When you’re trying your hardest to be the Blackbeard of space, sometimes you’ll need to go a little off the beaten track to complete your zero to hero path. Well, that’s exactly what Small Impact Games is trying to encourage with its new upcoming Marauders missions.
The missions, which were first introduced in the last closed beta run, added more depth to the extraction looter shooter game, forcing players to use different weapons or loot a specific location. However, with the beta racking up more than two million games in just five days, players were quickly running out of things to do, meaning they often got stuck into a cycle, raiding maps without any real mission to focus on.
However, Small Impact Games is looking to tackle that once the game launches in early access in October, with lead developers James Rowbotham and Cameron Small telling The Loadout exclusively that there’ll be 40 missions for players to enjoy. In total, this will take around 80 hours to complete.
“These linear quests serve two purposes really,” Small says. “The first is to deliver extra tension in the game and the second is to create competition. In some missions, we’ll be sending you to one location at the same time. So if you need to grab three biscuits, everyone will be hammering the kitchens at the same time.”
The pair, while coy about the mission’s content, say the fact they’re adding these questlines to the game now off the back of an incredible beta proves that the game is resonating with players.
“It shows we’re heading in the right direction,” Rowbotham says. “It also shows that the core loop is stable. If they’re hitting two million [games] in such a short period of time, they’re probably going to hit 100 million in a month – so we need to make sure we have healthy concurrent.”
There’ll also be plenty more daily missions for players to complete too – although, like the new linear missions, these will only be available once the game launches in early access next month.