E3 2015: Pillars Of Eternity: The White March - Part I

Pillars of Eternity was one of my biggest game surprises this year as I usually avoid classic isometric role-playing games thinking they might be too difficult or require a great deal of patience. Many hours later and I had discovered an entirely new love for the classic role-playing genre that Pillars of Eternity brought back from the dead.

Fortunately for me and the many other gamers that enjoyed Pillars of Eternity, developer Obsidian Entertainment announced at E3 that an expansion is currently in development. The White Mach: Part I looks to not only improve the base game experience, but add a great deal of new content to make the game world even larger. Two sources of inspiration were mentioned during the presentation in the form of Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast for the expansion pack's feature set and concept and Icewind Dale for its snow-covered and frozen locales.

In the expansion, players set forth on a quest to save a dying town that is urgently in need of Durgan steel. Unfortunately, the only location to acquire such a rare resource lies within the Dwarven forge of Durgan's Battery that holds many mysteries and horrors awaiting players upon their entrance.

The new content is made available to players once they acquire their stronghold in the base game. Among the new game area and campaign, other core features include the addition of two companions, level cap raise, solo stealth mode, high-level scripting for party AI, cross-class talent use, and soulbound weapons. Many of the overall game improvements to the core game experience will also be released as a free patch to both owners and non-owners of the expansion pack.

While no release date or price have been announced yet, the developers said the expansion pack is coming soon and more will be revealed about the part one in the game's title closer to its launch.