While Salt is definitely a game about freedom and exploration, it's always nice to have a sense of objective and subsequently, a sense of accomplishment. Quests allow us to give players something to work toward and it adds meaning to a lot of the content in the game. 

For example, let's say you haven't done any quests and you've played a ton of hours and obtained a lot of really nice loot. You may get to a place where you think, "What's the point of even killing pirates anymore? I've already got all the loot!" This kind of rips a lot of the meaning from the content in the game.

One way to get around this problem is to add quests that involve all types of content in the game, adding more replay-ability and reasons to play. To use an in-game example, there's an NPC known as the Sea Hunter. As part of his repeatable quest, you have to obtain Sea Hunter Tokens and turn them in for a random loot drop. These tokens can be found on a lot of different enemies and therefore adds meaning to content you may have "out-geared."

Depth and Lore

Another benefit of quests is the opportunity to add depth and a sense of lore to the world. This aspect particularly arises during the main quest. If you choose to go down that path, you'll discover a lot of information about the world and it's inhabitants. While not every quest reveals some secret information about the game, we do try to include interesting lore and depth in many of the quests and quest related items. 

In addition to adding objective, meaning, and lore to the world, quests also give us the opportunity to help players discover content they may have otherwise missed. For example, if you play the main quest in the game, you'll end going to multiple island types, encountering a lot of different enemies, fighting bosses, discovering new NPCs with side quests, and getting better loot along the way. While we do still have secrets in the game that you have to discover on your own, quests give us a good way to introduce players to the various types of content in the game. 

We are always adding new quests and objectives in Salt, particularly when new content comes out. In our next update for example, you'll finally be able to get your hands on musical instruments through a new NPC known as The Composer. He will have a series of quests with increasing challenges that will you reward you with some rare instruments for completing these quests.

Stay tuned for more information on that update soon!