When New World shifted its design balance from being less about PvP to more about PvE last year, many MMO gamers worried about the content: Could Amazon Games pump in enough PvE questing to make it play more like a traditional MMO? When the game launches this summer, we’re going to find out for sure, but in the meantime, we can get a hint about the game’s updated quest design thanks to a new dev blog.
AGS says it has four key “pillars” – yes pillars – guiding its vision: to give players identity and purpose, to immerse them in the world, to offer consistent activities, and to celebrate big moments along the progression path. To achieve all those ends, the team says it’s restructured “many” zones so the quests flow better narratively, swapping out generic quests and items for more custom ones, adding midgame quests for unique items, implementing new NPCs and areas, and overhauling the newbie main story questline. There’s also new voiceover work for some quest NPCs, as heard in the video tucked down below.
“In future updates, we will continue to build out the MSQ by adding narrative-driven climatic events through level 60,” the devs write. “These will introduce new enemies, unique objectives to continue to improve quest variety, and new stories for the players to experience on their quest to learn the secrets of Aeternum. As we continue development and improvements, we’ll keep you updated on our social channels and website.”
In other Amazon news, the company announced that it’s expanding with the opening of a brand-new development studio in Montreal, Canada. “The Montreal studio, which joins Amazon Games development studios in Seattle, Orange County, and San Diego, will focus on creating original AAA games,” the company says. “Amazon Games is actively hiring to build out the talented team, with a variety of roles opening.” Incidentally, the press release casually mentions once again that AGS is publishing an unnamed Smilegate title, which we’re still assuming is Lost Ark.
