New World: Aeternum Open Beta preview — Old world new skin

Thanks to Amazon Games, I was able to check out New World: Aeternum’s Open Beta period a bit early to get some quick thoughts in. I put in a good dozens of hours into New World back in 2021, but haven’t played since so I’m excited to learn what’s new! In this Beta period, note that the max level is 30 and no progress will carry over into the full game when it launches in October.

Alright so what the heck is New World: Aeternum? Is it a brand new game? Is it a sequel? Is it an expansion? None of the above because it’s more of a rebrand than anything else. The original New World released back on PC exclusively 3 years ago to generally mixed reviews. Since then, the team at Amazon Games have been working hard on tweaking and addressing feedback from players and is now ready to launch Aeternum. The game is also ready to launch on Xbox and PlayStation consoles for the first time as well!

Of course there’s going to be some new stuff in Aeternum that differentiates itself from the base experience. Aeternum is an enhanced repackaging of the base New World along with the Rise of the Angry Earth DLC that came out last year. It promises a revamped storytelling experience with enhanced dialogue, in-game cinematics and immersive cutscenes. The game has also been tweaked to be more solo friendly, as I remember playing the base game and not having a group to go on expeditions with.

In addition, Aeternum introduces a PvP specific zone, a 10-player raid, repeatable endgame soul trials, along with new mounts. Since I was only able to play in the Open Beta period, I couldn’t get access to any of the new endgame content, so I can’t comment on too much there. But I will say the beginning hours of the game are much smoother than I remember when I first started 3 years ago. For one, when you create a new character, you select 1 of 8 archetypes such as the Musketeer, Swordbearer, Destroyer, and Soldier. Think of these as starting classes to any role playing game. 

The first 30 minutes to an hour or so of the game has also seen some changes, introducing you to the land of Aeternum along with key characters. The game still teaches you the basics of combat with the same quick time events. But now there’s swimming! Yes, you heard that right, New World has finally included swimming as part of the game. But the rest of this tutorial section is more or less the same. You still collect flint and wood to create your basic tools. You still hunt some boars and go through the same quests before you get to your first town. One thing I do respect is Amazon adding more of a narrative to the game, giving you a sense of purpose for the things you’re doing.

So I played the Beta on the PlayStation 5, and for the most part, performance is alright. There are some stutters and screen tears here and there, along with frame drops. But since this is a Beta, I’m not mad as the developers still have more time to polish it out. You can opt between a 4K quality mode along with a performance mode, but it seems that the quality mode targets 60 fps as well. Loading times are quite rough, taking nearly 30 seconds to load in. The controls are intuitive and can be rebound at any time but it does take some time to get used to the jam packed UI that most MMORPGs suffer from. I will say I enjoy playing these types of games with a controller infinitely times more than keyboard mouse.

Great news because there will be full cross-play between platforms, but you cannot transfer your save files across them. This means if you have a save file on PC, you’ll need to start over if you want to play on Xbox or PlayStation. New World: Aeternum will be available for $59.99 and include both the base game and expansion. Those who already own both will get Aeternum as a free update, but those who only own the base game will need to purchase the Rise of the Angry Earth DLC first for $29.99. Pre-ordering the game awards you with the Azoth Stalker wolf mount and purchasing the deluxe edition for $79.99 gets you the Corrupted Mauler bear mount and Corrupted Soul armor skin.

At the end of the day, New World: Aeternum is literally just more New World. It’s an MMORPG after all. You’ll feel right at home if you played it before, but if the original experience didn’t intrigue you, then this one probably won’t either. I’ve always wanted to play New World on a console with a controller, and I can finally do so now! The new endgame content and PvP additions feel intriguing, so I’m excited to check those out when the full game launches.

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