Another episode of New World’s Forged in Aeternum has arrived, this one helmed by Amazon narrative director Rob Chestney, lore master Aaron de Orive, and narrative designer Divya Dias. The devs home in on the enemy groups of the game world and – as most writers do – can’t help themselves but dig into the narrative philosophy behind those familes and their motivations.
Dias kicks it off by pointing out that the base lore is pretty depressing, but she’s found solace in building it by using the soul-corrupting Lost as a reminder to make the best of life. De Orive takes it back even further by focusing on the Ancients, whose fate was sealed by their own hubris, although the devs apparently have an ongoing debate about whether it was the Ancients or their human students who caused the corruption – which isn’t just a concept but a sentient thing. In fact, they give us a sample of that debate, even using a virus-centric analogy for the island’s situation (humans and/or the corruption are the virus, depending on which dev you side with).
Even if you’re not generally a lore fan – or if you are but find it hard to grok – the video’s visuals and descriptions are worth a quick listen, not so much for the run-down of baddies but to hear the developers explain the plot’s philosophy and ambiguities through the lens of corruption as a living entity.
