New World Devs Talk Shop About Lore And Central Themes In Latest "Forged In Aeternum" Video Series

The short-form video series from Amazon Games, "Forged in Aeternum," is back quickly after the first one last week to talk shop about New World's lore, main story, and central themes.

The video - ending a little before the five-minute mark - is led by another roundtable of developers: World Experience Lead Mike Willette, Art Director Charles Bradbury, and Narrative Director Rob Chestney. Their discussion begins by providing some intriguing context to the overarching question of "what is the cost of eternal life" when crafting the story/world of Aeternum. The quote is central to the main story in New World and shown physically through the "madness" of Yonas.

"You're kind of seeing what happens to a being who's been here this long and tries to store that much in their brain and how they can potentially break," stated Willette in response to the looming question. Chestney talked about the human brain being unable to hold information "longer than 100 years." Going over that limit leads to "seeing errors" - hence, Yonas' unstable mental state.

The devs spoke a bit about the Brimstone Sands update that dives deeper into the history of Aeternum and how future patches will examine more aspects of the setting. As an aside, they even hinted at Adiana and what she might do next in New World.

Overall, the video discussion is on the lighter side. As a follow-up to the video, Amazon Games dropped a community question for viewers on YouTube. The question reads: "What side stories do you really enjoy? What do you want more of?"

A lot of different answers cropped up from players. Some liked the Sandworm Secret quests, and others asked for more context on how the Old/New World co-existed. Whether these answers bear fruit is up in the air, but maybe Amazon aims to include more bits and pieces to flesh out the world in upcoming updates.