New World Dev Diary Shows off Cultural Influences on Design, Lore and Endgame

Explore the cultures and civilizations in a new developer diary video for New World that shows off the creation and ideas behind some of the game's zones.

We start by getting a look at Ebonscale Reach, in one of the New World endgame zones, getting a peek at what we can expect when the game is released.

Part of the setting and the journey of adventurers and their quests in Aeternum is making the world feel both rich and full of potential. The ream explains that given the lore that says that Aeternum has had many names and many adventurers through it before, one of the goals was to motivate a sense of curiosity about who they were. The fantasy and mystery elements are intended to have layers and both beautiful places to be and look at and layers of darkness and power in the world too.

The team handles this by taking the mysterious nature of Aeternum and taking inspiration from some aspects of real world cultures and weaving them into the designs and art, wanting to add a realism with the fantastical elements. Some elements will seem like a blend of various cultures that were not related or mixed near one another in our world.

The deeper look at Ebonscale is part of the showcase, including its vast locations and influences. Designed for cooperation at the highest levels and with secrets, the lore involves an empress who lost her throne to her brother and, in exile, discovered Aeternum and began seeking power and to enact some very dark plans. The design involved in both taking that lore and creating the empress and her tactics, based on kung-fu movies and Chinese dancing, is one level of setting up a taste of what to expect and an entry point into talking about the cultural considerations undertaken by the intentionally diverse New World team.