Mini Story Pack Spotlight #1

Our first Mini Story Pack will launch Q2 2020. In this first spotlight, learn what a Story Pack is and get a little background on the new questline you'll be following.

In our Q1-Q2 2020 Roadmap post we announced that one of our upcoming projects for Q2 this year is launching the first Mini Story Pack. Which begs the question: what is a Mini Story Pack anyway? If you’re going to make up a new term, you should probably explain what it is. So...

What is a Mini Story Pack?

  • Mini Story Packs are story-focused in-game DLC (downloadable content) that will provide an additional 10-15 hours of gameplay.
  • The Pack is primarily aimed at exploration and questlines, as well as new mechanics like climbing, and a few new quest types.
  • It will feature new NPC types, 5 new zones to explore, and a new storyline with both main and side quests to complete.
  • It will also feature 3 new armor sets and 2 new weapon sets, pets, mounts, furniture pieces, achievements, etc.
  • Mini Story Packs are additional paid content. The first Mini Story Pack will be available for $9.99.

The Mini Story Pack will NOT include new classes, new harvestable items, new potions, raising the level cap, or anything else that would give Pack players an advantage in the base game.

new water zone Explore all new zones in the first Mini Story Pack, releasing Q2 2020.

Will you ever put out a full expansion?

Our current plans include launching 2-3 Mini Story Packs in 2020, with a traditional expansion to the game (increased level cap, new overworld levels, new classes, etc.) in the future. With Reborn still a few months shy of its first birthday, we feel there is still room to expand within the game's current footprint.

The Story Packs are the best way for us to balance our available resources to meet the needs of the current game while building toward the future. Story Packs give us the best of both worlds: they will allow us to add more content for players and explore new mechanics while still leaving time to work on performance improvement, bug fixes, and other issues in the current game—all of which will help build toward a future expansion.

The Story Begins...

The most seasoned traveler might think they know the hills and valleys of Patreayl, but in the nooks and crannies of the countryside lie hidden microsystems secreted away from human eyes—except of course for those of Pierre Cenn, Highsteppe’s resident inventor and zoologist. In search of answers to Patreayl’s radiation problem, Pierre has devoted his life to capturing and cataloging the local fauna.

One of the specimens brought in for study was a rare horned lizard of a kind never before seen in Patreayl. Needing more specimens for a large-scale study, the lizard went mostly unnoticed, save for a daily feeding from Pierre’s assistant, Gorman. But as time passed, Gorman began to notice oddities in the lizard’s behavior. When visitors came to the shop, he didn’t scurry to the back of his cage and cower in fear. Instead he intently watched them, even mimicking their movements from time to time. Intrigued, Gorman began to study the lizard’s behavior—and much to his surprise discovered that the lizard had almost human-like intelligence.

Pierre's shop Use the newly developed micronizer tool to shrink down and explore Pierre Cenn's shop at miniature size.

Gorman and the lizard began to develop a bond. Their budding relationship was furthered when Pierre unveiled his latest invention: the micronizer, a tool that would not only shrink a human down to “critter size” (enabling more extensive study of the microsystems) but translate any form of communication into the common tongue of Patreayl. Using the micronizer, Gorman and the lizard—who now identified himself as Zaarp—began to talk.

As time passed, however, Gorman could tell that Zaarp was depressed and lonely. Believing that the lizard belonged with his own kind, Gorman sprung him from the shop and returned him to his former hunting grounds in the hills outside Highsteppe City. The pair made a pact to meet up once a season to stay in touch. But this season’s meeting time came and went with no sign of Zaarp. Could something terrible have happened to the lizard? Gorman is determined to use the micronizer and explore the miniature worlds of Patreayl in search of his friend, but it's a dangerous world out there—doubly so for anyone so small...

Stay tuned for more blog posts in the coming weeks to learn more about what to expect from the new Mini Story Pack!

Orbus Dev

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