EverQuest Next lore designed to be inclusive, encourage creativity

The lore of the EverQuest series has been reimagined for EverQuest Next, which will present players with a world that is familiar but has a slightly different history, the game's designers announced at SOE Live this weekend.

Massively reports that during a "Norrathian History 101" panel explaining the lore of EverQuest Next, creative director Jeff Butler said the lore development team for Next contains members of the original team from EverQuest. He compared the game's "reboot" to that of the Star Trek film franchise.

"Expect a retelling and re-imagining of the EverQuest story, drawing on nostalgia for the franchise and in homage to all the EverQuests that have preceded [EverQuest Next]," he said.

Butler explained the lore has been redesigned to be inclusive for all players — allowing new players to join the game without feeling alienated by heaps of backstory — and encourage player creativity, such as with the Landmark feature. Butler explained the team wanted to keep the opportunity open for more stories or games based in the same timeline as EverQuest Next.

"We want our players to have multiple points of entry to our intellectual property; we want them to have multiple points of entry to our game," he said.

For a deeper explanation of EverQuest Next's new landmark system, check out our video preview here.