Project Eternity‘s month-long Kickstarter campaign is finally over and has ended with a record-breaking total pledge. The RPG, made by Obsidian Entertainment, passed its first set of stretch goals and smashed a second set on its way to a huge haul.

Obsidian turned to crowdfunding to gauge the support and gain the funding for an old-school isometric role-playing game. The Internet responded with a total donation of $3.98 million from over 73,000 backers, the largest overall pledge for any video game funded through Kickstarter. Pay-pal donations will add at least another $100,000 to the total donations.

The final few hours of the Kickstarter were celebrated at Obsidian’s offices with a livestream party, where developers took questions from fans (and got steadily more intoxicated) as the total ticked towards the $4 million mark.

Project Eternity hit each of its stretch goals, adding another two playable races, six classes and at least three more companions to those already promised in the base game. Lower stretch goals included Mac and Linux versions and player housing. As Project Eternity continued to hit its targets, crafting and enchanting were added, as was a stronghold and two huge cities. Its initial goal of $1.1 million was reached in 24 hours.

Extensive lore was released through Project Eternity‘s Kickstarter page over the course of the campaign. Thanks to the success of the Kickstarter, a documentary will be produced which will allow backers to see the development process behind Project Eternity.

Obsidian also announced that it is supporting the Kicking it Forward initiative where 5% of the profits made upon the release of the game are put back into other Kickstarter projects.

Want to donate to the development of more old-school RPGs? Shaker, a sci-fi RPG being developed by a team headed by industry veterans Brenda Braithwaite (the Wizardry series, Dungeons and Dragons) and Tom Hall (Anacronox, Doom) also needs Kickstarting.

Project Eternity is expected to ship in April 2014 on Mac, Linux and PC.

Have you backed Project Eternity? Can you think of any other niche or neglected genres that might benefit from the Kickstarter treatment in the same way old-school RPGs have?