New World review in progress: So close, yet so far
I’ve never been a huge fan of MMORPGs, as I often find their multi-layered UIs and their overwhelming number of systems to be frustrating to keep up with. I attempted to give World of Warcraft a shot for the first time last year during lockdown, and I simply gave up after trying (and failing) to feel my way through menus and mechanics that the game either explained poorly or didn’t explain at all. Ultimately, most MMOs suck at onboarding players that are new to the experience, and because of that I’ve struggled to hold an interest in them.
Enter New World, a new MMO from Amazon Games that aims to offer players a significantly less confusing experience by streamlining many aspects of the gameplay. I’ve spent about 20 hours with New World since it launched on Sept. 28, and I’m happy to report that New World is the most accessible MMO I’ve ever played.
Unfortunately, while it’s easy to get acclimated with New World and its systems, there are a lot of issues with its content and quest design. Combat and the PvP experience are really fun, but boring quests and low PvE enemy variety have me questioning whether or not New World has enough depth to hold onto its massive launch population.
New World
The Good
- Streamlined and beginner-friendly
- Excellent combat and crafting
- Awesome PvP experience
- Great presentation overall
The Bad
- Archaic quest design
- Poor enemy variety
- Tons of running
- Infuriating quest drop system
Disclaimer: This review was made possible by a review code provided by Amazon Games. The company did not see the contents of the review before publishing.
New World: What you’ll like
Source: Amazon Games
Category | New World |
---|---|
Title | New World |
Developer | Amazon Games |
Publisher | Amazon Games |
Genre | MMORPG |
Minimum requirements | Windows 10 64-bit, Intel Core i5-2400/quad-core AMD CPU 8GB RAM NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670/AMD Radeon R9 280 DirectX 12 |
Game size | 35GB |
Players | Multiplayer |
Launch price | $40 |
New World’s PvP is easily the best part of the gameplay experience.
Between New World’s PvE and PvP offerings, PvP is by far the most enjoyable. New World’s action RPG-style combat is a perfect fit for large-scale PvP, and I’ve been having a ton of fun patrolling contested areas of the map with an army of my faction allies and attacking other groups we run into. I’ve died a few times, but thankfully, New World doesn’t punish you with XP or gear loss when you die. New World factions can also fully declare war against one another and fight over territories on the map; on my server, my Covenant buddies and I are currently preparing to defend the territory of First Light against an invading Syndicate force, and things are set to kick off on Saturday night. Holding the territory means that everyone in the faction will continue to enjoy lower trading and crafting fees in the region, so we’re giving the defense everything we’ve got.
If New World’s dynamic open world PvP experience isn’t for you, there’s also a matchmade Outpost Rush mode that pits two teams of 20 against each other to try to accrue 1,000 points by capturing and defending forts that you can play once you reach level 60 (Most people, myself included, aren’t at that point yet). If you’re not interested in partaking in PvP at all, you can disable it.
Source: Windows Central
When it comes to audio and music, New World’s offering is good, but not anything special. The game’s music is enjoyable to listen to, and both weapons and abilities have solid sound design. There was never a moment where the game’s audio impressed me, but what’s there is satisfactory.
New World: What you won’t like
Source: Amazon Games
New World’s PvE is sorely lacking in quest depth and enemy variety.
The majority of the PvE experience in general is lacking, too. So far I haven’t encountered much of anything other than zombies and hostile woodland critters on my journey, and based on what I’ve heard from people who have managed to get farther than I have, enemy diversity isn’t going to improve when I continue to progress. New World’s instanced five-player Expedition missions help somewhat since they have a few unique enemies and some light puzzles, but it’s not enough.
Source: Windows Central
Finally, New Worlds also has an infuriating loot drop system that only allows one player to loot quest creatures before they despawn. For example, I recently had a quest to kill a specific bear called Scratchy and skin it for meat. I worked with other players to take Scratchy down, but because only one player gets to skin it, everyone else was forced to wait five minutes for the bear to respawn. I ended up spending almost 30 minutes in that goddamned cave before I was finally able to skin Scratchy and finish the quest, and at that point, I wanted to throw my keyboard across the room.
New World: Should you play it?
Source: Windows Central
New World could be one of the best multiplayer PC games ever made if its quests and PvE encounters were as good as its streamlined mechanics, combat system, and PvP experiences, but they’re not. And while I’m having a blast in PvP right now, I’m not sure I’m comfortable saying that the game is worth getting when it has several big issues like this. We’ll see how I feel once I progress further.
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