New World - Amazon's first RPG experience

New World was the main and almost the only big online RPG of the last year. Despite the known technical problems that accompanied the release of the project, New World immediately topped the sales charts and attracted crowds of players. And the further, perhaps, the more they become - because the authors regularly release patches and fix the game, from which here, for example, no longer a huge line at the entrance. What is the reason for such an explosive, indiscriminate interest in New World? Is it the consequence of the fact that the market has not had a new MMORPG this level - that is, as in the saying "a fish out of water"? Or maybe Amazon has its own undeniable advantages? Let's find out in our detailed review.

New World actually has a difficult fate. When Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce network, decided to develop and publish games itself, it announced several projects at once - and New World was among them. It was announced in 2016, but since then the concept has changed and the release date has been postponed more than once.

The developers abandoned some of the original ideas, added and changed something. Initially, it was assumed that the action will unfold during the colonization of America in the mid-17th century, and the gameplay will be an open "sandbox" with free battles between the players, total crafting everything and everything without a plot. In the end, the time of action is preserved, but the place was moved to the fictional continent Eternum in the Atlantic Ocean. And added a story, inviting him to write enough strong and famous writers who worked on World of Warcraft, EverQuest, and even the famous role-playing games from Black Isle Studios (and among them were, recall, Fallout 1-2, Icewind Dale and Planescape Torment).

This does not automatically mean that the story campaign in New World is Oscar-winning and Hollywood-style thrilling. No, everything here is pretty standard: the expedition that went to Eternum, of course, got into a big mess, many ships were sunk, and the crew members were affected by some kind of spoilage and turned into zombies and so-called "tainted" monsters. Accordingly, our timetable is clear -- to find out what this Spoil is and how to stop it. In the process, of course, we will seek out those who know something about the nature of the contagion, ask for their help, help ourselves in research, destroy the sources of the Spoils, cleanse the land of tainted monsters, and so on and so forth.

The situation is more than standard, but it is important that the story allows you to fill the game a lot of quests, which lucidly explain the basic gameplay mechanics, load classes and constantly keep in tone, allowing comfortable enough to reach level 25, after which in addition to the story become available and other important activities (about them will tell later). At the same time there are great clips, all the dialogue is dubbed and everywhere you can find a lot of diaries and notes that shed light on what is happening and reveal the history of the world.

In addition to the story there are many side quests - we help to repay debts to the innkeepers, deal with the workers who cheated the architect, kill rare monsters to order, deal with pirates and their leaders, look for something, collect and bring samples, and so on and so forth.

Besides, even just travelling around Eternum on your own (and New World doesn't have transport yet!) and rushing to do another quest, you'll come across some lair, castle or ruins where you can meet dangerous enemies and find something useful in the chests - as long as this "point of interest" more or less corresponds to your level. In any case, you won't get bored in New World.

And certainly not bored after reaching level 25 you have the opportunity to go on expeditions - in fact, this is analog of the dungeons of other MMORPG, special locations with enhanced monsters, obligatory boss at the end and steep rewards. Such expeditions are designed for a group of 3 to 5 players. Only in the New World there added puzzles and tightly knotted all six available at the moment expeditions to the story and learning the mysteries of the past Eternum, which reveals the background of what is happening. It is through these, as the authors themselves say, "the most plot-driven activities" that we must unravel what caused the Spoils and what happened to such a terrible island before our arrival here.

There's also an "Invasion" mode, where a group of 50 players must defend their outpost from incoming hordes of monsters. In the process, you can erect barricades (though you'll have to repair them later) and even use artillery. There are many tests, the mode is very intense, but at the same time one of the most difficult. Rarely has anyone survived the last wave of monsters and even fewer have survived it.

All of these are so-called PvE activities, that is, battles with AI-controlled enemies. And what about PvP - battles between players? Of course, New World also has them. But first of all, PvP here is not free, as it was planned at the early stages of development. You can challenge another user to a duel, and if you want to participate in other PvP-activities, you'll first have to enable the appropriate mode, as they say here - "set the flag", and then others can attack you. In other words, just without asking and personal readiness for the consequences, to fight with other players and attack everyone in a row will not work. It is clear that this is done for the sake of attracting the widest possible audience, so that casual players are not afraid of being in a situation where outside the cities they are constantly attacked by other high-level users.

Secondly, the authors have repeatedly stated that they want to create a game "where PvE and PvP not only coexist, but also support each other. Here's what it looks like. First, after reaching level 10, you must join one of the three factions operating within Eternum. They all preach different values. The Marauders are pure warriors, fighting for glory and valor as well as for the new lands of Eternum to subdue them. The Covenant is analogous to the Paladins, partly fanatics, striving in the name of good (as they see it) and justice to eradicate evil by all means, defeat the Spoils, and preserve the secrets of the island. Finally, the Syndicate unites people who prioritize science and are constantly in search of secret knowledge and technology.

Each faction has its own board with tasks, which are aimed both at fighting with monsters (i.e. PvE), and at confronting other players for territory. The first are mainly reduced to mopping up locations and collecting resources, the second in addition to this also involves holding control points. There are more rewards for fighting with other players, and they also allow you to accumulate influence points for your faction.

By completing these tasks, you earn special factional currency, improve your reputation in the faction, get new ranks (before this you still need to pass a special test) and access to a steeper equipment, which are also allowed to improve with special glyphs and other valuable items.

The most interesting thing about this is, of course, the territorial battles that take place all the time. On the map you will always see where the next territorial war begins. Player guilds (called companies here), which can only include members of one faction, take part in them. First, they have to perform the required number of PvP missions on that territory, accumulate enough influence for their faction, and then the guild with more than 10% of the total influence points can claim those lands, and its leader will get the right to select the participants of the "competition".

Accordingly, some will be attacking and some will be defending. And you can sign up for war in one of the units of the guild that got the rights to wage war or, conversely, to defend. In terms of direct game mechanics, it all comes down to a siege, in which two teams of 50 players each converge. The attackers need to break through the defenses and seize the fort, and for this they (as well as the defenders) can use siege machines. Both cannon and turret are available, but attackers also have a mortar at their disposal, and defenders can pour hot oil from a vat on attackers, fire ballistic missiles at them and use the Horn of Resilience, which gives a general defensive bonus. Mines are also available to all.

Overall, of course, the attackers have a difficult time - first you have to break through the entrance, then capture three control points, break down five gates, and finally reclaim the flag, which is located in the center of the fort. So it is no accident each side before the war is given 15 minutes to make important tactical decisions on the upcoming battle. And even after winning, you still have to pay 100,000 coins within half an hour to buy back the city. But the game is worth it - the territory brings in money in the form of taxes, and players who are on lands controlled by their faction, much less their home guild, get various nice bonuses, including, for example, increased resources when mining.

Finally, users who have reached level 60 (so far the maximum in the game) can take part in "Capture the outpost" - it's just a PvPvE-mode, that is mixing battles with monsters and between players. Here, two teams of 20 participants each fight for control of the particularly dangerous Island of Naufinos. In the process you not only have to destroy the opposing players, but also to mine resources, build and capture outposts (actually - are control points), summon creatures, as well as to fight with monsters. There is even an option to defeat a particularly strong map boss, which will give a permanent bonus to the entire team - reminiscent of what we see in MOBA games. The first team to score 1,000 points, awarded for killing enemies and controlling outposts on the map, wins.

It is clear that the PvP system in New World is still far from ideal - the players now and then report about various problems, for example, the brakes and errors during sieges. Here it is important that the authors are aware of the situation and constantly keep their hand on the pulse. They have already reported that they plan to fix bugs and work on the balance in the sieges, improving it as along the line of "attackers-defenders" (now the defenders win much more often), and in terms of the distribution of influence between factions - the developers want to encourage the "laggards", so they often get the right to declare a war. They also plan to introduce a change that will distribute the main flow of taxes across all the territories, so there is no situation where some locations bring a lot more income than others. In addition, the developers have already announced the emergence of new PvP-missions, which will bring them "proper diversity" and allow again to distribute such activities across several territories.

But there are things in New World that absolutely do not need to be fixed. First of all, it's the leveling system. The game has a standard procedure of character generation, where you can choose the appearance and gender, but there is no usual choice of the class. The thing is that the specialization of the character here is determined by the weapon he uses and what attributes (strength, stature, dexterity, intelligence, focus) he is pumping while getting new levels. Each murder of an enemy with a sword, a spear, a rapier, an axe, a shot from a bow, a musket or a freezing glove (and that's not the whole arsenal presented in New World!) pumps that particular killing tool, increasing the skill level of its possession - as a result we unlock active and passive skills unique for it.

For example, you can learn the sword's ability to strike several opponents at once or stun, and for the spear - a running attack or a throw, and then add various bonuses to these techniques, improve the usual attacks or unlock new abilities. You can unlock up to 38 skills for each weapon. They're accumulated separately, rather than being part of a common skill pool, which means you don't have to think hard about whether to use them on an axe, a sword, or a staff. You just have to decide what you're using and keep pumping up those weapons.

As a result, you can flexibly choose the specialization - for example, betting on the use of heavy armor, a sword with a shield as the main weapon and a bow as an additional, you become a kind of "tank", taking on a lot of damage and going ahead. And if more pumping small arms, you're already aiming for the role of an archer. Also in the game there are staffs of life, the only able to heal themselves and allies - using them more often, the player will clearly qualify for the role of support fighter.

You can combine any options for primary and secondary weapons, different way to pump them; plus, as we have already said, it is possible to improve the equipment, using the possibilities of factions, glyphs and gems - and it all opens up room for creative search and experimentation in the selection of individual "assembly" and equipment of the character. By the way, the game has such a parameter as equipment rating (Gear score) - to raise it, you need to kill strong enemies and use special ingredients, plaster casts.

And meanwhile, killing is not as easy as in many other MMORPGs - because the combat system in New World is interesting and demanding. Here you can't automatically call the enemies with attacks, throw them spells and skills - it is not target-system, when you have to aim yourself, who and how to hit. In addition, you have to use block and evasion. At the same time there are a maximum of three active skills for each of the two active weapons, which forces you to choose them wisely. Consequently, in the fights it is not only important to train the character and equipment, but also his personal skill - especially when it comes to the battles with other players.

However, the beauty of New World is that you are free to develop your character and get new levels, practically without participating in battles. As in Albion Online, the crafting system is very well developed here: you can mine wood, stones, ore and other resources almost at every step (the main thing is to prepare the right tools for this); then we process it all at the workbenches into more advanced materials and make weapons, armor, various types of consumables and food according to the available recipes there.

And most importantly, for all this, you also gain experience by developing various professions, which are divided into three types - crafting, mining, and processing. As a result, you can specialize as a blacksmith, armorer, engineer, jeweler, furniture maker, alchemist, or cook. What does that have to do with the furniture maker? Yes, we have not yet said that in New World everyone can buy up to three houses and then furnish them. The latter often has not only a decorative function, but also provides various bonuses that can apply to the area where the house stands, and to the whole world - though, for these gains have to pay a tax. Houses also serve as a fast moving point and can be used to place and improve workbenches, making the purchase of real estate mandatory for all crafters and craftsmen.

To qualify to buy a house, you need to earn enough reputation in this location, performing tasks from the line of so-called "urban projects" or simply exploring the area - for this, too, are given experience points, which allow you to pump a separate branch of skills that increase the efficiency of crafting and resource extraction, as well as the flow of experience. By the way, members of the guilds and factions that control the territory where the property is located, provided with discounts on the purchase of housing.

So, in each profession you can reach the 200th skill level, and each allows you to earn and develop, almost without participating (if there is such a desire) in battles. You will outfit your own guild and faction by making the coolest gear with high Gear scores, supplying it with materials and consumables. In addition, you can sell your items through trading posts, thus making a career as a merchant.

In any case, mining resources and crafting will have to be done, even if you only want to fight. After all, it allows you to make consumable items and set up camps, which serve for both rest and revival after the death of a character.

As you can see, New World is a big game, rich in features. And it's not easy to figure out how to survive and enjoy it. Naturally, there are many different guides to facilitate this process. And we have highlighted a few particularly important, you might say, universal tips. For example, it is important for beginners to remember that for some resources extraction it is not enough to have hands - so, to cut down trees, you need to make an axe, and to collect linen fibers you need to make a sickle.

In the early stages of the game it makes little sense to pump such attributes as intelligence and focus - magical and long-range weapons, for which these characteristics are especially important, will not be available immediately. So it is better to focus on strength, agility and stature first. Each attribute has six levels of progression and a certain type of weapon is attached to each.

In the early stages, a certain problem also becomes the fact that there is no transport in the game yet, and the points of rapid movement are not opened immediately. Therefore, it is important to camp near large locations where the characters that give you quests are located. In case of emergency you can specifically to die and quickly revive there. Also, you can periodically teleport for free in the tavern of the nearest town.

By the way, after death your things are spoiled - so you need to stock up on repair kits or destroy unnecessary things to get the necessary materials for repairs. This also reduces the weight of your belongings in the inventory, and it is limited here - if you overweigh it you won't be able to run and teleport. So here is another tip - do not drag everything with you, and leave resources and unnecessary items in warehouses, which are in large cities. During crafting, the game will take into account all of your materials, not just the ones that are directly in the inventory now.

When going on an expedition, it is better to know in advance what type of enemies you will face there, and prepare the appropriate weapons, lubricate them so that they do more damage to this particular group of enemies. And, of course, it is necessary to make food and consumables regenerating your health at the camp fire, stock up on repair kits - it's a universal rule before visiting any quite dangerous territory.

When fighting, it's important to remember that many enemies have different vulnerabilities and resistance to certain types of damage. For example, local undead and zombies are especially sensitive to the hammer and sword, while "defiled" enemies, on the contrary, tolerate hammer blows quite well, but are vulnerable to rapier attacks.

Finally, if you think that once you have chosen one of the three factions, you will be forever tied to it, it's not true - you can change faction every 120 days. However, very often you won't be allowed to join the dominant faction in a given territory - the authors, as we've already noted, are very careful about the balance between the three warring factions.

New World is hardly the main release of 2021 on the market of big, beautiful online RPGs, which, with all the caveats and difficulties, still justified all these five years of expectations that have passed since its announcement in 2016, and most importantly - justified the existence in principle of Amazon's gaming division. In New World, as in Greece, everything is there - not an outstanding, but quite fascinating story; a bunch of quests; battles, where special emphasis is placed on the variety of weapons, which here, as perhaps nowhere else, is interesting to pump up. And there's crafting, gathering resources, extremely useful professions, three different factions with their own ideology; guilds, dashing PvP and battles for territory. Plus awesome graphics - today it's almost the most beautiful online RPG. And with that, as the game is just at the beginning of its apparently long journey, it is constantly evolving and supplemented, and the developers please the players with fresh themed events like the recent winter event, which was so popular that it had to extend. So if you want to join the New World community, now, when the authors have corrected many technical problems and removed the long queues on the servers, it's time to do it.