Throughout the summer as MMORPG players on PC and console have awaited the launch of New World Aeternum, PC players have been more than a little grumpy over the lack of new content, the minimizing of the game’s MMORPG design, the skimpy dev communication, and the lapse in seasonal rollouts. We haven’t had a roadmap or clarity on what would be coming after Aeternum, either.
Well, at least one of those things is actually being addressed today, as New World has finally announced the game’s next season. Called Season of Opportunity, it launches the same day as Aeternum itself – October 15th – and promises everything “from repeatable Soul Trials to a free-for-all PvP zone, upleveled endgame rewards, and a 10-player raid” – basically, the key new Aeternum content, with a season pass on the side.
“The foggy southwest reaches of Cutlass Keys are a lawless place, where the Golden Greed curse of La Esperanza’s treasure drives fortune-hunters to murderous madness,” Amazon says, “Even the closest of companions are liable to lethally betray one another. Gather Cursed Doubloons and resources, but you’ll have to escape before other looters steal your spoils.” And as for that raid, it’s the game’s first-ever 10-player raid, the Hive of Gorgons. “After defeating Medusa in New Olympus, players will learn of a new threat. The Gorgons have risen, and they’re raising an army of the Hercyne. To stop them, you’ll have to assemble a team of powerful players, enter the hive, and navigate a gauntlet of challenging puzzles and epic boss battles.”
The team is promising more developer deep dives on everything in the near future, but it did tease the season pass itself:
“The Season Pass gives players a variety of ways to earn new cosmetics, Transmog Tokens, Artifacts, and more! Highlights on the Premium Reward Track include: 1 Set of Seasonal Armor Skin (5 pieces), 9 Seasonal Weapon Skins, 3 Mount Attachments, and 2 Seasonal Emotes. The Free Reward Track is available to all players and also contains unique cosmetic Items, while the Premium Reward Track offers the ability to earn extra rewards for 20,000 Marks of Fortune. We’ll spotlight the entire seasonal Reward Track closer to the release of Season of Opportunity.”
Do note that the announcement video – which is largely a recap of what we knew about Aeternum – characterizes New World as an “open-world game with classless action combat combined with deep and varied RPG systems in a massive shared world.” Man, if only we had a name for that kind of game! I just can’t think of the term…
