At first glance, New World from Amazon seems like any typical fantasy MMO in the market. However, with the kind of budget from one of the world's largest entities, anyone who's heard of New World for the first time will probably expect some surprises coming their way. Thankfully enough, Amazon's New World does boast some new concepts in gaming - both thematically and mechanically.
At its core, New World brings player of the Renaissance period to Aeternum, a mysterious island known only in legend. With magic now a power they can control, factions - and now, players - eye control over the Island's key gift: countless cycles of death and resurrection. What else does New World have to offer that other games don't have?
10 Environmental Visuals Justify The Hardware Demand
Players who want to experience a new take on an alternate history MMO will appreciate New World and its core visuals. Unlike other fantasy MMO, the "historical" aspect of New World gives its Age of Exploration premise a unique flair unseen in other MMOs. Moreover, maxing out graphics options will have New World show off the rather stunning aesthetic that meshes deep historical realism and high fantasy.
The major environments in New World are the following:
- Windsward: Arguably the "friendliest" of the game's areas, Windsward boasts a lush open environment for players to explore. Its bountiful forestry is juxtaposed with mysterious temples.
- Edengrove: One of the most vibrant environments in the game, Edengrove is home to a few outposts. Being in the middle of the wilderness, Edengrove has deadly creatures for adventurers brave enough to fight them.
- Reekwater: Serving as the game's water-themed area, Reekwater is a rundown fishing village near the ocean. The Siren Queen and her Flotilla now inhabit this area, having enslaved Reekwater's settlers.
- Mourningdale: One of the most mysterious areas in Aeternum, Mourningdale has an impressive set of stone structures for players to marvel. Its ancient locations provide hints to the mysterious lore that New World has yet to offer.
- Ebonscale Reach: Perhaps the most impressive area in New World for its visuals, Ebonscale Reach has wonderful waterfalls and huge cliffs. This area is also home to Empress Tai Ying, an exiled queen building an army to reclaim her throne.
- Shattered Mountain: Arguably the endgame area of the MMO, Shattered Mountain boasts a bleak apocalyptic vibe that encapsulates the feel of the more challenging monsters in the region.
9 Gameplay Modes Enhance PVP, PVE
Aside from its core experience, New World does offer a wide variety of game modes for players to enjoy. What's interesting is that these game modes incentivize the MMO's PVP and PVE component in different ways, given their core mechanics:
- Expeditions: Essentially the MMO's equivalent of a dungeon, this mode will have a team of four traverse dungeons and defeat bosses.
- Invasion: An alternate PVE mode to the Expedition, Invasion instead tasks players to defend their fort. Up to teams of 50 can participate in an invasion and protect their base from various enemies. Surviving for half an hour will garner rewards, while losing will downgrade their territory.
- Outpost Rush: This rather chaotic PVPVE mode has quite the fun execution. Outpost Rush is a 20v20 mode where players need to capture outposts to gather resources, and use said resources to upgrade their base's defenses. While doing these, the team has to fight not only other players but other monsters as well.
- War Mode: Serving as the game's core PVP component, War Mode serves as alternate form of Invasion. Again a 50v50 mode, War Mode will have a defending team fortify their base against an attacking team. Both teams will have a range of siege weaponry at their disposal, with the entire territory at stake.
8 Open World Gives Ownership To Exploration
Given the open world premise of New World, it can become difficult for players to pinpoint the game's true "focus." This is where New World separates itself from other open world MMOs such as Albion Online or RuneScape. With New World, players primarily operate within a territory-control environment.
Should they wish, players can approach New World from a standard MMO standpoint: explore new locations, kill creatures, and craft new things. And players engaging in the game's social components get incentivized with a new perspective to the core experience as well.
7 Crafting Defines Artisanship
Having started as a survival game, New World has since then retained its heavy emphasis on Crafting. Instead of just having a bare-bones crafting system, New World boasts seven Crafting Skills, each with their own unique uses.
Players need to use resources with specific Crafting Skills to create various things such as clothes and weapons, consumables, and even furniture. These Crafting Skills include: Armoring, Arcana, Cooking, Engineering, Furnishing, Jewelcrafting, and Weaponsmithing.
6 Companies Define Social Elements
Being a territory-control game, New World has Factions to choose from. At Level 10, players need to join either the militaristic Marauders, the secretive Syndicate, or the fanatical Covenant. Regardless of their choice, players will treat members of other Factions as enemies whenever they have their PVP Modes on.
However, where Factions shine is in their ability to form Companies. Serving as the game's guilds, 100-player Companies take control of territories under the leadership of a Governor. Through the Governor, territories have tax levels that earn money through player actions within that area. And through that tax money, a Company can upgrade their forts and organize public projects.
5 Player Housing Becomes Purposeful
At Level 20, players purchase a home within a settlement. Due to server size, the same plot can house multiple player houses. However, each house in itself is instanced with their own furniture and decoration. Players can buy a second and third house at Level 40 and Level 60 in separate settlements as well.
Unlike other MMOs where player housing is just an extension of a player's artistic self, New World adds purpose to said houses. For instance, players can use their houses as respawn locations or fast travel locations between faraway settlements. Moreover, a homeowner can become involved in that settlement's affairs, such as signing up on big sieges to protect that settlement's fort.
4 Party Finding Gets A Classic Turn
Given its nature as a teamwork-heavy MMO, players would expect New World to have a quick party creation system. However, New World doesn't actually have a Dungeon Finder tool. Instead of having an automated system to find parties to take on dungeons, New World takes the classic route and will have players search for teammates instead.
Despite its counterintuitive premise, this classic party-finding system might be a welcome addition to those wanting more human interaction in the game. Thanks to this system, players need to engage in discussions with other players, potentially resulting in good dungeon crawls or even getting dragged into large-scale fights.
3 War Follows A System
Thanks to the game's Company system, players always get the opportunity to engage in large-scale conflicts. However, instead of other faction games that have chaotic territory-juggling, New World follows a more "diplomatic" system in warfare. At its core, a Company can intrude in an opposing Company's territory slowly and accumulate conflict points.
Enough of these points could have one Company prompt going to war against another Company, which would then have the territory on the line. Moreover, a Company can invest a certain amount of gold into the kind of War they want to have, being able to modify the number of siege units to field in and the like.
2 PVP Incentivizes Overall Experience
A solo player might not immediately appreciate the rather repetitive premise of New World and its quests. The reliance on Crafting for new gear and the abundance of fetch quests might not have a lone ranger appreciate the full breadth of New World. And Amazon realizes this, as players engaging in more PVP content will actually gain more experience when doing everything else.
When turned on, PVP Mode doesn't have a lot of harsh penalties to players as well. If players lose a PVP battle, they simply lose gear durability and the consumables they've used. This greatly incentivizes turning on the Age of Exploration element of the game, where opposing conquerors may have to face in combat to gain control of territories.
1 Specific Movement Matter Most In Combat
Considering the sheer scope of New World as an MMO, players might assume it's simply a tap-target MMO. However, having started as a survival game concept, New World boasts a more tactical take to its combat:
- Manual Movement: At its core, players need to manually aim their weapons to hit specific enemy hitboxes. Given these mechanics, players also have dedicated block and dodge maneuvers to master.
- Weapon Dependent Progression: Instead of Classes, players get Weapon Types instead. Players improve their proficiency with Weapons depending on how often they use them. Weapons include Bows, Great Axes, Hatchets, Muskets, Rapiers, Spears, Swords, and Warhammers.
- No Magic: Sticking to its historical premise, New World doesn't have "magic" in the same way of a MMO having Spellcasters. Instead, New World also has magic weapons, and certain weapons being able to have magical properties.