New World: Aeternum review: Settling in

Three years after the release of New World, Amazon Games has relaunched the MMO with significant changes. Now known as New World: Aeternum, the game leans away from its MMO components and looks to establish itself as an action RPG that can also be played with other people. It’s fun, but it’s hard not to feel like New World has hit a ceiling for what it can be.

New philosophy

Many of the changes in New World: Aeternum specifically target common MMO features. While the original incarnation of the game required cooperation for some of its story missions, players can now play the full campaign completely solo. The developers have also significantly reduced the time it takes to reach the endgame, allowing players to access New World: Aeternum’s most challenging (and rewarding) content much earlier.

These changes are fine, and the MMO loner in me was glad that I didn’t need to team up with random players to complete main quests, but it also feels like they come from a place of regret. It’s like New World is an MMO that decided it doesn’t want to be an MMO anymore and is straying away from staple features of the genre.

The New World refresh also comes with a console release, bringing the MMO to Xbox and PlayStation for the first time. Crossplay is enabled at launch, with specific servers having it enabled or disabled. It’s a seamless process and a much-needed addition to the long-term health of the game.

Players jumping into New World for the first time (or rolling a new character after years of being absent) can select to play on a Fresh Start server, where they won’t have to deal with players who’ve been playing nonstop for three years.

Keep freestyling

One of New World’s greatest selling points was its classless character building. That remains true in New World: Aeternum, which adds some new weapons and gear into the mix. I love being able to allocate points toward using whatever cool weapon I just unlocked, with the freedom to respec (for free until level 60) if I change my mind without major consequences. It alleviates a lot of the stress that comes with other MMOs.

This goes hand in hand with one of the large new additions in New World: Aeternum, 10-player raids. These endgame challenges are some of the toughest in the game and take a good deal of cooperation and strategizing to pull off. In many cases, you’ll find yourself needing to respec your Skill Points to properly accommodate your raid party.

Raids are undoubtedly some of the most fun content in New World: Aeternum, with their solid blend of combat and puzzles. I also enjoyed the boss fights, as I and my crew worked to recognize attack patterns and adjust our strategy on the fly.

The main downside to raids, though, is that during boss fights, death becomes permanent. If you’re fully killed mid-fight, you have to sit on the sidelines for the remainder of the fight. The real kicker is that you’re placed behind a barrier that obscures most of the action, so you can’t even spectate properly. It’s a bit frustrating given how long these battles can last, and I imagine most players will just quit entirely after they go down.

For those that don’t want large-scale cooperative experiences, New World: Aeternum also adds Solo Challenges, which are difficult missions designed to be played alone. Think of them as single-player raids, where you juggle puzzles and obstacles in addition to a powerful enemy. I appreciated having new mid and late-game content to play alone, but these missions didn’t hit the same highs as the 10-player raids for me. Likely because in a raid, there’s usually always someone to cover whatever weaknesses you have. If you charge into a Solo Challenge with weapons or gear that are incompatible with the enemy, it can be a bit frustrating. Though, as mentioned earlier, you can always go back in and retool your kit.

Lastly, New World: Aeternum’s map has been updated with large PvP zones. When you cross the border into a PvP zone, all bets are off. These areas are home to valuable loot, especially when you venture deep into them. However, with any player able to attack you at any moment, you have to weigh how much you’re willing to risk losing before plotting an escape. In some instances, fights will break out amongst a large group of players. As a bow and arrow user, I loved dotting both sides of an engagement with ranged attacks while they hacked away at each other.

A reintroduction

On the technical side, New World: Aeternum has addressed some of the issues I had in my review of the base game. Performance is noticeably better, with the MMO running buttery smooth on my PC, even in ultrawide. Of course, the framerate drops considerably in densely populated areas, but that’s to be expected in games like this.

On the other hand, I found myself less excited to explore the world this time around. Perhaps it’s because I’ve seen most of it before, and that idea of stepping into a brand new world for the first time is gone, but Aeternum is starting to feel underwhelming. The colonial aesthetic makes for great town design, but the places between them feel plain and uninteresting.

What to make of this world

I enjoyed New World: Aeternum as an action RPG with relaxed character-building and challenging content but was never motivated to stick around and grind out an insane amount of hours. This almost feels intentional, with the quickened road to endgame and retooling of the campaign. The game certainly feels more fleshed out than it did three years ago and has settled into being a perfectly decent online game that I can drop into and enjoy in short bursts when the MMO itch comes around.

This review is based on a Steam code provided by the publisher. New World: Aeternum is available now on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_