In an interview posted on New Year’s Eve, Sea of Thieves executive producer Joe Neate expounded on Rare’s plans to introduce more story and lore into Sea of Thieves. The game up to this point has offered a rather limited story, offering plenty of environmental and atmospheric storytelling but only experimenting with more direct approaches. Rare acknowledges that this is an area Sea of Thieves could do better in, that this is an area fans crave:
Both the Hungering Deep and Cursed Sails events were designed around players interacting with NPCs and objects hidden from island to island. Each told a short and meaningful story, leading to a conflict and ultimately introducing new permanent gameplay to the world.
Rare plans to dramatically expand on storytelling in 2019 with the implementation of an entirely new quest system designed around story and lore:
Up until now, the story introduced in Sea of Thieves has all been directly tied to new gameplay. Hungering Deep introduced Megalodons, Cursed Sails introduced Skeleton Ships and Cursed Cannonballs, and even the Sunken Curse Bilge Rat Adventure helped further the story of the mysterious merpeople in Sea of Thieves. An in-game quest system that focuses on story could mark a dramatic change in the core game experience.
2019 is already lining up to be a year of radical change for Sea of Thieves, which is saying something considering the significant amount of content added in 2018. Between the Arena competitive mode, this new questing system, and more nameless major updates planned, it may be time to resubscribe to Game Pass next year.
Sea of Thieves is available now on Xbox One and PC.
Source: Game Reactor
