New World chases the festival atmosphere with its Summer Medleyfaire event later in July

Amazon’s open-world fantasy MMO New World is rocking out this summer with its own version of Glastonbury, dubbed the Summer Medleyfaire. You can already grab your instrument on the game’s Public Test Realm but everyone will have the chance to take part later this month. It’s a hefty one, but you can watch the summer update video below to find out more.

Catch the Medleyfaire Maestro at one of the summer villages that will pop up in Brightwood, Everfall, Weaver’s Fen or Monarch’s Bluffs to start your new musical career as a solo artist, or with up to five other players as a band. Doing quests for the Maestro and fishing will land you some festive summertime rewards – namely trade skill XP and buffs. There are five instruments to find and learn, and 31 songs to begin with.

You’ll be able to strum a guitar, mandolin or upright bass, bang the drums, or even toot an Azoth flute like a mystical Ron Burgundy. Playing music buffs the musicians and audience alike. More buffs will unlock as your trade skill increases and there are six buffs to unlock, ranging from temporary increases to gathering speed to reducing encumbrance for a while. New World’s design team shared some concept art of how they approached the creation of Medleyfaire over on the game’s site here.

The update also sees the arrival of piratical skeletons, in the creepy form of Admiral Blackpowder and his band of boney seadogs. They’re bringing a new endgame expedition. Look out for quest givers in the Cutlass Keys settlement and the docks on the eastern shore, who’ll send you out to tackle the undead crew for loot-related purposes. Amazon are aiming to smooth out taking on expeditions with this update by introducing the new Group Finder tool. This lets you check for group requests, create your own, and lets players request their preferred role in the group.

Alice Bee chilled out as a carpenter when she played the game for her New World review last year. “I’ve chosen to be a carpenter and spend a lot of my days in the forest, strip cutting the whole place with a song in my heart and the sun at my back,” she said. “There are a truly dizzying number of achievements in New World, and I’ve got my sights set on the Master Carpenter one, partly out of spite at this point.”

New World is on Steam for £35/$40/€40. You can see the full details of what’s coming in Medleyfaire later in July here.