Skip to Main Content
PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing.

Richard 'Lord British' Garriott Turns to Kickstarter for New Ultima Game

Unfortunately, there's no "reward" tier that will grant you the ability kill the famed game designer (again) with an in-game firewall scroll.

March 9, 2013
Shroud of the Avatar

There's something to be said for a fan base that's held a deep, rabid passion for a particular game for the better part of a decade. We're speaking, of course, of the legions of devotees to the 1999 Infinity Engine wonder known as Planescape: Torment – arguably one of the best role-playing games of all time, if you'll allow this writer to get personal for a moment.

Presumably, they love the legacy title enough that they've been willing to dump more than $2 million (over the short span of two days) into a Kickstarter campaign for the game's spiritual successor, Torment: Tides of Numenera. Not only is that a pretty significant chunk of change, but the game also set a new Kickstarter record for being the fastest project to reach the million-dollar milestone – less than eight hours.

Not to be outdone – or, perhaps, recognizing the power of the devoted fan base – role-playing game heavyweight Richard Garriott (yes, "Lord British") is throwing his hat into the Kickstarter ring with a $1 million funding appeal for his own spiritual successor, Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues. Don't let the name throw you off at first: If you liked his Ultima series, there's much you might like about this one.

In general, describes the game's Kickstarter page, Garriott is making a role-playing title that, "will focus more on player choices and discovery than on level grinding." Which is to say, you can just hang out in the woods and live a solitary life if you so desire — everything that looks usable in the world should be interactive, suggests the game's description, which will allow you to pursue your simple single-player life with reckless abandon. You can also pull out the ol' family sword and go fight evil for glory and profit if you're a bit more into the action bits of games like these.

"The familiar psychological profiling used to create your character, organically derived game-play responses to player behavior and fundamental virtues and consequence of actions will all play a huge role in Shroud of the Avatar. Players will be free to choose their path, but must then live with the consequences of their actions," reads the game's Kickstarter.

Although gamers will be able to adventure within the game offline if they want (hear that, Electronic Arts?), there will also be an online tie-in that will allow players to develop real estate and business in a persistent virtual world, among other features (cough PvP cough). Naturally, those who contribute to the Kickstarter will earn themselves a bit of a bonus in that regard: Purchasing a house within Shroud of the Avatar would normally require one to pay tax, but Kickstarter backers will be able to enjoy tax-free living for the life of the game.

The game, which is being designed for PC, Mac, and Linux, has already raised just over half a million dollars as of this article's writing. It also has its own Kickstarter trailer starring Lord British himself, which you can view below:

Get Our Best Stories!

Sign up for What's New Now to get our top stories delivered to your inbox every morning.

This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.


Thanks for signing up!

Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!

Sign up for other newsletters

TRENDING

About David Murphy

Freelancer

David Murphy got his first real taste of technology journalism when he arrived at PC Magazine as an intern in 2005. A three-month gig turned to six months, six months turned to occasional freelance assignments, and he later rejoined his tech-loving, mostly New York-based friends as one of PCMag.com's news contributors. For more tech tidbits from David Murphy, follow him on Facebook or Twitter (@thedavidmurphy).

Read David's full bio

Read the latest from David Murphy