New World: Aeternum Review
Set during the Age of Exploration, New World: Aeternum asks what would happen if – instead of the Americas – we stumbled upon a volatile fantasy realm where legends come to life. And where they never perish…
As an adventurer who takes to the high seas, you soon find yourself shipwrecked on its stormy shores, your destiny forever changed. While Aeternum boasts a stunning natural beauty and a bounty of precious resources streaked, there’s a growing corruption sweeping the land, drawing dark and unseen forces into a wider conflict as humans look to make their mark upon this untamed land.
New World: Aeternum is very much an action-oriented MMORPG. The game sports an active combat system similar to souslike RPGs thanks to an intuitive lock-on camera while rewarding well-time blocks and dodges – elements that will feel somewhat alien to fans of traditional MMOs.
These same fans may also baulk at New World’s streamlined character builds. Instead of choosing a class and gradually filling the screen with hotbars and icons, players can only slot a total of six abilities (split between their two equipped weapons) with branching skill trees add a satisfying amount of depth. Weapon pairings will ultimately dictate your role in combat, though New World does give the option to freely switch and experiment, allowing you to completely respec without too much admin involved.
The straightforward controls and condensed ability loadouts complement New World’s fresh console ports particularly well. Navigating chat windows and some of the more advanced menus can get a bit finicky on a gamepad yet it feels like the game was always designed with console players in mind, rather than being an afterthought.
Unlocking its doors to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S isn’t the only thing that’s new for New World: Aeternum. Since the game originally launched on PC there have been a glut of content drops, new features, and quality of life improvements. One of the most notable upgrades is a renewed focus
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