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I’ve not ventured into the lands of the MMORPG for a little while. And it’s something I’ve missed. The exploration of a new world surrounded by thousands of other players, all discovering it at the same time. Going on adventures with strangers and journeys with newfound friends or guilds. Creating the perfectly balanced party and destroying a big boss after hours of dungeon crawling.
But New World: Aeternum is just around the corner so I was excited to join up again, taking in the life-absorbing experience through an early access event.
New World: Aeternum starts with you choosing which region to play in, before a cutscene introduces the story. A ship, travelling to the New World, is attacked and a strange presence takes over the crew and sets the boat on fire. You are below, down in the hull, left to make the most of a character creator; what you look like and who you might be. The options don’t seem to be as vast as something like Baldur’s Gate, but that is fine by me. I settled for an archer who uses a spear and bow as their main weapons. From there, a small tutorial talks you through the combat and then you’re on the first island in the New World.
Combat is delivered through simple light and hard attacks. This is complemented with the opportunity to dodge and roll, with some options for special attacks as you level up and unlock them in your skill trees. Seeing as things are in Beta form, it all works well at the moment and feels fluid. And as you move around the first island the world becomes interesting, as you meet your first NPC and the plethora of usual MMORPG quests begin, each with the promise of loot and experience.
There are survival elements of gathering materials and crafting to New World: Aeternum Getting meat and cooking it for supplies is part of the fun, whilst skill trees for weapons and the characters look very inviting. I joined up with a few other folk to take in some quests, and it’s all run nicely; there were no problems online for me, even in the beta. In fact, by the end of my time with it, I just wanted more, looking forward to the full release and to be completely immersed into the world some more.
New World: Aeternum seems very intriguing in terms of story, with a promising narrative that should branch. And the characters I met along the way seemed colourful and well-written. What is most impressive though is the world itself, especially the lighting and fauna. This is one of the most pretty, best-lit, MMORPGs out there.
Time will tell as to how things develop when New World: Aeternum launches on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PC come October 15th 2024 with full cross-platform play. From this initial foray into the world, I am hugely optimistic.
Should you be ready to lose your life to another MMORPG, New World: Aeternum feels the perfect game to welcome you back.
Huge thanks go out to Amazon Games for providing us access to the Early Access event for New World: Aeternum on Xbox. New World: Aeternum’s Open Beta, which will take place from Friday, September 13 through to Monday, September 16.