New World Aeternum Review – A Realm Reborn?

When it first came out back in 2021, Amazon Games’ first MMORPG, New World, saw quite a bit of success. However, as time went on, the plethora of game-breaking bugs throughout New World, along with a lack of content especially in the endgame led to a decline in player numbers. Now, in 2024, New World is seeing something of a re-launch with its Aeternum release, which also brings the game to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. New World: Aeternum brings with it a number of changes to the game, making it a soft reboot for the entire title. Those that have already been playing New World on PC also got these changes for free, with all three versions of the game also featuring cross-platform multiplayer.

It is worth noting, however, that the scale of changes brought to New World as part of the Aeternum release isn’t quite on the scale of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, which essentially completely remade two continents and changed up the entirety of the leveling experience from scratch, nor is it on the scale of Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, which is basically a new game altogether when compared to the original release. New World: Aeternum, instead, focuses more on streamlining the core storyline of the game, offering new players a more focused experience that won’t leave them wandering around trying to figure out what’s happening.

"However, despite the improved pacing of the story, it’s still not really a particularly interesting one."

When it comes to this storyline streamlining, Amazon Games has quite definitely succeeded. The new take on the story provides an excellent prologue chapter that acts as a tutorial for the core mechanics of the game, and then drops you into its main world while giving you more than enough indications of where you should go and what you should do next. Generally speaking, the entire storyline is much better handled now, with the scope and pace of the storytelling rarely faltering.

However, despite the improved pacing of the story, it’s still not really a particularly interesting one. After the relatively bombastic prologue, the story grinds to a halt and gets you involved in local small-town politics, complete with a regent doing their best to lead their settlement while the ruler’s missing, and a minister that obviously has ulterior motives and might even be working against you the entire time. The story in New World: Aeternum is pretty trope-heavy, and there’s nothing deeper here than the grand good versus evil stories we’ve seen in several titles. Even the primary antagonist comes off as rather bland, especially since all she can seemingly do most of the time is throw taunts at you while impotently flailing her arms trying to cast spells.

Thankfully, however, the story’s just an excuse to set out into the world of Aeternum, and that’s one aspect where New World truly shines. Exploration and the world in general is such an important aspect of New World that even its non-combat gameplay systems revolve around it. Players can use a number of different trade skills, such as logging and mining to gather materials throughout the world. These gathering trade skills have their own progression track, with players being allowed to cut down bigger trees or mine for more fragile and fancy ores as they get further along. The materials procured can then be used to craft a variety of things, ranging from high-end equipment, end-game gear, buff-providing consumables, healing items, and even furniture, which can then be placed in your own house.

"The story’s just an excuse to set out into the world of Aeternum"

New World: Aeternum is one of those games where just living in its expansive world, even when you’re not actively out and about taking down giant bosses or fighting other players for PvP supremacy feels pretty nice. Thanks to the progression system of non-combat skills, deciding to spend multiple hours just cutting down trees in order to sell furniture to other players can have its own charms, and as a result, would also in the long-term lead to an interesting in-game economy with players freely trading with each other. These professions also feed into the housing system, where players can own their own house in the different cities throughout Aeternum, and decorate them with benches and trophies, among other things.

The combat itself is interesting, with New World leaving behind World of Warcraft’s tab-targeting system to instead feature a real-time combat system where attacks can be actively blocked or dodged, and player positioning, as well as aiming with ranged weapons are all important skills. All weapons tend to have two main actions with their weapons of choice, along with 3 abilities that can be unlocked and equipped. Using a greatsword on the PS5, for example, L2 blocks attacks, R2 h its enemies, and the various skills are equipped on L1, R1, and L1 + R1. Combine with the fact that you can equip two different weapons at any given time, and you essentially have an arsenal of 6 different abilities to play around with.

Your choice of weapons will also define your role for the content you choose to do, be it tanking with a sword and shield combination, rain down arrows on enemies as a damage dealer with a bow, snipe them from a distance with a musket, or heal allies with a staff. Magic users get additional choices with their choice of staff, with different elements all being represented, and healing being relegated to the Life staves. It’s worth noting that the main story of the game can be played with whatever loadout you might want, and even swapping between the different roles is quite encouraged.

"Your choice of weapons will also define your role for the content you choose to do"

As for what you can do aside from just following the story, New World: Aeternum has a few activities, with solo players mostly being let loose on the open world, and group players having access to 5-player dungeons, called Expeditions in this game, as well as a 10-player raid. Unfortunately, when it comes to PvE, that’s about all New World: Aeternum has to offer for endgame-centric players. If you’re into PvP, however, there are a lot more options, ranging from individual 1-on-1 duels to massive PvP battles with players of different factions fighting for control of a zone.

New World: Aeternum doesn’t seem too well suited for players that might enjoy the challenge presented by, for example, World of Warcraft’s endgame systems with its epic boss fights, and nor is its story anywhere near the quality of Final Fantasy 14’s main plot. It does, however, excel in offering more to do during the leveling process. While other MMORPGs might follow the old adage of “the real game starts once you hit level cap”, New World: Aeternum feels more comfortable in the leveling process, where you can simply decide to press pause on the story, head out into the forest, and cut down some trees.

Sure, this does mean that there won’t be much left to do once you’ve finished the story, done all the expeditions, and had your fill of PvP, and in the longer term, the game’s player base will definitely hurt for more content. Whether Amazon Games can maintain the renewed interest in New World thanks to its console release, however, will be something that becomes more evident in the long term.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.