Towers of Aghasba’s Onboarding Experience Will Take Cues…

Towers of Aghasba is a brand-new upcoming open-world sandbox game that tasks players with building their own towns and settlements while restoring the withered land to its former beauty. The maiden title from developer Dreamlit Games, the game fuses crafting, survival, and exploration mechanics, with some light combat elements too. Promising a world rich with things to do and see, with an emphasis on multiplayer co-op, Towers of Aghasba is one that fans of survival and open-world games will want to keep a keen eye on.

Towers of Aghasba director Khang Le recently discussed the game's lore during a hands-off presentation. He talked about how, traditionally, a sandbox-style survival game doesn't necessarily mesh well with a deep narrative. He also touched on how the game's tutorial and onboarding experience will share some similarities with the social sim Animal Crossing, one of the earliest examples of a casual game.

Towers of Aghasba Will Ensure its Player Onboarding Experience is Handled Correctly

A game's onboarding experience is crucial in ensuring the player gets to grips with the mechanics as quickly as possible. Some titles, such as Uncharted 2, achieve this by throwing players straight in at the deep end. Others take a more measured approach, slowly weaving new moves and mechanics into the game's opening hours. While there is no right or wrong approach to take here, depending on what the game sets out to achieve, there are pros and cons to both. Le explained that in terms of Towers of Aghasba's opening, it would take a similar approach to that of Animal Crossing:

''Similar to Animal Crossing, we use the narrative to onboard the player. We feed the game’s lore into that.''

Towers of Aghasba Will Not Feature a Deep Narrative

This approach will ensure that the player quickly becomes immersed in Towers of Aghasba's world and its lore. Regarding the game's overarching narrative, Le explained that its sandbox nature means that players can play it at their own pace, and there's a distinct lack of urgency that comes with that. He talked about the fact that this lack of urgency means it would be very difficult for Towers of Aghasba to feature a deep, meaningful narrative:

''I don't think open-world sandbox games are very good at telling deep stories with a sense of urgency. Take something like Assassin’s Creed or Uncharted. There's a big sense of urgency in those games, but sandbox experiences, where the player is free to explore and craft at their own pace, don't congruently go well with deep narratives.''

It's no surprise that telling a rich, complex story isn't too high on Dreamlit Games' priority list here, given the fact that a game like Towers of Aghasba is meant to be played at a player's preferred pace, for prolonged periods. The nature of the crafting, customization, and survival mechanics means that the game likely won't have an endpoint, with players free to continue building and growing their custom cities and communities as they like.