[Test] New World, a magnificent experience that is not up to its ambitions Final notes 75/100

Competition of MMOs is powerful, but that did not prevent Amazon Game Studios from tackling it with New World.Postponed over and over again, the project has gone through deep changes and beta not always simple.So, is it worth it?Answer below!

From the start, we shipwrecked on the island of Aeternum, which seems inhabited by cursed/possessed humans.In the midst of the wrecks, our first fight soon confronts us with alteration, a magic force which corrupts and destroys everything it touches.

Once the prologue is accomplished, New World begins the game in one of the three starting areas, purely randomly.The idea is interesting because not all players are gathered in the same places, and allows greater diversity;That being said, if you want to play with your friends, it can be a handicap at first.

Anyway, the game guides us beautifully, from our first beach in the first city.Unlike many other MMOs, New World wants to be as possible as possible in its environments;The artistic direction and the Lumberyard Engine graphics serve perfectly the forests, beaches, mountains and other plains available to us.The cities are filled with NPCs and buildings, as well as players who run in all directions.From the first minutes of play, he seems undeniable Amazon Game Studios managed to immerse us in a new world as large as filled.

And necessarily, there is something to do.Crafts are available in fifteen trades accessible to everyone, and each city will offer many missions to accomplish, whether it is components, make stuff or go to kill x enemies.All these tasks will bring us, little by little, to explore the different regions and to discover the secrets.

It is also impossible not to talk about the sound aspect of New World.The sounds are beautifully powerful, with many shades, while the music composed by Ramin Djawadi transcribe the threats and exoticism of Aeternum.The sound atmosphere created by Amazon Game Studios envelops the game and the player in a deliciously comfortable cocoon, and playing without the sound in the ears is akin to a crime.

New World is clearly built around one thing: PvP.Whether wild or instantiated, players against players are an integral part of life on Aeternum, and are worth it.In itself, it is quite possible to play without doing PVP - Leveling is going very well, and it is more fun to type on others once level maximum.

But despite everything, it should be recognized that Amazon Game Studios has done an excellent job on the PVP, and its various aspects.Each region of the game can be controlled by a company (a guild, in short), which will determine local taxes and, therefore, the advance of the infrastructure of the.But opposing factions can sow disorder in PVP mode, until a company has the opportunity to declare a formal war.This is planned for a specific date and time, and allows members of two opposite factions to compete in a battle with epic proportions, and with the key the control of a region.Nevertheless, being part of a small company can prove to be penalizing, and offer only limited access to wars.

In the open world, faction quests also offer to go asticot the other players, and add chili to the fact of walking in Aeternum.Stuff awards are far from negligible, and experience is only magnified.

But what about the pve?Once again, the cities of New World (one per region) offer us many missions aimed at developing local infrastructure;These little quests offer gold, experience and reputation as a reward.This is attached to each region, and makes it possible to unlock different advantages: reduction of different taxes, increased harvest speed, increase in experience or reputation, and of course, possibility of buying a house!

These missions make it possible to really advance our environment, and unlock an advance of both crafts and housing.In short, what leaves our brand to Aeternum!

But the rest of the quests is more ... Confused, we will say.The main quest is exempt around the Bâton d'Azoth, a unique tool that will have to be advanced by levels.The story around this stick and the fight against alteration is more sketched than told, and the many round trips between the different regions to accomplish the requested tasks will make storytelling sometimes complicated to assimilate.Events are linked too quickly, and in a way not always logical, giving the impression that history is only an excuse for gameplay.

The other quests of the game are quite nuanced.Personally, I really liked those of the marsh of the frames and the island of the blades, but overall, it is complicated to feel attached to this or that character.Once again, it feels like these Storylines ersatz justify the means to gain experience, but without really bringing something to the Aeternum lore;It must be said that New World was basically designed as a game fully focused on PVP, and that the PVE aspect was really introduced that a few months ago.

The open world nevertheless is full of interesting dangers, such as altered flaws.These events that populate randomly on the map can only be resolved with the Bâton d'Azoth, and good slaps.Waves of enemies will precede a boss, which keeps a portal.Destroy all this (in group) will give you experience, gold and stuff.Beware not to go alone, and with a level too low, that said!

One of New World's major successes is clearly craftsmanship.This breaks down into harvesting, processing and manufacturing trades;All these steps overlap with each other, in a delicate harmony which is, it must be said, made to perfection.Harvesting ore or skins to transform them into finished products will open a wide range of weapons, armor, amulets or craft bags.The various urban missions, mentioned above, strongly encourage players to work the crafting.

It is a great way to generate experience and gold coins, in addition to being able to personalize your stuff with different components.Once the maximum level has been reached, it is even possible to craft legendary weapons, and the end game stuff which does not have to be ashamed of that looté during the expeditions.

Did you say expeditions?These dungeons for three minimum players integrate perfectly into the main quest, and offer bosses with various challenges;The first, the amrine shipping, is unlocked from level 25 and allows you to acquire very good stuff.

One of the advantages of New World is its community: it is at the heart of all mechanisms, and even the self-regulated economy.On paper, it is something rather stylish.

But the human being being what he is, the things came, from the first weeks, to be widely tainted by fairly carcinogenic attitudes.The Ban system is currently automated: a sufficiently high number of reports thus leads to an expulsion of two or three days, and this in a completely automated manner.We have thus seen abusive bands of groups of players, companies or even streamers against certain people who have displeased them.Reddit and many social networks abound with posts in this sense, and Amazon Game Studios does not seem to be particularly taking this problem seriously.

The other concern is de facto, the companies in itself.A single company can control more than one region but, logically, can hardly be in two places at the same time to defend them;Beyond this fairly simple problem, the guilds rise the rosters who are used to defend the territories ... to their desire.If it seems theoretically logical that the masters of a territory choose how to defend it, in practice, we end up with the same members who participate in each battle, leaving the smallest companies on the tile.

From a point of view of the user experience, we end up with two distinct groups: those who benefit from PVP features, and those who cannot.Enough for a game with New World's goals ...

Nos guides bien utiles :

In many ways, New World offers a grandiose MMO experience, where it is easy to get lost for hours in the many tasks offered.Farming takes on a pleasant dimension, and PVP provides intense moments of skill.The various weapons skills can be increased with personalized spells, ensuring that each player will find a style of play that they like.

But the absence of connection with Aeternum and its NPCs can quickly become heavy, in the sense that the issues of our progression often get lost.The use of the phasing would have been a major asset, making it possible to add a greater dimension to the imprint left by the explorers on this mysterious island;We hope nevertheless that the upcoming content will bring deeper, and more striking adventures with him.

If your equipment allows, New World offers a dazzling world of beauty, whether it be the artistic direction or the graphics in themselves.However, we regret the absence of Ray Tracing, who would have magnified lush forests like dark nights, and would have brought even more immersion;same bell sound for the DLSS 2.0, which would have offered players a non-negligible quality boost.Of course, such technologies can be added in the future, and we hope that this will be the case!

New World also suffers from a lack of diversity in terms of its bestiary.Wild boars, wolves, wapitis and misguided are common - too common.Even if the game is intended to be a fantastic iteration of our real world, we find ourselves too often confronted with the same enemies, having too rarely this appreciable feeling of being faced with a dangerously unique mob.And in the end, Aeternum does not seem so impressive.

In the end, despite many efforts, New World suffers from an ambition that goes beyond its means.The game is extremely pleasant, but too much design defects taint a project that passes shortly next to excellence.

We liked it:

We liked it less:

To share :

Similar articles