The design of Fort Deadlight and the
quest that takes place there, Blow the
Man Down, was led by Jorge Salgado,
a senior designer at Obsidian
Entertainment who has previously
worked onFallout: New Vegas,South
Park: The Stick of Truth, and the
originalPillars of Eternity.“I
designed it pretty much from the
ground up,” he says. “I like to have
my hands on a project from the
beginning to the very end.”
When you arrive at the fort,
Benweth is holed up in the donjon, a
secure keep patrolled by his personal
bodyguards. You can fight your way
to him, but there are smarter and
more fun ways to complete the quest.
“We had a few high-level goals for
Fort Deadlight,” says Salgado. “It had
to be an area that was accessible early
on, that would showcasePillars’
breadth of gameplay. We wanted
players who enjoy dungeon crawls to
have that experience, but also offer
other ways to complete the quest,
using stealth or talking to NPCs to
get past certain obstacles.”
There are several ways to infiltrate
Fort Deadlight, ranging from flying
the colours of its pirate owners from
your mast and sailing in
unchallenged, to simply climbing in
through one of its windows. And
once you’re in, there are large areas
where you can blend in with the
crowd and wander around freely.
Some areas are off limits, however,
and the guards will escort you back
to a public space if you’re caught –
and eventually they’ll attack if you
continue to trespass. If this reminds
you of a mission fromHitman, that
was the idea.
“I’m a big fan of theHitman
series,” he says. “I love that kind of
emergent gameplay. There are so
many ways to solve problems, and a
lot of them are really funny, too. So
when I designed Fort Deadlight I
wanted to have a couple of amusing
ways for the player to deal with
Benweth, not just fighting or
intimidating him. And this is where
the idea of him being a virtuoso
harpsichord player came from.”KILLER TUNES
Arguably the most enjoyable way to
kill Benweth is to rig the harpsichord
in the court, where the fort’s
residents come to eat and drink, with
a bomb. But he’ll only come down to
play if you can get a sufficiently
rowdy party started, which involves,
among other things, stealing a case of
expensive rum from under the noses
of some patrolling guards.
A cheery orlan pirate called Mirke
helps you arrange the party, unaware
that really you’re using it to lure
Benweth out to kill him. She’s one ofSCURVY DOGS
Notable Fort Deadlight residents
SNAKE EYES
CONDWEN
Agamblerwho
swindles visitors out
of their ill-earned
copperwithapairof
loaded dice.NO-NUT NED
A black market
peddler who sells
supplies and other
more specialist
items, providing you
have the coin.SYRI THE SIREN
An old flame of
Serafen who gives
the orlan pirate a
hard time for
abandoning her for a
life at sea.SCEYDWIN
One of Benweth’s
crew of pirates,
lashedandtiedtoa
postinthefortasa
public punishment
for insubordination.MIRKE
A fun-loving,
rum-swigging pirate
serving under
Captain Aeldys. Can
later be recruited as
a companion.UNGWITH THE
CRAGHEARTED
The captain of
Deadlight’s guards.
Despises drunkards,
which makes the fort
a gruelling place.ABOVE: This is the
untextured 3D model
of the fort before it’s
prerendered, placed
in-game and touched
up by the artists.Main: The lower
rampart is a safe
zone where you can
mingle freely with the
fort’s pirate
population and
formulate a plan.