Amazon aims to conquer MMOs with New World: Aeternum

Amazon Games’ 2021 MMO New World is currently 165th in Steam’s most-played chart behind rhythm-based indie game Geometry Dash, free-to-play idle MMO Legends of Idleon, and a cursor customization app called Yolo Mouse.

Its upcoming console port, New World: Aeternum, is the developer’s crack at bringing more players on board. 

The game includes New World and all past updates, cross-platform play between PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, console-friendly UI and controls, better onboarding for newbies, fresh zones, extra expeditions, and fearsome new mounts.

It begins with your shipwrecked explorer washing ashore on Aeternum, a supernatural island inspired by the 17th-century Americas. Here, either on your own or with other adventurers through co-op and PvP, you’ll fight, forage, and forge your path.

That path is less of a slog than it was in 2021. Originally, completing the main questline took roughly 100 hours. New World: Aeternum streamlines it to around 50. 

“Quest flow is much smoother now,” says game director Scott Lane. “Now there’s not just sort of kill quests and gather quests. You have to protect, defend, you go into instanced content. So the variety of things you do while questing is huge also.” Amazon Games is removing the filler and emphasizing the killer. 

During my hands-on, I battle a demon-possessed Conquistador, save an Irish warrior maiden, and cook up some boar meat, all in about 15 mins.

It’s possible to mainline New World: Aeternum completely solo from start to finish, with formerly mandatory group instances now optional. It contributes to a tighter, more story-driven game, one complimented by an enhanced dialogue system. 

“Every time you talk with someone,” says Lane, “it presents it in a much more cinematic experience. You get to see the NPC in much more clarity, you get to see the expressions, the gestures. So both the questing and the narrative here have really moved forward.”

Something else that moves forward is combat, with
Amazon Games striving to make it feel more impactful on console. “We changed the way the combat camera works,” says Lane, “the way hit reactions work, the way you’re able to move, bind, all the support we’ve done with sort of target lock, aim assist. You know, adding in a whole control scheme.”

In my demo, I play as a musketeer with a rapier and rifle, battering corrupted mariners in responsive real-time combat. What’s unusual for an MMO, however, is a lack of classes. Instead, you’re able to switch from, say, ice-shooting spellcaster to heavily armored tank at will, free from the lingering doubt you’re locked into the wrong role. 

Seven character templates are there to start you off. The Occultist, for instance, can shoot frost and flame spells, and comes with points already put into jewel crafting, mining and stone cutting. The soldier, meanwhile, wields a sword and hatchet, and has a boost to weapon smithing, mining and smelting. You can equip any weapon you find later, whether sword, gun, or staff, regardless of the template you originally chose. 

There’s plenty to do outside of combat, such as explore additional zones like Brimstone Sands and the Giant Desert from the backs of new mounts, customize your character’s look, and gather plants and hides to craft powerful new potions, weapons, and gear.

When you’re done with the story is when the meta starts. “I think that one of the beautiful things,” says Lane, “is once you get to the end game, you could gather, craft, and spend a lot of time on that. You could focus on your house, you could lean into music, you could fish, you could go do chest runs, you could do our expeditions and then mutated versions of our expeditions…If you like the game and love what you’re playing, you can keep busy for a real long time.”

New World: Aeternum probably won’t steal away many players faithful to the Elder Scrolls Online, Guild Wars, or Black Desert Online, but it’s a vast improvement on the game that launched in 2021.

New World: Aeternum launches October 15, 2024, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. PC players who have already purchased New World and the Rise of the Angry Earth expansion can access everything in New World: Aeternum at no extra cost.

GRIFF GRIFFIN

Griff Griffin is a writer and YouTube content creator based in London, UK.