If you have a lifelong vendetta against all things cartographical, be prepared for a lot of stumbling around while lost in Revival. The latest dispatch from the development team explains how the game’s cartography is going to work, starting with the simple fact that there needed to be a good reason for cartographers and maps to be in demand without making it pointless to go out and walk in the world.
In brief, with or without a map, players will have knowledge of several large elements, like the shape of the overall landmass and the rough location of major cities. Players with other disciplines will be skilled at spotting features out in the world – archaeologists will be able to spot ruins, for example – but to really fill in the detail on maps and remember where things are, you’ll need a cartographer to scribe a map and tag it up. So a map isn’t absolutely necessary, but it helps anyone in need of a sojourn to navigate reliably. You know, just like real maps.