviews and poor sales within the public despite some good aspects added into it but by far the most flawed was when SK was given the task to develop a game based on the popular Marvel comic book franchise which was titled X-Men Destiny and was way below par in terms of reviews and sales due to it's lackluster quality.
Adding insult to injury is that Dyack has been known for spouting things out that he shouldn't have said like the effects on forum culture within gaming but the worst is when him and the rest of SK filed a lawsuit against Gears of War developers Epic Games since the engine that they provided for Too Human didn't seem to work for them. After their lawsuit failed, Epic Games counter-sued and won the case which resulted in Silicon Knights having to pay over $4 million in damages which soon caused their company to go into debt, which resulted in recalling all titles using the engine and selling off equipment to the new studio Precursor Games which Dyack left to persue but stepped down as CEO to CCO for the new developer.
So with all that left behind, Dyack is still accused of being accused of being an enemy, especially to a Kotaku article that accuses him of embezzling the budget that was given to SK for X-Men Destiny by Activision as well as other shady dealings (when there hasn't been any proof from what I know), which he did post a video explaining that it isn't true a few months afterwards. Unfortunately, the video is now set to private by the time of this blog is posted so instead, Kotaku posted another article with the details (as well as the video itself).
After that, there was still confusion over the handling of the two fundraisers and Precursor Games decide to cancel both the Kickstarter and in-site donations to reconfigure their strategy to fund their big game. 2 months later, Shadow of the Eternals return to Kickstarter with a new goal of $750k, a complete 8-10 game instead of being episodic, an eventual stretch goal to develop for Sony's new-gen system the Playstation 4 and they have David Hayter (Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid) voicing the main character.
So with all of this said and some of the burdens that Precursor Games has received with plentiful amount of mistakes and other bad omens, why I am supporting this? As you might ask.
My answer is rather tricky. While it is true that the previous efforts that Dyack has been involved has been less than stellar and the bad press haunts him to this day. He has made quality games in the past that while may not say much to him as a person but as a developer, he has given a good reputation when compared to the games that he did with Silicon Knights before the release of Too Human.
I also want to see this game become a reality because while I don't have much experience with Eternal Darkness considering that I didn't like the Gamecube back in the day (despite having a really good level of stellar games on the platform), I can see why it was considering an excellent game with it's storytelling, presentation and creative features like the Sanity meter. Something about those aspects added into this spiritual successor really speaks to me with a lot of intrigue that I can't help but be fascinated by.
The early demo that they showed which the game utilizes the CRYEngine3 (the same graphic engine used in the more recent Crysis games) looks superb with solid environment detail, character design and superb use of lighting. The sound design within the music is nicely done although the voice acting could use a little bit of work, it's not awful but not really stellar.
Also with the addition of those who pledge get to have their input in the game really shows that they're trying to make the best game for gamers as much as possible by allowing them on how the game is going to be made via a special forum called The Order of the Unseen. Such as creating ideas for how the game works, what insanity effects, what kind of enemies, etc. It's a very cool incentive, no matter how much you pledge for what incentive, you get access to the forum to partake in helping the developers creating the game.
All of this really impresses me on how ambitious they are as well as how willing to allow community input in their games, combined with an impressive demo and high promises, I feel inclined to check it out once it's complete.
However, there are two problems standing in the way. The first one is not detailing how the funds are going to be spend and considering the bad press that Dyack got in the Kotaku article, it's something that should have been addressed from the start like every other good Kickstarter campaign and the second one is more recent as Nintendo has re-registered their claim for Eternal Darkness which could lead to a follow up to the Gamecube gem on the Wii U with a different developer in mind (or it could be them buying out SOTE but that might be too much of a stretch).
But even with that said, I have a level of hope that it gets funded but it could be a slow build and depending on the time they have left, it's either a do or die moment for the project to reach their goal. I'm also wondering on what they're gonna do if the game doesn't get funded (like Project Awakened which has now been accepted into Steam Greenlight).
But if you're as confident as I am, check out the game's Kickstarter page here as well as vote on Steam Greenlight. It's only your choice, you can say yes or no to whatever you desire.
Thanks for reading.
Dennis Dyack who was known for the CEO of Silicon Knights hasn't been having a good track record as of late. While some of their earlier games like Cyber Empires (or Steel Empire as it's known in other countries), Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Eternal Darkness and the Gamecube remake of Metal Gear Solid have been praise-worthy titles for good reasons. The last two games put out by Silicon Knights haven't been up to par, such as the nearly-decade long developed Too Human on the Xbox 360 which received mixed reviews and poor sales within the public despite some good aspects added into it but by far the most flawed was when SK was given the task to develop a game based on the popular Marvel comic book franchise which was titled X-Men Destiny and was way below par in terms of reviews and sales due to it's lackluster quality.
Adding insult to injury is that Dyack has been known for spouting things out that he shouldn't have said like the effects on forum culture within gaming but the worst is when him and the rest of SK filed a lawsuit against Gears of War developers Epic Games since the engine that they provided for Too Human didn't seem to work for them. After their lawsuit failed, Epic Games counter-sued and won the case which resulted in Silicon Knights having to pay over $4 million in damages which soon caused their company to go into debt, which resulted in recalling all titles using the engine and selling off equipment to the new studio Precursor Games which Dyack left to persue but stepped down as CEO to CCO for the new developer.
So with all that left behind, Dyack is still accused of being accused of being an enemy, especially to a Kotaku article that accuses him of embezzling the budget that was given to SK for X-Men Destiny by Activision as well as other shady dealings (when there hasn't been any proof from what I know), which he did post a video explaining that it isn't true a few months afterwards. Unfortunately, the video is now set to private by the time of this blog is posted so instead, Kotaku posted another article with the details (as well as the video itself).
So with all of this said and some of the burdens that Precursor Games has received with plentiful amount of mistakes and other bad omens, why I am supporting this? As you might ask.
My answer is rather tricky. While it is true that the previous efforts that Dyack has been involved has been less than stellar and the bad press haunts him to this day. He has made quality games in the past that while may not say much to him as a person but as a developer, he has given a good reputation when compared to the games that he did with Silicon Knights before the release of Too Human.
I also want to see this game become a reality because while I don't have much experience with Eternal Darkness considering that I didn't like the Gamecube back in the day (despite having a really good level of stellar games on the platform), I can see why it was considering an excellent game with it's storytelling, presentation and creative features like the Sanity meter. Something about those aspects added into this spiritual successor really speaks to me with a lot of intrigue that I can't help but be fascinated by.
The early demo that they showed which the game utilizes the CRYEngine3 (the same graphic engine used in the more recent Crysis games) looks superb with solid environment detail, character design and superb use of lighting. The sound design within the music is nicely done although the voice acting could use a little bit of work, it's not awful but not really stellar.
Also with the addition of those who pledge get to have their input in the game really shows that they're trying to make the best game for gamers as much as possible by allowing them on how the game is going to be made via a special forum called The Order of the Unseen. Such as creating ideas for how the game works, what insanity effects, what kind of enemies, etc. It's a very cool incentive, no matter how much you pledge for what incentive, you get access to the forum to partake in helping the developers creating the game.
All of this really impresses me on how ambitious they are as well as how willing to allow community input in their games, combined with an impressive demo and high promises, I feel inclined to check it out once it's complete.
However, there are two problems standing in the way. The first one is not detailing how the funds are going to be spend and considering the bad press that Dyack got in the Kotaku article, it's something that should have been addressed from the start like every other good Kickstarter campaign and the second one is more recent as Nintendo has re-registered their claim for Eternal Darkness which could lead to a follow up to the Gamecube gem on the Wii U with a different developer in mind (or it could be them buying out SOTE but that might be too much of a stretch).
But even with that said, I have a level of hope that it gets funded but it could be a slow build and depending on the time they have left, it's either a do or die moment for the project to reach their goal. I'm also wondering on what they're gonna do if the game doesn't get funded (like Project Awakened which has now been accepted into Steam Greenlight).
But if you're as confident as I am, check out the game's Kickstarter page here as well as vote on Steam Greenlight. It's only your choice, you can say yes or no to whatever you desire.
Thanks for reading.
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