The AMA that spilled the map

Former New World lead world designer David McKenzie took to Reddit for an Ask Me Anything and slowly added follow ups afterward. The result is a rare look at what the team had in mind for Aeternum if development had kept going. Spoiler: they had a very long plan and surprisingly specific ideas for places players never saw.

Top-line reveals

  • Ten year plan. The devs had a decade-long roadmap and knew what every unrevealed area of the map would become.
  • Zone themes. Future regions were lined up to include southeast Asia, Japan, and Viking-inspired areas.
  • Next weapon. After daggers the planned weapon was lightning gauntlets.
  • Immediate expansion. A zone called the Jungle of Sound was next in line after Nighthaven. McKenzie said workflow improvements could have pushed that out about six months after Nighthaven landed.
  • Nighthaven secrets. The little-used northeastern portion of Nighthaven was intended to be a free for all PvP zone with a vampires versus werewolves theme.
  • Gameplay systems planned. Farming and sailing were both on the wishlist for future updates.

Why the voice acting sounded odd

One piece of behind-the-scenes drama: Nighthaven's voice work did not use professional actors. Leadership trimmed the voice over budget and pushed for AI to fill the gap. The dev team refused to go that route on moral grounds and ended up recording the voices themselves. That explains the rough audio quality players noticed.

How the end unfolded

The team had a sense things were not great, but the move to maintenance mode and the layoffs were not shared with developers before the public announcement. Some team members learned about it the same way players did, by seeing the news online.

Is a revival likely?

McKenzie said he has no insider knowledge about any buyout or revival plans. He rates the odds of another studio buying and continuing the game as abysmal. He also said he would return to work on the game if given the chance.

It is easy to read these notes and feel a little sad for fans. What stands out more clearly is how much the team cared. They kept planning big content even as budgets shrank, and they improvised where they had to to try to deliver something worth playing.