Precursor Games is hoping that their spiritual sequel to Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem by will be bankrolled by donations, but are providing no guarantee that if funded, the game will actually be made.

The pledge system for Shadow of the Eternals is managed directly by Precursor Games via PayPal, and its terms and conditions state that "donations and are not consideration for any services or product," and that they will be gathered immediately rather than all at once if the project hits its goal of US$1.5 million (AU$1.5 million).

"A donation cannot be cancelled or returned once it has been completed, whether or not Precursor Games completes the game or fulfills the specified reward," it reads.

However, Precursor adds that the goal is "flexible”, and "if it becomes apparent that we cannot raise enough to develop this project then we will refund all pledges".

The Canada-based company – which rose from the ashes of Eternal Darkness developer Silicon Knights – isn’t eligible for Kickstarter.

Speaking with Polygon, Precursor CEO Paul Caporicci insisted that his company was a completely separate entity from the stricken Silicon Knights, despite the fact that it is made up of Silicon Knights employees (including its former president Denis Dyack), and also that it purchased computers and art assets from that company.

"Silicon Knights was selling off extra assets to laid-off employees and we, along with others, purchased some of them," said Caporicci.

"Like so many others who have been laid off in this difficult economy, we are simply trying to turn a tough situation into something positive. This helps gives us an opportunity with Shadow of the Eternals to give the gamers something that have been wanting."

Silicon Knights has been embroiled in a legal battle with Epic Games over a Unreal Engine 3 licensing deal that went sour.

The company sued Epic Games for allegedly breaching an agreement over Unreal Engine 3 licensing, but Epic filed a counterclaim, alleging Silicon Knights developed its own engine and games other than Too Human illegally by using Unreal Engine 3.

A year ago, the court ruled in favour of Epic Games, ordering Silicon Knights to pay it millions in damages, a figure that was boosted to more than US$9 million (AU$9 million) last November.

Silicon Knights was also ordered to destroy all unsold copies of its Unreal Engine 3 games.

However, Precursor Games cannot be held liable for Silicon Knights’ debt, and anyone seeking money from it for said debt would have to file a new case in court.

Precursor is aiming to release the pilot episode of Shadow of the Eternals in the third quarter of this year for US$5 (AU$5).