New World: Aeternum brings Amazon’s MMORPG to consoles with a fresh sense of direction—and thankfully, a lot more polish.
New World is a funny game. I don’t mean funny in a ‘ha-ha’ sense of the word; I mean it more as a ‘this game is great, but I could be way better’ way. New World: Aeternum is releasing on consoles, and after my experience three years ago, I was VERY keen to give this a fair shake to see if Amazon Games could find the fire in a bottle they were looking for three years ago.
A trip through the character creator (that was an hour I’ll never get back) proved to be very in-depth, allowing you to choose everything from your class (I went with Occultist because I like to hit things from a distance) to your hairstyle, nose size, and more. New World: Aeternum makes it easy to customize your character to suit your preferences—you can even make your very own mustachioed, long-haired DPS merchant if you desire. I finally emerged with a character I was proud of and set off into the game proper.
Once the story crash-landed me on the fictional island of Aeternum, I was initially concerned that this game was a simple re-skin of 2021’s New World with no real changes. My fears were quickly extinguished when I vaguely recognized the starting beach area—but that was about it. I soon met up with my favourite character, Grace O’Malley, a sharp-tongued, wisecracking, Irish-accented pirate. After helping her and a couple of other NPCs with their issues-du-jour, I was on my way to the nearest settlement.
Thankfully, in New World: Aeternum, the journey to the first built-up area wasn’t nearly the slog it was in the original release. In my review of that, I lamented the fact that, in the early game, the only means of travel was on foot, and the map isn’t what you’d call small. I vividly recall stopping by the side of the road to mine a boulder or chop down a tree, which led to another and then another until I got so lost that I needed to open the map to see exactly where I was in relation to my destination.
In New World: Aeternum, this issue—at least in the early game—is remedied by having the first settlement close enough to the starting area that finding it doesn’t require navigation tools rivaling those of Columbus or Polo. However, once you leave the first settlement, even just to go questing (side or otherwise), you’ll be spending a lot of time running. With running comes the risk of accidentally stumbling upon areas that are significantly higher level than you—an experience I had a few too many times for my liking.
“Thankfully, in New World: Aeternum, the journey to the first built-up area in the game was not nearly the slog it was in the original release.”
While on the topic of navigation, I really wish games would stop giving players only a simple compass at the top of the screen and start including a mini-map along with the compass. It would make life so much simpler and easier to navigate if I could see what was on the other side of a gigantic mountain without having to open the full map—which doesn’t pause the game, by the way.
It’s not until you reach level 20 that you can unlock the ability to have a mount, and that’s a pretty steep requirement for a game with a map as big as New World: Aeternum. The quest to gain the mount itself is located in an area meant for levels 25-40 (if I remember correctly), so getting there is not only a journey but potentially a perilous one if you’re eager to get the mount.
I didn’t go get the mount ( a horse) until I was level 25, so it wasn’t a burning issue for me, but I would have liked the mount to be unlocked at, say, level 10 or 15 at the latest and in a corresponding area of power level.
Story-wise, New World: Aeternum is much easier to follow than its 2021… predecessor? Older brother? Cousin? I remember being rather confused trying to follow the story in New World, but now it’s much easier to get into, and the cinematic cutscenes are fantastically done. Essentially, after crash-landing on Aeternum, you become the stalwart saviour of the land and must figure out why there are so many Lost (basic enemies) and others on the island and what god(s), sorcerers or druids are causing the problem. It’s a very cookie-cutter story, but it works for a game as expansive as New World: Aeternum.
During your travels to the different settlements and other areas of the map, you’ll meet a host of interesting characters, most of whom want something from you, as you are the hero of the land after all. With side-quests ranging from simple tasks like “kill X number of X enemies” to “go clear out this pirate stronghold,” and everything in between, there’s never a shortage of things to do. Many of the NPCs you meet along the way are interesting enough to engage with, and some of the dialogue is hilarious in its own right.
Combat in New World: Aeternum is more or less the same as its 2021 counterpart, but I found it much easier on console. In my 2021 adventure on PC, I went with a sword-wielding explorer, but in this game, as I mentioned, I chose a hit-from-afar Occultist. On console, attacks are mapped to the shoulder buttons on your controller, making them much easier to pull off compared to clicking a mouse, which can easily move away from your target if you’re getting frazzled by a tough enemy or a swarm of multiple foes.
As an Occultist, I spent the first 15 levels or so using a Fire Staff and an Ice Gauntlet, but as soon as I got my hands on a decent Void Gauntlet, the game became much easier. I was still using Green weapons (they scale from Grey to Green to Blue to Purple to Gold in terms of power and capability) but was progressing through areas much quicker than when using the Fire or Ice weapons. The same was true for my armour—by the time my access ended, I didn’t have a single Blue or better piece of armour or clothing.
“New World: Aeternum is an amazing MMORPG and Amazon Games has put a lot of effort in to make it fun and enjoyable, especially for console players.”
As with any MMORPG, there’s a PvP element to New World: Aeternum, which comes in a few different forms. For starters, you can flag yourself for PvP, allowing anyone you encounter to attack you. This isn’t my cup of tea, and in my week with the game, I saw exactly one other person on my server, so I didn’t really get a chance to try it out.
The same is true for another form of PvP: Faction Wars. Each settlement can be controlled by a faction, and to take over that settlement, a faction can declare a “war” on it, which the controlling faction must defend. Again, since there were very few people on my server, this wasn’t something I got to try out, but I’m very much looking forward to it once the game releases in earnest.
Arenas are the most intriguing PvP format for me. These are small-scale matchups and are unlocked at level 20. Teams of 3 players face off against each other for rewards and other perks. This is the kind of PvP I can get behind, as it isn’t forced or mandatory.
New World: Aeternum is an amazing MMORPG, and Amazon Games has put in a lot of effort to make it fun and enjoyable, especially for console players. I can’t wait to create my character again and return to the island of Aeternum, and I would highly recommend this game to anyone with an RPG itch that needs scratching. It has the potential for incredible staying power, with enough unique elements to keep players interested in the long term.
