Amazon’s New World MMO wants to be the next World of Warcraft

Amazon'southward New World MMO wants to be the next World of Warcraft — can information technology?

(Image credit: Amazon)

UPDATE, 5/11: Tom's Guide has edited the piece to streamline and clarify the nature of the demo.

New World is an upcoming MMO adult past Amazon Studios. I need to mention this right upwardly front, because New World is also the proper noun for a thousand other things, from a disappointing Terrence Malick picture to a sizable clamper of the Western hemisphere. It's kind of a vague name, so mayhap it's fitting, then, that information technology's hard to pin down the specifics of what New World hopes to accomplish.

Tom's Guide recently had an opportunity to see an extended easily-off press demo of New World. On the 1 hand, it looks like a competent MMO, which will permit you squad up with friends and tackle tough foes in difficult dungeons. On the other paw, it has a generic quality that doomed before Amazon Games projects. New Globe could be the title that breaks the trend, of grade, only it will accept to do something very special between now and its launch on August 31 to lure players away from more than popular MMOs, such as World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy 14.

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New Earth demo

My time with New World consisted of a demo dungeon: an hole-and-corner cave and temple circuitous known as the Amrine Excavation. I watched a guided demo of New World, but we promise to go easily-on with the game presently and will update this story with our impressions.

The Amrine Earthworks itself has a pretty interesting setup. For those who haven't been following New Globe, the general premise is that it'south the Age of Exploration in a world somewhat similar our own, simply with magic and monsters. One explorer named Simon Grey led an expedition into the mysterious Amrine Excavation site, and promptly disappeared. Y'all and your team venture in after him.

At that place, you fight three different kinds of foes: hulking Ravagers, ethereal Ghosts and batlike Grunts. There are too some light puzzles to solve and bosses to overcome. Parties consist of five players, and ideally, everyone's skills will complement each other's. Co-ordinate to the developers, New World employs the typical DPS/tank/healer philosophy from other MMOs, simply players tin mix and match some of the roles, depending on their skills.

I say "skills" and non "form," because New World is a classless game. Your skills, and your subsequent role in the party, is determined entirely by what weapon you equip: rapier, staff, water ice gauntlet, etc. The water ice gauntlet sounded especially cool, although the players in our demo couldn't use it, considering its freezing effects slowed down the game likewise much. Hopefully, that will become ironed out before August 31.

From in that location, it'south just a affair of players using their skills to complement each other, and learning each enemy'southward assault pattern. What sets New World apart from near other MMOs is that the combat doesn't utilise tab-targeting and skill rotations. Instead, it plays more like an action game, where players have to target and assault foes in real time. Each player has only three active skills, with varying cooldowns, and finding the right fourth dimension to use them is part of the challenge.

If you've played an MMO dungeon earlier, yous tin probably guess how the balance of the Amrine Excavation went. The party worked its fashion through a surprisingly wearisome series of grey-brown caverns, stopping to fight enemies in almost every new room. The whole feel took almost two hours, which seemed too long, given the limited enemy variety. At the end, they fought a monstrous version of Simon Gray himself and resolved the plot thread.

According to New World's developers, these big dungeon expeditions will occur about once every ten levels; the game is mostly overworld exploration, with much more than freedom and much less management.

Amazon Games history

While it's difficult to tell from a easily-off demo, there doesn't seem to be anything really wrong with New Globe. Information technology has a stronger focus on real-time action than virtually MMOs, and it has a creative concept, compared to the loftier fantasy fare that dominates the market right at present. The Amrine Digging seemed to overstay its welcome a chip, but with a group of friends (or garrulous strangers), I come across how it could be fun.

All the same, I practice wonder how New Globe plans to succeed when most other Amazon Games projects take fizzled out. I reviewed the publisher's first major game, Sev Zero, way back on the original Amazon Fire Goggle box, and it was one of the most forgettable titles I'd always played. Amazon'due south multiplayer shooter Crucible went from "total release" to "taken off the marketplace" in less than v months. Like New World, there wasn't anything really incorrect with the games. Only it'southward a crowded, competitive market place out in that location, and but having an Amazon pedigree isn't enough to stand out. (Recall: Amazon Studios, which produces content for the Amazon Prime video streaming service, has more than misses than hits.)

I asked the developers what in particular distinguishes New World from WoW, FFXIV and other pop MMOs.

"The action/RPG combat sets us apart from other games," said Scott Lane, the head game designer. "Nosotros're bringing physical-based combat where your location matters." He likewise brought up the weapon-based progression system, the deep crafting mechanics, the multiplayer siege battles and the ability to claim outposts in the wilderness.

"It's very cool," he said. "We're very proud of it."

Other members of the squad commented on the game'southward existent-world-meets-magic setting, as well as the fact that the developers have been very receptive to client feedback.

"We've deeply engaged with our customers, especially since the preview event," said Lane. "In-game, playing with customers, reading forums, listening to influencers, [we're] constantly paying attention."

At present that Amazon has canceled its ambitious Lord of the Rings MMO, New World represents the visitor's only foray into the genre. The game seems to work well enough so far; whether it will finally put Amazon Games on the map remains to be seen.

New World volition take a closed beta kickoff on July 20, with a full launch on August 31. The game costs $50 on either Amazon or Steam, and there's no monthly subscription fee.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and applied science. Later on hours, yous tin can discover him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.