New World: Aeternum Preview - It's Still an MMO

New World: Aeternum feels a bit bizarrely familiar. Amazon’s recently revealed title is an enhanced edition of New World, and it’s probably best to think of it like a big 2.0 update—a realm reborn, if you will. 

There’s a seemingly big focus on making it a viable solo experience, with voice-acted cutscenes and dialog options. That illusion is pretty quickly shattered though, as I entered a shared world with other players roaming around, much like the hub worlds in Destiny. 

I spent nearly an hour with New World: Aeternum at Summer Game Fest, playing it via a controller thanks to its upcoming console release. Within that time, I hit level 5 and unlocked quite a few abilities for my weapons, and it felt just like any other MMO, for better and for worse. 

Swashbucklin’ in a New New World

In the character creator, I picked the Musketeer archetype, which gave me access to a rapier, a musket, and the stats to start off on the right foot. There were six other archetypes to choose from, though you can also allocate your points however you wish to as you level up. 

In true MMO fashion, waypoints constantly directed me to my next objective, eliciting a sort of autopilot mentality. It’s zen, in a way, but it’s also a bit mindless. 

Combat is easily approachable, with light and heavy melee attacks dealing with most foes. There’s a block and dodge, and I could quickly swap to my musket and take fire using the triggers.

The more you use a weapon type, the more you unlock skill points for them, which can be cashed in for passive and active abilities. For example, I could unleash a quick flurry with the rapier or shoot a fire shot that immolated enemies. There’s even a passive that let me do more damage to a burning target. 

If you’ve played some RPGs, none of this is particularly surprising or new. But being new both is and isn’t the goal for New World: Aeternum. It’s both the next step in New World’s live-service journey and a reason for new players to hop on, if they’re interested.

An Aeternity of Looting 

I was initially pulled in by the idea that this could be a completely solo experience. I find it hard to get into MMOs personally, but the storytelling and cutscenes made it seem like something I could partake in without having to worry about some social hoops like guilds and raids. 

The voice acting here is serviceable and fun, though it won’t win any awards. Grace O’Malley, a roguish pirate, is charming in her own way, and Aelstrom has a gruffness to him that reminds me of Braum from League of Legends or Overwatch’s Reinhardt. 

But it all sort of fell apart for me when the words all led to the same early-game MMO tropes we all know. You wash up on the shores of Aeternum, the Eternal Island where no one truly dies. Aelstrom commends you for conquering death and being born again, complimenting your strong soul. 

Then the first thing he asks you to do is hunt some boar for food. After that? Hunt down and kill a few mobs. 

Everything takes time, too—you’ll see that circular timer show up for nearly everything. Picking up mats takes half a second. Crafting takes a couple seconds. Looting takes a couple seconds. After a while, whenever that circular UI element shows up, I couldn’t help but check out a little bit mentally. 

I can’t speak to New World’s endgame or expansions across its nearly three years of service, but Aeternum is shaping up to be a fresh jumping-on point for lots of newcomers. 

It’s opening up to new audiences on Xbox and PlayStation, and all of Amazon’s marketing is pushing it as an action RPG, not quite an MMO. Solo play is more emphasized, but I’m not convinced it’ll be a great solo experience. 

Even if you can roll credits without playing a single raid or expedition with real players, I’m sure there’s a slew of other dedicated single-player action RPGs that might be more worth your time.

New World: Aeternum was previewed at Summer Game Fest Play Days courtesy of Amazon Games.