New World – test, role play

It’s been a long time

It was 2016 when Amazon Game Studios announced an online role-playing game called New World as part of TwitchCon – full-bodied and with many big promises. The interest of the MMO community was quickly aroused, after all, a potentially high-ranking competitor was emerging for the still dominant World of WarCraft who wanted to do a lot differently.

What followed was a rather turbulent development phase with several shifts, changes and other stumbling blocks. Originally planned for May 2020, it took until the end of September 2021 before New World actually saw the light of day. Why are we telling you this story? Because it was at least as turbulent as the time after the launch. But more on that later.

Every great adventure begins with a first step

Before you can throw yourself into the fantasy world of Aternum, you must first create your own game character. The right editor gives you some freedom in this regard, but is not quite as extensive as with some MMO competitors. The random number generator in particular spits out some particularly bizarre creations such as female faces with thick beards. After a few minutes, however, you will surely have – well, maybe not quite – created the character of your dreams and draw

straight into the adventure. The transition between the editor and the introductory cutscene is actually fluid, which creates a pleasant feeling of immersion. In this way, you will be drawn directly into the action from the first second – without annoying loading pauses or cuts.

This is followed by a kind of tutorial that is embedded directly in the game world and familiarizes you with the basics of the controls. At this point at the latest you will get to know a special feature of New World – the combat system. In contrast to some competitors such as World of Warcraft, the skirmishes don’t run automatically and you press keys every now and then to trigger special skills. Instead, a much more direct and therefore more action-packed variant awaits you at New World. With the left mouse button you trigger light and heavy attacks, the right mouse button is used to block. There is also the possibility of starting an evasive maneuver in order to avoid particularly violent attacks. It all feels more like an action adventure – in a positive way. It plays fast, dynamically and is a lot of fun after a short familiarization. In addition, there is the fact that you are not limited to hand-to-hand combat, but can also attack from a distance thanks to muskets, bows, fire sticks, etc.

Anyone can do anything

The attentive reader among you will have probably already noticed that we weren’t talking about races or even classes in the character editor. That was not an accident, it is due to the fact that there is simply no such thing in New World. All players slip in

the role of a person; You are looking in vain for dwarves, elves or other species. The classic division into classes such as warriors, healers or the like is also omitted. For many MMO fans this may seem a bit strange at first, but it offers a decisive advantage: flexibility.

Instead of forcing yourself into fixed roles, you decide in which direction your character will develop based on your style of play and equipment. If you mainly swing the sword in a fight, your skill with this weapon will automatically improve and you will gradually unlock new special attacks and bonuses. However, you are not limited to this: You can equip other weapons at any time and use them to improve their efficiency. Up to character level 20 you can even reset the points that have already been allocated for free – ideal for those who are undecided who want to experiment a little first. In addition, this system makes it easy to switch between roles.