It’s been a difficult week New world. Amazon Games’ long-running MMORPG is now set to be relaunched in the form of New World Aeternum, revitalizing the entire game, adding new characters and endgame material, improving combat, and bringing a litany of other player-requested features. It sounds promising, but the response to Aeternum has been absolutely critical. The New World Steam page continues to be bombarded with reviews, pulling the game’s rating based on recent player responses to “overwhelmingly negative”. Speaking to PCGamesN at the Summer Game Fest, Amazon Games explains how Aeternum is set to transform MMOs for the better.
Criticism of New World Aeternum centers on Amazon’s perceived shift to focus on the console rather than PC version of the MMORPG – one of the key features of the revamped New World edition is its revised combat system, which was designed largely around a controller rather than a mouse and keyboard. Players are also critical of the cadence of New World patches and updates, saying that the reveal of Aeternum feels inadequate after their long wait for more material for the PC version. Of the more than 3,000 player reviews posted on the Steam New World page in the last 30 days, only 10% are positive.
There are also concerns that New World Aeternum will compromise or sacrifice the fundamentals of MMO gameplay in favor of mechanics that are more traditional like an ARPG. In an interview with PCGamesN, live from the Summer Game Fest, the team behind New World offers more insight into its intentions.
“I call it that [Aeternum] spiritual successor,” says game director Scot Lane. “When it comes out, we’ll live for three years.” We’ve worked as closely as possible with players to support the changes we’re making. This is the culmination of everything. I talked to someone who played who hasn’t played New World since it started and they said it feels like a different game, just in the same kind of genre. I think that’s what we were going for.”
“For me, Aeternum is the ultimate New World experience,” says executive producer Katy Kaszynski. “If you played in 2021 when we launched and haven’t played since then, when you come back it will be a completely different experience – it won’t be the game you remember. If you have been playing, this is now the continuation of your journey.”
So how is it different? Why Aeternum and why do it now? Amazon Games explains that it wanted to improve certain systems, streamline others, and expand the New World endgame. The intention is to reduce some of the busywork and build on some of the more rewarding and fulfilling parts of the RPG, including characters, quests, and end-game gratification.
“The high-level story is still the same,” explains creative director David Verfaillie. “It’s about this island that’s almost a character and unravels the mystery of ‘what is Aeternum?’ But I think new elements have been added to the stories, especially the new characters and NPCs you meet along the way.The core of the story is the same, but we’ve done a lot to bring in some really cool new characters to go along with you.
“What I love about Aeternum is how we’ve made the onboarding and initial experience great for new players. It’s not just about storytelling. We’ve streamlined the search experience. It also fills in gaps that players have been telling us about for a long time, like the Group Finder – we launched without it and now it’s so easy to get into a group. It fills all the gaps we had, and now it’s a full-fledged, ultimate experience.”
Any long running game or live service game can potentially experience this issue. Months or maybe years after launch, when the basic technical work is done, the core game is humming along, and the player base is established, there’s an opportunity to start designing and delivering transformative updates and patches. But if you have so many ideas and so much new material that you want to bring into your game, rather than incrementally building on what’s already there, maybe it’s easier to do a soft reboot.
“I think there are many reasons to come to Aeternum,” says Lane. “It’s a very different experience.” If you haven’t played New World since Brimstone or before, you’re almost unrecognizable. There is still much more to do.’
“We did a good job of reducing the grind but keeping the challenge,” explains Kaszynski. “The grind is still a little bit there – you can’t have a game like this without a little bit of grind to get things at the top level. But it’s a lot more fun now than maybe a lot of people who left once felt.”
“A lot of the systems that players have been playing in the endgame just keep getting bigger and better,” Lane continues. “This is an addition to the ending. It makes for a bigger ending. Our first raid is here, our PvP zone. We’re adding our solo attempts – you can now do them as a final activity as well. We don’t take anything away from the ending; we are improving it. And one thing we’re doing for PC players, if they own Rise of the Angry Earth, they’ll get it for free — it’s free.”
Between World of Warcraft Classic and Old School Runescape, we’ve also seen some modern MMOs harken back to previous versions so long-time players can still enjoy the games the way they first found and loved them. For New World devotees, Kaszynski says Aeternum is “a continuation of their journey… an end-to-end game and an end game.” On the issue of an alternative version of New World, similar to WoW Classic, Kaszynski says that Amazon “always listens to our players.
“If we hear there’s a desire for it, we can put it in the backlog,” says Kaszynski.
While we wait for more information about Aeternum, check out some of the other best RPGs available right now, or perhaps the best multiplayer games you can get on PC.
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More Summer Game Fest coverage from Lauren Bergin.