Shadow of the Eternals Second Kickstarter Fails

[StewShearerOld]

Shadow of the Eternals Second Kickstarter Fails

Precursor Games' second attempt at crowdfunding Shadow of the Eternals has fallen short.

In July, Precursor Games <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126366-Shadow-of-the-Eternals-Returns-to-Kickstarter>returned to Kickstarter to re-launch a campaign aimed at funding Shadow of the Eternals, the "spiritual successor" to the cult classic Eternal Darkness. The studio had voluntarily ended its <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/124619-Shadow-of-the-Eternals-Studio-Cancels-Kickstarter>first attempt at a Kickstarter in June. Its return to the crowdsourcing scene saw the developer shooting for a goal nearly half what it had originally asked. Unfortunately, even asking for less, it would seem that success was still outside of the studio's reach. With only $323,950 of its $750,000 goal in the bag, the Shadow of the Eternals campaign has ended.

In a <a href=http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/617502838/shadow-of-the-eternals-0/posts/579057>statement on its Kickstarter page, Precursor Games offered thanks to its backers as well as its partners and friends in the game industry. The developer is now taking "a one week break" after which it will be upgrading its forum software and, presumably, deciding where to go from here. The studio was firm however in its belief that Shadow of the Eternals will see an eventual release. Though it admits that it's "unfortunate that we were unable to crowd-fund this project," it affirmed that "we have not given up."

The root of Precursor's Kickstarter failure could be pegged on a number of factors. The studio's close connection to the <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123901-Silicon-Knights-Still-Breathes-Dyack-Has-Left-The-Building>troubled Silicon Knights, which was fairly well gutted after an <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120568-Silicon-Knights-Must-Destroy-Its-Works-By-December>infamous court battle with Epic Games, could be one. The involvement of Denis Dyack, Silicon Knights controversial founder, may have posed <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125038-Dyack-Acknowledges-Personal-Noise-Put-Kibosh-On-Eternals>similar problems for some potential contributors. It probably also didn't help matters that Precursor founder Ken McCulloch was recently arrested for the <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125522-Precursor-Games-Founder-Arrested-For-Child-Porn>possession of child pornography. This bevy of bad press, coupled with the arguable niche status of Shadow of the Eternals, could easily have limited its pool of willing Kickstarter contributors. Whatever the cause, it looks like it's back to square one for Precursor.

Source: <a href=http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/617502838/shadow-of-the-eternals-0/posts/579057>Kickstarter




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[Exterminas]

Oh well, guess not every franchise can ride the Nostalgia-Train to Moneyville.

 

[Diana Kingston-Gabai]

That just goes to show how crucial reputation and word of mouth can be for Kickstarter projects - sometimes it can literally come down to a single name.

 

[SecondPrize]

Turns out having a piss-poor track record can turn around and bite you in the ass, go figure.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

*starts kickstarter for "The Nostalgia Train to Moneyville" and funds it immediately* ?w?

I'm curious how this game will end up being made, and if in the end it will have been worth the effort. If I had to name the best thing about Eternal Darkness it would be the voice acting as far as I can recall.

The enemies weren't that dreadful, or difficult to dispatch/avoid. The plot was somewhat intriguing, but I was younger and hadn't read any HPL yet so I didn't realize how utterly, and blandly derivative it was. The magic system was novel, but aside from refilling your sanity meter it was barely used outside of a few obvious puzzles and the one huge boss fight. And using it was more tedious than it needed to be.

I did like the variety of characters and stages, as well as the various period appropriate weapons they wielded.

Sadly, this new game appears to be largely a retread though hopefully they improve MORE than just the sanity effects. Aside from the first time you see them, they didn't add much to the previous game. And, once you were able to just keep your sanity topped off with a quick spell...they were totally pointless and easily avoided.

One way to make it more interesting would be to have a non-human character or two.

I would go into the development process fresh, scrapping that damn Oublie cathedral that was already visited and revisited several times in the last game.

I would envision the game as essentially like Assassin's Creed if it took place purely in the Animus, and the Animus was buggy as all hell.

I.E. you play a variety of people in pseudo real world environments, interacting with fictionalized historical figures...while crazy, impossible crap is happening in the background.

They could even stretch the narrative out over the course of several games, with different people's stories featured and intertwined. Or, if they really wanted to be dicks they would just sell each character's story separate as DLC in episodic installments like in Siren Blood Curse.

 

[Dr.Awkward]

I have a feeling that it would probably help if they would port Eternal Darkness to the PC so that they can raise awareness about their project and answer the question/solve the problem of "What is Eternal Darkness? I've never heard of it before, and can only find it for the Gamecube..."

 

[MetalDooley]

I have a feeling that it would probably help if they would port Eternal Darkness to the PC so that they can raise awareness about their project and answer the question/solve the problem of "What is Eternal Darkness? I've never heard of it before, and can only find it for the Gamecube..."

Except they can't as Nintendo own the Eternal Darkness IP.That's the reason that Shadow of the Eternals is being developed as a "spiritual successor" rather than a direct sequel to ED

 

[Yopaz]

Oh well, guess not every franchise can ride the Nostalgia-Train to Moneyville.

Well, it should be said that the other Kickstarters that have done that have had an advantage though. They didn't have Too Human and X-Men Destiny on their résumé.

OT: I am neither surprised nor disappointed with this. It would be sweet if they could recreate the things that made Eternal Darkness good, but I don't really think they would do it. Maybe they would manage to rise up, get their act together and create a mediocre game, but I don't think they would be able to create a good game. I might just be a cynic here.

 

[MCerberus]

Well, it should be said that the other Kickstarters that have done that have had an advantage though. They didn't have Too Human and X-Men Destiny on their résumé.

OT: I am neither surprised nor disappointed with this. It would be sweet if they could recreate the things that made Eternal Darkness good, but I don't really think they would do it. Maybe they would manage to rise up, get their act together and create a mediocre game, but I don't think they would be able to create a good game. I might just be a cynic here.

Let's not forget that there were some public... personal issues on their team that may have driven away some potential backers.

 

[Yopaz]

Well, it should be said that the other Kickstarters that have done that have had an advantage though. They didn't have Too Human and X-Men Destiny on their résumé.

OT: I am neither surprised nor disappointed with this. It would be sweet if they could recreate the things that made Eternal Darkness good, but I don't really think they would do it. Maybe they would manage to rise up, get their act together and create a mediocre game, but I don't think they would be able to create a good game. I might just be a cynic here.

Let's not forget that there were some public... personal issues on their team that may have driven away some potential backers.

Right, I had actually forgotten about that thing by now. Yeah, that shit is pretty devastating for a company's reputation.

 

[Trishbot]

I'll buy the game once it's complete and on store shelves. Until then, I'm not going to invest in an unproven company with a shady track-record.

It does look good, but Kickstarter was really the worst method to try and fund this game. Like it or not, they need a publisher.

 

[Uratoh]

I really didn't like the trailer for it...mostly due to the 'hellscape' images they threw about. Eternal Darkness wasn't about fire and brimstone damnation, it was lovecraftian apathy.

 

[LordMonty]

Didn't even know they started it again? um well bad press is the killer they should've known and yea as said above rerelease eternal darkness to boost awareness or something? Hope it gets made and is actually good as I liked the look of it.

 

[Fat Hippo]

Yeah, from all I've heard, nobody should entrust their money to Denis Dyack. Eternal Darkness being as good as it was just a peculiar accident of history, an improbable piece of good luck. And considering that all they showed was a remade version of the exact same church we already saw in the original didn't exactly impress me, or anyone else for that matter. This Kickstarter SHOULDN'T succeed as far as I'm concerned.

 

[synobal]

I just don't think there is much demand, the fan base isn't there and we already have some great horror games. Amensia is a prime example.

 

[MrBaskerville]

I kinda hated Eternal Darkness (Never really saw what people loved about it, aside it being one of the few playable horror games on Gamecube) and i can't sat Silikon Knight ever made anything that looked interesting to me, so i obviously never had any desire to back them. But i still hope they find a way even though i highly doubt i would ever want to play the game.

 

[lacktheknack]

The thing is, the big grabber and uber-gimmick that made the first Eternal Darkness so cool was the fact that your Gamecube could unexpectedly turn on you.

It's the kind of thing that works really, REALLY well the first time, and has little to moderate impact the second. I'm not surprised that people aren't clamouring for the second.

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

I really didn't like the trailer for it...mostly due to the 'hellscape' images they threw about. Eternal Darkness wasn't about fire and brimstone damnation, it was lovecraftian apathy.

It DID seem that they were trying a little too hard to give it the AAA treatment, and we all know that AAA horror games tend to miss the point. When, in the trailer, they showed cutscenes where you got a good look at the monsters, and when the ENTIRE BUILDING fell away to become your said 'fire and brimstone' setting, I was like "Yup, they fucking missed the point. No subtlety, just the tired old 'more is better' mentality".

OT:It's sad that this isn't becoming a reality in the foreseeable future, but I don't think we would have been missing out on much... Not sure how you make a sequel for a game renowned for it's ability to make your GameCube turn on you new and unpredictable again.

And yes captcha, this really does get my goat.

 

[ClockworkUniverse]

Is anybody actually surprised that nobody wants Denis Dyack handling their money? The guy is proven to be, at bare minimum, completely incompetent with money.