Back in the days of yore, live GMs would tick off events in an MMO and things would happen as players moved forward in whatever was going on at the time. Rare Ltd. appears to be hearkening back to this long-lost tradition in Sea of Thieves with the advent of Mysteries, “an example of live storytelling that players have never really seen before, in this game or elsewhere.” Discounting the aforementioned GM-run events in prior MMORPGs for the last 25 years and MUDs before that, of course.
As the use of “live storytelling” suggests, Mysteries will be powered less by content updates and more by community participation, with steps to Mysteries being uncovered through investigation and clue finding both in-game and out-of-game. Players can look forward to Mysteries unfolding in numerous stages, with progression resulting from what they’ve discovered and the stage that the community has collectively reached.
“Frankly, this is a game-changer in terms of the types of storytelling we can achieve with Mysteries, with genuine player surprises, twists and turns potentially happening at any time,” creative director Mike Chapman writes. “Collectively, we consider Seasons, Adventures and now Mysteries as the cornerstones of the evolving Sea of Thieves world, with a connected sense of lore unfolding across all three elements.”
The game’s first Mystery is expected to come out sometime this week, but players can prepare themselves by reading the associated dev blog or checking out the video below.
