New World: Aeternum hands-on preview — Finding new ports

Starting an MMO is not for the faint of heart. You have to devote massive amounts of time to them. That, along with a bit of tedium and sometimes an overwhelming amount of systems thrust upon the player, leads to many abandoning ship before they get very far. New World initially managed to capture my attention, but I fell off as time went on. With the new Aeternum update dropping, I got to check out how they’ve changed the experience to better suit an incoming new set of players.

I say new players because, you guessed it, New World is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series consoles. Our preview was focused on Xbox, engaging with the game utilizing a controller versus a mouse and keyboard. I’m really impressed because it felt natural, with the new cursor and button layout translating perfectly to the console. If anything, playing on a controller makes me feel like this game should have launched on console first.

Starting New World Aeternum is different as well, with refreshed onboarding. In the character creator for instance, there are new archetypes. These give you a more set class to begin with, like a musketeer which adds points to your armoring, harvesting, and weaving. It also starts you out with specific weapons, which helps with leveling up those specializations.

You begin your gameplay on the wreckage of Captain Thorpe’s ship, fighting the possessed crewmen to get a handle on the controls. Everything is wonderfully handled, with an engaging tutorial that has a good flow to it. It’s intuitive, not overwhelming you with anything and letting you gradually integrate into its stylings.

This introduction will eventually end in a fight with Captain Thorpe, just like the previous tutorial but with a different route. After this, you’re officially on the isle of Aeternum, and dropped directly into the MMO portion of this game. Yes, the core of this game isn’t changing, but making it more approachable is what comes next.

I got to dive into a few of the opening missions, and these have gotten an overhaul. Instead of just mindlessly trying to build skinning knives and such, there are NPCs immediately in the vicinity to interact with and give you new quests. Dialogue options are also here, giving you backstory to work with. It can sometimes be a little cheesy, but it’s a nice touch in engaging the player. Doing these quests and getting the rewards just feels more…rewarding.

Before we finish up, the game looks and plays tremendously well. As mentioned, the newly worked menu system flourishes on console, allowing you to more easily do the things that a keyboard and mouse make simple. On top of that, the game is pretty and the framerate was very stable, even when adding another player to the party. Speaking of players and parties, cross-play is available across platforms both new and old. You’ll need to band with your friends wherever they are, especially with the new first-ever large-scale player vs. player zone and a ten player raid.

While this was where our adventure ended, I’m really excited to jump back into New World via Aeternum. New World was one of those games I liked, but never felt like I had time for. That, and I had to go over to my PC in order to play it. Being able to boot up my PS5 and dive in is a boon, allowing for a more comfortable experience as I explore the island of Aeternum. You can pre-order New World Aeternum now on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles, available October 15th, with enhancements available on PC on that date free to existing owners.

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