Everyone in Aeternum is a stranger in a strange land.
There are no other humans to fight and kill, aside from rival players (should you choose to engage in PvP), and even then, everyone miraculously comes back to life, both for gameplay purposes and thanks to the island's magical properties.
If the island did have original inhabitants (as is implied by many of the game's massive and mysterious ruins) they are long since gone and nobody knows what happened to them. While the game is technically set in the 16th century, and much of the game's armor and weapons invoke the "Age of Exploration," Aeternum is a fantasy world filled with ghouls, ghosts, plant monsters, and magic. As you embark on your adventure to level 60, you'll gather crafting materials, fight monsters, equip new weapons and armor, complete quests, and level up your character. It's up to players to rebuild and lead an order of guardians known as the Soulwardens if Aeternum is to stand a chance against the encroaching darkness. Those who have lived on the island for ages run the risk of becoming soulless husks known as the Lost, or even worse, are in jeopardy of being brainwashed by an ancient evil spreading across the land known as the Corruption. People don't really die, or even age, in Aeternum, but that doesn't mean life is easy. Turns out, people have been washing up there for thousands of years and are unable to return to their homelands thanks to a mysterious storm surrounding the island. The setup of New World is simple: After creating a character, you wash up on the shores of a mysterious uncharted island somewhere in the Atlantic ocean called Aeternum. Unfortunately, New World is also held back by a largely boring leveling experience and a few particularly annoying design choices that may turn off even the most dedicated MMORPG fans. Based on the more than 140 hours I've played so far, there is definitely some enjoyment to be had, particularly for those interested in PvP. Old-school in many of its sensibilities, New World is a social, player-versus-player-focused MMO the likes of which largely hasn't been seen since 2001's Dark Age of Camelot. It's fitting then that New World in many ways feels like it originated from that particular period of gaming history.
But back in the mid-to-late 2000s, new MMOs felt like they were a dime a dozen, with game publishers all looking for a piece of the massive pie that Blizzard had carved out for itself starting with vanilla World of Warcraft in 2004. In recent years, the MMO genre has largely been forgotten, with only new expansions for the biggest names in the genre to satisfy fans. It's not every day a new, big-budget MMORPG arrives, much less one developed by Amazon. Editor's Note: This review was updated on November 11, 2021, with final thoughts on New World's endgame content.
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