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New Worldis Amazon’s foray into the MMORPG genre and I got hands-on with an early build of its opening hours, which had me create a character, fight through a tutorial area, and graduate to a neighbouring town filled with vendors and plentiful quest markers. So, only a small portion of what’s undoubtedly a game built for hundreds of hours of play, but enough to get a handle on whether I had that itch to get back in there and clock another hour or two towards that first hundred in its world. That’s what matters when it comes to MMOs right? And I’ve got to say yes. Yes, the itch could use a good scratch.
New World: Outpost Rush 101Watch on YouTube
New World: Outpost Rush 101
Complete tasks in a certain area and you’ll earn Territory Points you can spend on things that’ll help you when out and about in that territory. For example, faster gathering rates or better prices at shops.
Still, what I experienced of New World’s territories was almost non-existent, so while I wish I could tell you more about how fights over land, or player-driven economies will work, I cannot. As someone who traditionally cares only for how good my new pauldrons look and if they match my cloak, I’m curious to see if I’ll actually get roped into caring about those aspects. Will climbing tax rates in Scunthorpe make me reach for the nearest pitchfork and rebel? Only time will tell.
These skills don’t feel compartmentalised like other MMOs I’ve played, where you might focus solely on one or two trades which totally diverge from one another. Here, all manner of raw materials will flood your bags, just as much as quest items or shiny rewards, so tools feel just as important as the swords you’ll swing or the arrows you’ll sling.
Just like any classic RPG, you’ve got to watch how much you’re carrying lest you get the dreaded over-encumbered tool-tip.
The actual clashing of steel in New World isn’t half-bad either, with a more stripped back feel so I wasn’t drowing in hotbars. I know everything is reminiscent ofDark Soulswith me, but this time it genuinely is! You have to time your swings and blocks and dodges to survive fights, as opposed to standing still and cycling through a myriad of abilities like you do in a lot of other MMOs.
Each weapon has two skill-trees. For example, with the sword and shield you can focus on damage, or on tanking. The branch you slot the most points into determines your specialisation. I went with the damage one, which boosted my spinny blade attack, one of three abilities to unlock and use in battle. Yep, that’s it: three. I enjoyed their weighty feel and simplicity - but I do worry that this might make it harder for your character to truly stand out from the rest.
The same simplicty goes for your character build too, who has five attributes: strength, dexterity, intelligence, focus, and constitution. Every time you level, you bang a point or two into one of these branches and that’ll determine what sort of role you’ll take on. This is as close as the game gets to set classes, basically. I wouldn’t say it felt quite as rewarding as something like FFXIV, where you unlock mad new spells at a fairly frequent rate. Still, I liked that it was easy to see what I’d gain access to every few levels thanks to a dedicated menu screen telling me. This is something other MMOs could learn from, I think, as often I’ll miss important milestones like the ability to ride a mount because no-one told me I went past it.
Just don’t expect to choose a spindly elf or a hulking great orc to play as in New World. This could change, of course, but for now the only option is to play as a human. Just something to bear in mind if you’re a fan of roleplaying as something with an edge, and another potential reason that we might all blend into one once we’re playing.
But what about the world of New World itself? Is it, in fact, new? Does it have an edge? From the very small slice of the game I played, I’d say it was quite standard, if pleasant, medieval-ish stuff. Serene music, nice trees, dirt paths. The tutorial area was perhaps a sign of otherworldly things to come, with a dark beach and shipwrecks crawling with blue zombies, so there’s potential to surprise, but I’d need to spend more time in the world to see if it’ll stick. Others have pointed to itscolonial undertones, but having played only a very small slice of the game, I can’t make a call either way on that score. Something to keep in mind, that’s for sure.
