New World Aeternum Review - A Much Needed Fresh Coat of Paint

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I was there during New World‘s initial rough launch and firsthand experienced the game’s engaging hype yet disappointing lack of polish. Now, I have been given early access to New World Aeternum, and I must admit — the MMO has come a long way. Nowadays, live service games that release in a rocky state have a short shelf life. However, New World stuck around and improved considerably with new expansions, mounts, weapon types, and many other QoL features. Now, after playing New World Aeternum, I can confidently say it is the expedition we were all waiting for. While there are a few technical issues I’m not too happy about, the exploration aspect, combat, customization, and plethora of skills are more than enough to hook me for hours.

New World Aeternum is a fresh and more polished take on 2021’s New World. The latter was branded as an MMO, and for a while, it held a large playerbase that sadly waned after a few issues arose. However, the team behind it never stopped, and it turned the not-so-smooth MMO into a terrific action RPG, which is how it is branded now, and it definitely fits that description.

Aeternum Reborn

While the skeleton of New World remains an MMO, Aeternum focuses more on a solo-friendly experience with combat akin to that you can find in ARPGs. However, that doesn’t mean you’ll be alone in the world. You can still do a lot of group content with others and try the upcoming 10-man raid, but everything else, from start to finish, can be finished on your own. But then, what is truly Aeternum, and how does it differentiate from the 2021 MMO?

First and foremost, let’s start with the new player experience. As a massively multiplayer game, there are a few things you’re expecting already: classes, archetypes, roles, etc. New World took a classless approach, which isn’t new to the market but lacked a bit of polish or, rather, a proper onboarding experience. Everything relies on finding a weapon, equipping it, and using it until you figure out what your best build is. As MMO veterans, this worked fine, but as newcomers, this was daunting. Enter New World Aeternum with a proper archetype system. Now, players can pick from different “classes” that dictate their starting gear only.

Beyond that, the storyline is much more cohesive now and has proper cutscenes. I will not tell you it is groundbreaking because it still has a few cliches I don’t like and certain dialogues that feel a bit too forced and trying to be fun when they shouldn’t, but it works. I remember that in New World, I stopped caring about the story after a while. Presentation is everything, and the 2021 launch didn’t have it. However, New World Aeternum has a lot of style in how it presents its narrative, and even if it isn’t the most profound one, it is certainly appealing and worth experiencing.

Also, and talking about the broader aspects of what makes New World Aeternum shine more compared to its predecessor, I have to mention the visuals. Without counting the recent release of Throne and Liberty, New World was the best-looking MMO in the market. Fortunately, Aeternum keeps the same quality or enhances it even further. Colors are more vibrant, vegetation is denser, and even the cities I know like the back of my hand felt great to explore again. In a way, it felt like I was in a truly new world, no pun intended.

A Jack-of-All-Weapons

The one thing I’ll always be thankful for in a game is the ability to let me try every weapon in one character, and New World is a master at that. Also, compared to other games with classless systems, switching from one to another isn’t punishing here. However, that isn’t what allured me this time around. New World Aeternum improved the combat mechanics from the MMO release to make it something snappy, impactful, and enjoyable.

Previously, I wasn’t scared about pulling all mobs in the vicinity. I could just equip my AoE skills and burn everything down during my leveling experience. However, Aeternum‘s combat felt more methodical. For starters, I felt all enemies did more damage, which I loved. In most games of this type, you’re unkillable unless you aggro an elite enemy. Here, however, I had to think twice before pulling more than two foes. Also, even the weakest enemies seemed to have new skills that made me switch my strategy from rushing in blindly to preparing my cooldowns and using the right skills.

In truth, I enjoyed the combat much more than I thought I would. Despite having my favorite weapons already, I often returned to grind enemies to try new ones—that’s how great the combat felt. Also, and I can’t stress this enough: all my skills were smooth to cast. I never felt like my hits were struggling to keep up with a spotty connection or other technical shenanigans. It certainly felt like a proper ARPG now with top-notch fights.

It’s As Cozy as It is Epic

Combat aside, the real thing that enthralls me from New World Aeternum and its MMO predecessor is how relaxing and immersive exploring the world feels. Where other games try to clutter the world with icons and things for players to do like scheduled events, Aeternum opts for a more “discover-it-yourself” approach. For instance, a normal play session in Aeternum went like this: I would grab any quest from a settlement. If I had none, I’d head to a crafting station and pin a recipe I wanted. I’d then leave the area and start looking for materials. On the way, I’d encounter beasts to skin, herbs to collect, and even random events. This often dropped me into the inescapable cozy rabbit hole that New World Aeternum is. And honestly, it is something I could do for days.

Yes, I like beating up monsters and eventually saving the island, but I love sitting down and just deforesting this island with zero regard for what’s happening around me. New World Aeternum is one of the ARPGs that really sell you that “adventurer” vibe. Not even some MMOs manage to do it. But here, it is like playing a modern Runescape-like adventure without the in-depth questing. And that is perfectly fine because the world is immersive enough to lose yourself in it for hours.

Fortunately, if you ever get bored of cutting down your hundredth tree, you can swap to the actual epic moments Aeternum offers. If you want to grind a few random events to level up your weapons, you can do that. Do you want to delve inside a few instances? That’s fine, too. It is great to see this level of freedom in a world that is so skillfully designed. Frankly, it isn’t something we see nowadays, so I’m glad New World Aeternum has one of my favorite virtual landscapes to explore. Plus, with mounts and the long-awaited ability to swim, the world feels more alive and believable.

A Sprinkle of Technical Problems

Sadly, despite being a more polished launch, New World Aeternum still has a few noticeable issues, at least on console. First, since I was part of the early access servers, there were not a lot of players around. At a time, I was the only soul in Prydwen, and it still lagged a lot. I tried swapping my graphics mode to performance, but it didn’t help. I would turn a corner and notice big frame drops.

Also, there were a few instances of clunky movement and strange animation. I noticed my character would get stuck in a crouching animation until I logged out and back in. Speaking of animations, while I love the new MSQ presentation, some face animations are jarring. Some are perfect and fit the emotions a character is trying to convey, but some are distracting.

Finally, I felt some of the menus were quite slow compared to those on PC. Trying to open certain screens would take longer than I wanted. This wasn’t ideal, especially when I wanted to check my map constantly or change my equipment. I’m sure most of these issues will disappear eventually. Sadly, they distracted me from what could’ve been a perfectly enjoyable experience.

A World Worth Exploring

Ultimately, the good things eclipsed the minor issues. As I rode into the sunset or found a new resource to gather, I remembered why I loved New World so much and why it was one of the games I couldn’t put down: its immersion is second to none. There are few MMOs, or APRGs in this case, that hype me as much as New World Aeternum. At the start of every play session, I knew I’d get lost in these lush areas while looking for something new to gather or discover.

At the end of the day, I’m glad to see this game is still around. New World has had its ups and downs, but more of the former, thankfully. So, with a new goal on the horizon and a solo-friendly approach, Aeternum feels like the ultimate way to experience this voyage. While I would’ve loved to see more polish put into this iteration, it is a great way to bring more adventurers into this island shrouded in mystery.

New World Aeternum (PS5 Reviewed)

8 Great!

New World Aeternum boasts one of the most gorgeous and immersive worlds to explore in the ARPG market. Despite its technical issues that are often distracting, Aeternum is a breath of fresh air full of things to do that will hook casual and hardcore players alike.