New World

New World, the highly anticipated MMO from Amazon Games, is finally here. You will find yourself stranded in the mysterious land of Aeternum, where Corruption thrives and factions vie for control. Danger lurks around every turn as you explore this land with its ancient secrets. However, respite can be found in the settlements built by those stranded on Aeternum before your arrival. In these settlements, you can start your life anew. Crafting, selling, and combat lie ahead as you explore the secrets of Aeternum.

Exploring Aeternum

Aeternum is a new land upon which your character, and their ship, crashes. Taking place during this world’s Age of Exploration, New World thrusts you into a land rife with corruption and mystery. However, you are not the first to arrive. 

Many other explorers have found themselves washed upon these shores. A terrible storm devastating their ships as well. With no way off Aeternum, they began settling here and making Aeternum their home. 

Unfortunately, the neighbors are none too keen on new arrivals. Evil beings roam Aeternum and will attempt to stop you at any given opportunity. Exploring, while encouraged in New World, is not without its risk. If you are not careful, you can easily end up in an area much too high for your current level. 

However, settlements do provide respite for weary travelers. Though they are few and far between. One may be tempted to take the roads from one settlement to another. While this is a safer option, it is also much more tedious. Since your character moves at one set speed, and there is no way of increasing it, travel can be cumbersome.

You are given the option to use fast travel, but there are restrictions. One option is to recall to an inn in a settlement. However, it is only to the last inn in which you have “checked in.” I made this mistake when I visited a new settlement, only to find myself running about four kilometers back to turn in a quest. The recall is also restricted to once an hour. 

New World does have another fast travel system in place, but as with the inns, it has limitations. First, and foremost, you must visit a settlement before you can fast travel to it. While this is likely to encourage exploration, travel can be cumbersome and sometimes even dull. You must also have a resource known as Azoth, and the cost is variable. Fast Travel costs take into account multiple factors, including what faction you belong to and if that faction currently controls the territory.

While New World does try to highlight exploration, it feels a little clumsy. Moving at one, kind of slow, speed the entire time gets monotonous. A sprint option that works off of stamina would be a welcome addition. There is already a system in place that uses stamina for dodging and defending. Adding bursts of speed with a sprint option that uses the same system could break up the monotony in travel.

During the early parts of New World, exploration did not feel fun because it was never clear when I would stumble into an area outside of my current skill level. A system that could let players travel from one settlement to another for a fee, like Skyrim’s carriage system, would certainly be a nice option for travel.

Moving on Up

One of my favorite, and least favorite, parts of New World, is their progression systems. New World provides plenty of variability and customization options so that you may play the game as you wish. On the other hand, there is an exorbitant amount of grinding to do just to get some basic features. You can certainly feel where the game is designed to keep you around.

For personal progression, New World divides it into three categories: core attributes, weapon mastery, and trade skills. The core attributes allow you to allocate points to different stats, such as strength, dexterity, intelligence, etc., upon leveling up. This is pretty standard for RPGs, and putting points into different areas impacts your proficiency with certain weapons. Dexterity, for example, will impact your ability to use a rapier, while strength will impact how well you can swing a great-ax. These abilities are further expanded upon in the weapon mastery system.

This system is one of my favorite parts of New World. At any time, you can pick up a new type of weapon and start learning to use it. Each weapon has its own, unique skill tree. As you use a weapon more often, you open up the skill trees, regardless of what you have done with other weapons in the past. Being able to play around with weapon mastery and switch between weapons is really well done. The game encourages you to try new things out and see what you like.

The last system for personal progression, and my least favorite, are the trade skills. These skills are your levels in all non-combat areas. This includes logging, mining, forging, and so on. Leveling these up is the most grindy part of New World. For example, just to start being able to track small game, you have to get to level 25 in tracking and skinning And that is no short amount of time commitment. There is a lot of grinding to do to get to higher levels, and there are 17 different skills! 

However, you do not have to pursue these skills once you get out of the tutorial phase of the game. The trade skills are definitely for those who wish to spend their time doing these types of activities. It takes quite a dedicated player to go and try to reach the maximum level in these skills.

Making Your Way in the (New) World

As I said above, the trade skills in New World feel particularly grindy, but there are positives to the systems. I do find crafting an enjoyable part of New World. Others may not. In fact, there are communities already being built by taking advantage of these preferences.

In New World, you join a faction – one of three communities all vying for control of Aeternum. Within these factions, you can join a company. You can make your own company with friends or join an existing crew. Either way, you become a part of a community.

While playing New World, I have often seen people recruiting for their company. Oftentimes, I see them asking for those who are not necessarily combat-focused. In a company, everyone has a role to play. You have your gatherers, crafters, treasurers, fighters, etc. Companies allow everyone who has different interests to come together and support a cause. Which is usually to take control of a territory.

Once a company seizes control of a territory, everyone who is a part of the same faction will see benefits. This is where you can see reductions in fees for fast travel and crafting. The company also decides what to set tax rates at for economic transactions in a settlement. Everything has a price in New World. And while it is still young, it does have an economy within it.

This was an idea that I was skeptical about at first. And I do still hold some reservations about it. If you end up in a territory not controlled by your faction, you risk paying higher fees for crafting and the like. Of course, it would be wise to support your own faction by crafting and selling in a territory owned by your faction. However, as I stated before, travel can be cumbersome. 

But, there is something you can do about that pesky rival faction running the settlement in which you want to trade. Companies can go to war with one another for control of territories. These are massive 50 v. 50 battles. When territory control is so vital to the game, it’s important that every willing individual fight. And luckily, you have the support of the gatherers and crafters to get you the gear you need.

Splitting the Party

One of the more upsetting things in New World is how hard it is to play with friends. When trying to do so, fellow editor Will Silberman and I were spawned in separate territories. Everyone starts with the same quests, no matter the location. We were almost 4 kilometers apart doing the same thing, but couldn’t play with each other.

We made our way through the tutorial work, never once being close to one another in Aeternum. The tutorial section is not short either. You can’t move your quests to a different territory. You can’t fast travel to another player. You just have to work your way through.

We both eventually got to the point where we picked a faction. We went with Syndicate and made a company together. We were hoping one of these options would make playing together easier. No such luck.

I ran through a couple of territories to meet up with him so we could take on a Syndicate mission together. Of the options, we luckily had one that matched up. We did the quest together and turned it in. And, much to my dismay, I had a mission that needed to be turned in at the settlement where I began. 

Unfortunately, I checked in at the inn in the settlement where Will was doing his quests. This meant I could not recall to my settlement. And we were not far enough to have Azoth for fast travel either. Which means I was stuck running almost 4 kilometers back to turn in a mission.

This situation put a damper on trying to play New World with friends. It doesn’t even feel like I can say “with” friends. Unless you are doing a specific game mode, like Expeditions, you cannot really play in tandem. As Will put it, it feels like “the most anti-social, social game.” And I must agree. I found myself enjoying it more when playing by myself.

The Little Things

While the whole of New World has some issues, it is an overall good game. It is evident that the developers did put care and dedication into it. They just made some decisions that some may not find savory.

However, there is enjoyment in the little things. Communities are being built through the faction and company systems. Everyone has a place no matter what style of gameplay they enjoy. People who enjoy grinding out tasks like logging and mining have just as big of a place in New World as those who enjoy combat. Even solo players have a place if they wish to progress through the story on their own.

There are also just little mechanics that the developers added that make New World feel a little more fleshed out. There’s a bell that rings when you walk into the inn. The characters will change how they walk depending on the slope of the terrain. When other players are gathering resources, you see trees fall. You can hear picks against iron veins echoing around the mountains.

The little details help fill Aeternum out a little more. Currently, the world can feel empty at times. There are only so many NPCs and so many things to do. Outside of landmarks, the world can feel empty at times. But hearing the sounds of a tree being felled or a pick against stone will let you know that other players are nearby.

New World is still very new. I see people complaining about different aspects, myself included, but it is important to remember that a new MMORPG will not have everything you may like when it starts. The developers have been receptive to feedback during the alphas and betas. They have made adjustments based on what they have received from players. Fishing was even added because it was a suggestion from players.

I am interested to see what the future holds for New World. While there are some quality of life additions that could be made, like including a mini-map, the developers have put a lot of work in Aeternum. The world will continue to grow, as will the player base. The faction system leads to an ever-changing landscape. Aeternum will change from day to day, and it’s all player influenced.