New World
Developer: Amazon Games | Platform: PC | Release Date: September 28, 2021 (Console release on October 15, 2024) | Model: Buy to Play | Combat system: Action
What kind of game is this? New World was originally meant to be a survival PvP MMO, but was transformed into a full-fledged MMORPG with a PvE focus before release. A highlight of the game is the beautiful game world of Aeternum, which shines with impressive lighting and is modeled after a fictional 17th century.
The second major highlight is the gathering system. You can gather almost all trees, plants, and stones, and particularly the sound and animations leave a lasting impression. Additionally, New World’s special crafting system ensures that even basic materials remain relevant in the late game.
The MMORPG completely forgoes classes and instead relies on a variety of different weapons. Some are better suited for tanking, while others deal damage. The life staff can also be used to heal other players. A Holy Trinity is therefore present.
This is also important in the endgame, where you can optionally run dungeons or raids. Otherwise, New World offers you dozens of quests, daily tasks in the form of faction missions, and gypsum for leveling up equipment, PvP arenas, and the wars for territories.
A guild can bring a city under its control and generate taxes from sales at the trading post and from renting houses to other players.
The housing in New World is not as detailed and special as in FFXIV or ESO, but it provides small advantages for combat in dungeons and for luck in crafting through trophies.
The combat system is somewhat unconventional. New World uses an action combat system where you must precisely target enemies and dodge attacks. However, each weapon only has three abilities and comes with long attack animations. This makes battles somewhat more tactical but may not appeal to everyone.
Who is this interesting for? New World is a fresh, western MMORPG, but it takes some unusual paths. One must have a knack for grinding, the weapon and combat system, as well as collaborating with other players to have fun.
Yet it provides enough tasks, with the combat system, mutations, and wars for territories to log in every day. Additionally, constant improvements, such as story updates or new content, are being made.
For solo players, the crafting system has great depth, as you typically farm the materials yourself and can create the best equipment in the game and even sell it at the trading post. Visiting dungeons is not strictly necessary, but it speeds up all processes.
Is there a catch? Those who do not like the combat system will not enjoy New World. Additionally, some players have criticized the generic quests and weak story since launch. However, especially after the Aeternum release, there has been significant improvement in this area, even though there are still MMORPGs with better quests and stories.
In terms of story-driven games, Amazon Games’ online adventure does not compare to games like WoW, ESO, or FFXIV by a long shot. This also applies to the scope, as New World offers fewer dungeons, fewer areas, and also fewer PvP contents than the major MMORPGs.
The worst thing, however, is that despite a strong Season 10, New World has no future. According to Amazon Games, the MMORPG is in maintenance mode. There will be no new content. The servers are scheduled to go offline sometime in 2027.
Is it worth starting in 2026? Actually, yes. Thanks to Season 10 and the accompanying updates, New World was better than ever. Anyone who joins now gets a lot of content for little money. And since the end is not expected until sometime in 2027, there is still time to at least take a look at the solo content at your leisure.
However, given the foreseeable end, many players are likely to have zero motivation to invest any more time in New World. This is underscored by the record low player numbers following the announcement: The announced end of New World drives away so many players on Steam that the developers have to respond
