Amazon revealed a new gameplay trailer for their upcoming MMORPG during the PC Gaming Show today, but if you're hoping to see something mind-blowing, probably best to temper those expe🦋ctations.
When New World was announced last year it caused a few jaws to drop, but not for the right reasons. If the premise of joining settlers to conquer new lands and battle savage creatures in the 1600s sounds problematic, that's because it is. The game has all the style, garb, and iconography of 17th-century European colonizers. Players explore a vast wilderness in an untamed world where they'll discover magical artifacts left by ancient civilizations and battle beasts and monsters the likes of which have never been seen. In an interview with Eurogamer, New World director Scot Lane assured players that the A dubious claim considerin🌞g the 17-century aesthetic that the game exudes (and the name, obviously).
New World sounds like a manifest destiny fantasy simulator on paper. In practice, New World looks decidedly last-gen﷽ with stiff, low frame rate animations and ho-hum combat that do little to sell the game as anything more than gamergate bait.
New World has been in Alpha for since last year and collecting data and feedback from players on their message boards. The game was originally scheduled to release in May, but due to work from home const🌸raints of the Covid-19 pandemic, the game has been delayed until🌜 August 25th. Beta sign-ups were announced today, which will allow non-alpha players to get a look at the game starting in July.
Alpha players are under NDA, so impressions are still fairly scarce. One Youtuber named about his opinions on the game, though admittedly if you aren't in-the-know on game mechanics it can be difficult to track what exactly his grievances are. Brian Armstrong at MMORPG wrote a preview based on 3 hours of gameplay this February, which reflects a fair bit of optimism for the game. We'll just have to wait until August to see how things shake out, but New World's themes 🐼and title never should have made it out of the pitch session.