New World: Aeternum Aims to Be the Console MMORPG You Always Wanted
Exclusive: The devs behind New World: Aeternum break down how the game aims to change the way you look at the very concept of console MMORPGs.
“I don’t think there’s a game like this on console,” New World Game Director Scot Lane tells Den of Geek in a recent visit to Amazon Games’ offices in California. The Action RPG launched in 2021 and has cultivated a solid following since. Still, with the game’s massive new update New World: Aeternum launching on October 15th, the game’s community will expand further as the game launches on Xbox Series X/S and PS5.
There are a handful of active MMOs on consoles for fans of the genre (most notably Elder Scrolls Online, Final Fantasy XIV, and Destiny 2). But New World: Aeternum aims to be the first of its kind on console in that, in the developers’ eyes, it’s not a traditional MMO RPG at all. It’s got a stronger focus on traversal and combat that feels more in line with what console players are familiar with, with tactile, responsive controls and mechanics that feel a lot more like action-based open-world games like Assassin’s Creed or Elden Ring than World of Warcraft.
Console players should be able to pick up and play New World: Aeternum and feel right at home. But what they may not be quite as familiar with as they take their first steps onto the island of Aeternum is that it’s populated with hundreds of other, real-world players who are exploring and altering the same shared environments. If you come upon a group of trees that have been cut down, that means somebody else was just there, collecting resources that are now unavailable to you. And if you’re lucky enough to stumble upon a rare deposit of silver or gold, it makes the find that much more special because it’s yours and no one else’s.
Seeing the game’s towns bustling with real players, trading, chatting, and gearing up to go on PvE Expeditions and Raids is something many console players simply haven’t experienced yet. PvP is another matter entirely, with some console or predominantly solo players finding it somewhat nerve-wracking to put themselves out there in that way. But the Amazon Games team stresses that New World: Aeternum is incredibly solo-player friendly because, as of the new update, you can play the entire main quest line and get to the endgame content completely on your own if you so choose. In other words, the game fully supports the single-player experience, allowing you to ignore other players if that’s how you like to play. And guess what? That’s exactly how Lane likes to play.
“I tend to play solo, and I like to be alone in a crowd,” Lane says. While the more intense aspects of massively online games can be intimidating, Aeternum’s robust, additive gathering, crafting, and fishing mechanics ensure players always have plenty of ways to engage with the game even if they don’t feel like grinding out an hours-long raid with friends. “I’m a chill gamer. Little things like chopping down trees and fishing while you’re on your couch with your feet up feel good. It’s relaxing. You can take on The Hive of Gorgons one day, and the next day put some music on, chop down trees, and craft.”
What is The Hive of Gorgons, you ask? Well, it’s the toughest content in the game; a new three-stage, 10-player (a first for the game) raid that arrives with Aeternum. The raid took the developers themselves several, savagely difficult attempts to complete.
“We told the team, if any group beats the raid by Saturday, we’ll throw an ice cream party,” Lane says with a laugh. “On that Saturday, you should have heard the team erupt when they beat the last boss. It was hilarious.”
On top of the base game, the previously released Rise of the Angry Earth expansion, and update content like Brimstone Sands, Aeternum brings with it The Hive of the Gorgons, new endgame solo trials (solo boss battles, essentially), an expanded PvP zone called The Cursed Mists, and a fully revamped narrative presentation that includes all-new dialogue and vastly improved cutscenes.
The game’s enhanced storytelling elements cater to console players who value a robust, single-player experience with high production values. Some of the game’s PC player community have expressed apprehension in the lead-up to Aeternum’s launch, fearing the changes to the game will leave them underserved in favor of attracting console players.
“I understand the perspective,” Lane says of the PC community’s skepticism. But for the devs at Amazon Games, the game being updated to welcome console players benefits the PC version of the game as well. Performance has been optimized to support cross-play across all platforms, which means PC players will be able to crank those graphics settings even higher than before. “The work towards performance and all of the quality of life improvements are things that the PC audience has asked for. I think one of the things we hear PC players want most is more endgame content, and the two of the biggest additions in Aeternum are the endgame raid and the endgame PvP zone. We also have more PvP and PvE stuff in mind.”
Expanding to console has essentially resulted in the game being rock-solid in terms of performance, as was evidenced in the game’s recent open beta. “We’re so happy the game held up…when there were, like, 200 players on screen,” Lane says. “I can’t hell you how hard it was [pulling this off]. You think about getting hundreds of players on screen moving at once and the server bandwidth to do that in a game that looks pretty and whose world you can alter…it was no small feat.”
“The game is in such a good spot now that we can really focus on content moving forward,” says Creative Director Dave Verfaillie. “In the past, that may not have always been true. We feel really comfortable with the game now, and that’s going to allow us to focus mostly on content moving forward, which is what I think PC players want.”
One of the more transformative changes to New World that Aeternum brings is how the length and density of the main story progression. Originally, it took about 150 hours to get to the endgame. Now, it takes about 60. “We’ve also increased the amount of content in the main story quest since launch by probably triple,” Verfaillie says. “There’s way more content in way less time, which makes for a super dense experience, and I think that is going to be exciting for console players.”
As a primarily console player myself, I can say that New World’s gameplay, particularly in Aeternum, does feel quite approachable and fun. There’s a solid connection between controller inputs and actions on screen that made the combat feel especially crunchy and satisfying. All of the weapons have a unique feel to them, and the devs spent a lot of time ensuring the game felt more visceral than what you’d typically experience in an MMO. The game undoubtedly feels more like a proper action RPG in hand. Even little things, like the addition of enemy stagger animations in PvE, contribute to the game’s tactility.
“I think one of the things that really separates New World is its combat feel,” Verfaillie says. “It’s an overused word, but we really wanted to make combat feel visceral. You want to feel the impact. The other thing is responsiveness. When you hit a button, action begins immediately. We don’t animate long wind-ups. We try to get to the impact frames quickly. It all comes together to make you feel the combat.”
The launch of New World: Aeternum will open the game up in a big way. Xbox X/S and PS5 players entering the fray will, with hope, lead to the world of Aeternum feeling more alive and dynamic than it ever has before. But a lot of this depends on whether the console gaming community that doesn’t typically play MMOs will gravitate to this kind of game. Lane and Verfaillie’s message to gamers on the fence is to give New World a try and play it as an exclusively single-player game, and then see if you’d like to delve deeper into PvE and PvE.
“You don’t have to flag for PvP,” Lane stresses. “What we hope to see is, when you get to endgame and you’re at level 60, maybe you’ll try playing with friends, or flag for PvP, or join an Outpost Rush. Then you might unlock this whole new side of the game that will extend your play further for you.”
“We love the PvP in New World,” Verfaillie adds. “We think it makes the game really special. Give it a chance!”
New World: Aeternum launches on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5 on Oct. 15.
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Bernard Boo is a writer and geek enthusiast living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Movies, TV, video games, and comics are constantly rattling around in his brain,…