There is a certain charm to persistent-world games that’s completely unique to the MMORPG genre. The feeling of exploring large uncharted worlds, starting from scratch with nothing but the shirt on your back, cannot be rivalled by anything else. While single-player RPGs give you a similar experience, they don’t feel half as alive as bustling MMO worlds. Witnessing thousands of players stack up at cities to sell their wares and look for parties to explore challenging dungeons is quite a sight to behold.
New World gives you this entire MMO experience with its own little twist. Unlike the popular ones before it – like World of Warcraft (WoW) and The Elder Scrolls Online (TESO) – New World plays out combat completely in real-time. Every attack has to be manually targeted, unlike WoW and TESO, where you’d just select a target and click on the spells on your hotbar to cast them. This makes it play more like an action game rather than your standard MMO. It’s a welcome change to the age-old formula, making the game a lot more welcoming to newcomers as well as fans of action games.
The game takes place around the mid-17th century, where players set out to colonize the mysterious Aeternum Island. The island is surrounded by supernatural storms that don’t allow any ships to depart, leaving all its new inhabitants stranded. A majority of the folk that land ashore become ‘lost’ and hostile, leaving a handful of explorers to set up base and tame the wilds.
The game plays out pretty much like any RPG, where you get commissioned to kill a handful of things as the game introduces you to the basic mechanics. What really stands out from the get-go is how awesome gameplay feels in real-time. All the weapons feel extremely crisp, thanks to the excellent sound design and animations. Hammers feel heavy and leave a satisfying thud that reverberates with thunderous aftershocks. Rapiers have that swishing sound as they cut through the air with lightning speed. Fire staffs let out a roar as they unleash an inferno and bathe the enemy in fire. The developers have done a remarkable job in making the core gameplay extremely satisfying, which is super important if they’re to hold the interest of the crowd as they level their way up to level 60.
New World offers an arsenal of weaponry to pick from – sword and shield, rapiers, hatchets, spears, great axes, war hammers, bows, muskets, fire staffs, life staffs and ice gauntlets. There is no class system in the game, so your weapon choice dictates your playstyle and role. Each weapon has its own individual skill-tree, allowing you to play them how you like to and swap between roles throughout the game. This leaves a whole lot of room for experimentation, unlike other MMOs, where you pick your role and stick to it unless you’re willing to create a new character and start from scratch.
There’s a lot more to the game than just combat. New World offers one of the most beautifully made worlds we’ve seen in any game. Some areas feature wild forests with strange flora and fauna, while others feature decrepit ruins, dull marshlands, dusty quarries and much more. The vibrant colours and meticulously modelled landscapes are quite a sight to behold. What makes it feel even more alive, is the fact that most of the environment can be interacted with. Trees can be cut for lumber, stones can be mined for construction, plants can be harvested for potions, animals can be skinned for meat and leather. You can use the material you collect from your travels to level up your trade skills and craft powerful and rare items that you can then sell to other players.
If you’re an MMO veteran and have been feeling the lack of great experiences in the genre, New World is sure to fill that void. That being said, New World will really appeal far more to the action gamer that’s bored of the same formulaic stuff and is keen on trying something new. Trust us, you’re in for quite a ride with New World – it’s unlike anything you’ve played before!
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