*Updated to correct misinformation on talent trees. I originally mentioned that players had to choose one tree or another. This was inaccurate.*

New World finally launched and most of my friends are either playing or have it on their Steam Wish List. Naturally, I wanted to play with them—see what the hype was about. So, I bought it, downloaded it, made my super cute character, and waited for an hour in queue to get onto my friends’ server. And when the game began it was—okay.

Long queue times and bugs really aren’t an issue for me when it comes to newly released games. I expect it. So, annoying as it may be, it has no bearing on why I’m just not impressed with New World.

New World is an MMORPG set on the mysterious island of Aeternum during the colonial era. That’s right. We’re pirates on a ship chasing the treasures of this mystical land shrouded in dark energy called Corruption. And honestly, that’s pretty much it. The story doesn’t have much depth to it, at least not yet. We’re basically just investigating Corruption and gathering resources. Lots of gathering resources. Like a whole lot of gathering.

What We Love About New World

• The game looks amazing on Amazon’s Lumberyard Engine.

• Hair textures, especially Black hair textures look phenomenal (thank you geebus!")

• You can buy a house and decorate it.

What we Don’t Really Love About New World

To be frank, New World feels kind of like an old-school MMO that was remastered to look amazing. Because it does look pretty freaking amazing. Unfortunately, it falls flat in a few areas.

• Character customization is lackluster.

• The game is “grindy” from the very beginning. Most MMOs will draw you in with a great story and questlines that make you want to know more. Then, before you know it—"SURPRISE! Grind, bitch!” In New World, however, the story just feels blah, and the focus is on gathering.

• You can’t sprint. Like WTF?! Sprint was available in beta and alpha, but for some reason, it was removed.

• THERE ARE NO NPC VENDORS! This is an absolute nightmare for serial looters and hoarders (cough, cough It’s me).

• The combat style is a bit bland.

• This MMO is pretty much centered around PvP. Select one of three factions: Syndicate, Covenant, or Marauder. Collect resources, take over territories with your Company (or guild), go to war, etc.

Character Customization

While many, if not most MMORPGs will have you select a class and race, everyone is human and there are no set classes.

We live in an era where diversity in identity is important to many, dare I say most gamers. So, I was a bit disappointed in the lack of character customization options. Though, New World takes place during the colonial era, to say they were trying to be realistic—in a video game about a mystical island—can not be an excuse.

What I did love, however, is how spot-on the hairstyles and textures were. There were no cornrows with parts you could park a car in between. And the edges? Supreme! And even though there are only ten skin tones, the tones really do look amazing. Thank goodness. As a Black girl gamer, I get really sick and tired of having to customize my character with the same ashied, flat, dark skin tones.

Housing

Players can purchase a home in major settlements in Aeturnum. Players can decorate these homes by building furniture or buying furniture from the game’s store. At the time of writing this, the only housing item available in the store is the Pirate Housing Decor Bundle for 23,000 Marks of Fortune. Aside from decorating, player housing in New World is used as a teleport, place of storage, displaying trophies, and pets.

How to Buy a House in New World Game

To buy a house in New World, you have to have a reputation of at least 10 with the settlement you want to buy house in. Your very first house gives you a 50% discount. So, Tier 1 houses originally cost 5,000 coins. But your first home purchase would make that 2,500 coins. Tier 2 homes cost 10,000 coins. Tier 3 homes cost 15,000 coins. And Tier 4 homes cost 20,000 coins. A player can have up to three houses, but that can be costly as you have to pay property taxes for each home.

Gameplay

Players have both a primary and secondary weapon, much like Elder Scrolls Online. Any player can choose any weapon and level that weapon’s skills up through combat. While using your weapon of choice, you earn skill points that can be applied to that weapon’s talent tree. And each weapon has two talent trees. You can add spells of both trees. But resetting your skill points is free and can be done anytime, anywhere from the Character menu.

Combat is relatively easy, as you only have three weapon abilities to use. Mobs are fairly easy to take down, especially if you master dodging. Sadly, you cannot focus-target enemies. Similar to ESO, you have to physically aim at your target each time you cast an ability. Fortunately, healing allows you to focus-target an ally to heal them. Another cool thing is the ability to switch between your two weapons while in combat. That Life Staff really does come in handy.

One thing that bothers me, however, is the location of mobs. In too many instances, low-level quest objectives are surrounded by higher-level mobs. A level 17 player should not have to go through a level 25 area to get to their objective. Also, there are too many quests that are labeled for lower-level players than the actual area. This can make soloing quests incredibly frustrating.

Life in Aeternum is really about PvP. At least at the moment, that’s really what drives the game—PvP and gathering. When you join a faction, your faction fights for control of the 14 territories. Having control over these territories decreases taxes and improves your personal influence in those territories. And control over these territories happens in real-time. You can start a war or claim a fort or bastion at any time, provided you are flagged for PvP.

Final Thoughts on New World

I enjoyed playing and leveling with my friends. There was nothing in particular that stood out to set this game apart from other MMOs. The game looks and sounds good, but not “Wow! This is incredible and fresh.”

It’s a mindless quest grind that’s kinda fun with friends. Like every other MMO, you can totally lose time playing this. So, there’s that. If you’re looking for a game with a great story, this ain’t it. At least not yet. However, if you enjoy PvP and/or gathering, then this game is definitely worth your time and money.