Starting this Friday, Amazon Games will be running an open beta test for New World‘s soft relaunch as Aeternum. Before then, the studio offered members of the press the chance to check out an early preview of the beta build, so naturally, as MOP’s New World columnist, I took that opportunity to scope it out so you all know just what to expect.
It’s definitely still the same fundamental game, but I did find there was quite a few improvements. I just fear it may not be enough to satisfy the PC playerbase after so many months of neglect.
The test build didn’t offer high-level character templates, so my hands-on was focused on the beginner experience. As previously revealed, new players are now prompted to choose one of several archetypes that determine their starting weapons and armour. I think this is a good move towards accessibility; you can still experiment freely with builds after character creation.
You then move into the new tutorial, including a new cinematic intro. I kind of miss the moodiness of the old intro, but this one communicates the backstory a little more clearly. Interestingly, it also reveals the specific year the game takes place for the first time: 1609.
The tutorial follows largely the same story beats as the original, but the cinematics and environments have been given a spitshine for a flashier experience. I don’t think there was anything wrong with the original tutorial, but this one does foreshadow later events in the story a little better, I suppose, and it is very pretty.
Once you’re out in the main game world, you quickly get back to the old leveling experience (“old” as in the revamped MSQ from post-launch), now improved with the new conversation camera that replaces the old quest text box. Like most people, I felt this was an unnecessary change, but it does look a lot better than it did when originally previewed, and while it’s not The Secret World levels of animation quality by any means, I quickly came to prefer it.
Probably the most surprising change was that Grace O’Malley’s face has been remodeled to be more conventionally attractive, which… uh… OK. Don’t worry; her personality is still as grating as ever. I didn’t get far enough to see if any other big-name NPCs have gotten similar facelifts, but I can say the oft-criticized player models have not changed.
This wouldn’t be a beta (especially a New World beta) without some bugs. Mostly I dealt with some very long load times, including needing to wait an extra minute or two after the initial loading screen for the world’s objects and textures to fully load in. Hopefully that will be fixed by the time the public open beta starts.
On the plus side, the game ran fine once I finally loaded in. It fact, it ran better than it does on live. I can’t put my finger on exactly what changed, but somehow all the player movement and animations feel smoother and more responsive now.
I experimented heavily with the new mob stagger changes to see if this is genuinely stagger in the mechanical sense or just cosmetic. It was surprisingly hard to come to a conclusive determination, but I think it’s just cosmetic. Definitely the stronger enemies don’t seem be staggered by basic attacks; with weaker enemies, it sometimes seemed as if I was interrupting their attacks, but other times I clearly wasn’t, so it may have just been my imagination. Overall I don’t think this is going to change the balance of open world content much, which is good because it really doesn’t need any more difficulty nerfs.
I noticed some other small combat changes. There is now an occasional, very subtle glow around enemies that I believe indicates an upcoming attack, and as promised a few months ago, the sword ability Reverse Stab has been replaced. The new ability is called Upheaval; it has much the same effect as Reverse Stab, but it looks a lot cooler. Whirling Blade also now has more dramatic VFX.
Several other weapons have received small adjustments, usually just changing the order in which active skills are unlocked. The logic seems to have been to give every skill tree a big damage skill off the bat, while moving more utility-focused skills like Javelin and Calamity Counter down the tree. It’s a small change, but some builds may still need to be adjusted.
There’s also a new player HUD. It took a little getting used to, but like the new dialogue camera I quickly came to prefer it. It’s cleaner. In general the theme of Aeternum seems to be most areas of the game being just a little bit better.
And yes, we can swim now. It seems you can swim only on the surface and not dive underwater, but it beats Terminator walking across the bottom, I suppose.
There wasn’t time during the test for me to get to a high enough level to properly explore the updated version of Cutlass Keys, but I did take my poor lowbie character on a long and hair-raising walk down there to at least peruse the zone a bit.
The overhaul is not as ambitious as the transformation of First Light to Elysian Wilds, but there are still significant changes. A number of new fortifications crewed by Lost pirates have sprung up across the map. Most notably the massive Ancient tower near the middle of the zone has become home to what looks like a Lost settlement similar to the Spire of Melpomene in Reekwater.
There’s no sign this has anything to do with all the gothic horror hints we were getting around the end of 2023 and into early 2024, which only furthers my suspicion that the pivot to Aeternum was a last-minute decision.
I wasn’t able to survive the zone’s dangers long enough to see it in person, but the world map shows a large new landmass attached to the western edge of the zone, which is shaded in a different colour than the rest of the map. This must be the new open PvP area. It looks pretty big (about half the size of the existing zone), and as it’s new land all the original area of Cutlass Keys is still available for PvE, which gives me some hope the zone will provide a decent amount of new content for players like me.
Cutlass Keys’ settlement hasn’t changed much, but there is a new crafting station called the Well of Fortune where you can procure items in exchange for a new Mystic Dubloon currency. This is presumably the reward for the new PvP area. I’m attaching a gallery of screenshots for those who want details, but there’s quite a lot of rewards on offer, including crafting materials, item level 725 gear, and two new artifacts.
Overall my impression of the Aeternum beta was pretty positive across the board, load times notwithstanding, but then the quality of the update was never the issue. The elephant in the room remains the months-long content drought PC players have had to endure while waiting for it. If this update had launched back in June or July, I think it would have been received pretty well, but I’m not sure it’s enough to mollify jilted PC players in the current context. I hope what the game gains in console players is enough to keep the game healthy because it’s going to need them.
I noticed something while playing: I was having fun. Between various tests and alts, I had already done the starting experience in New World five times, and I went into this sixth run viewing it as a chore, but almost immediately the game drew me in. I was once again wowed by the beautiful visuals and music, the impeccable audio design, and the top-notch combat. There’s so much good in this game; I really hope it can weather the current storm.
New World’s Aeternum is a land of many secrets. In MassivelyOP’s Vitae Aeternum, our writers delve those secrets to provide you with in-depth coverage of all things New World through launch and beyond.
