New World: Aeternum Review (PS5)

New World: Aeternum is an expanded re-release of Amazon Games' promising MMO New World, bursting at the seams with new content, and available now on PS5. Completely reborn, the game is in a very different place than the bug-riddled state in which it first launched, and has grown into a behemoth in the intervening years. We thought our precious free time was safe from this kind of thing on console; Aeternum plays wonderfully on PS5, with satisfying, deep, classless action combat, offering the kind of all-consuming MMO experience players can get lost in for years to come.

But first, some history. When the MMORPG launched on PC in 2021, Aeternum was originally just New World. Developed, published, and bankrolled by the limitless coffers of Amazon Games, it enjoyed sky-high production values, thrilling action combat, and an expansive game world. Unfortunately, it was also incredibly buggy, and reviews at the time weren't kind. While a healthy population kept the lights on, it never reached the lofty heights of competitors like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV. Rather than being discouraged by this, Amazon decided to double down, with the developer's evident love of the setting allowed to shine.

Set in an alternate, magical take on the 17th century's Age of Sail, players are shipwrecked on a cursed island loosely based on the Americas. The island is inhabited by the restless dead and three warring colonial factions competing for supremacy. There's an overarching big bad to chase down, and the island of Aeternum is shockingly detailed, full of secrets to uncover, fearsome foes to dispatch, and powerful loot to unearth.

Players create a character and are immediately let loose in a monstrously large open world, alone or with friends. With 4,500 players on a server, at least in the dedicated Oceania Asia Pacific realm we played on (which is how you know money isn't an issue for Amazon), it's a pretty exciting time right now. The server-wide general chat is extremely active and easy to use (but you'll want a USB keyboard). This could be a regional thing, but the running, server-wide commentary has been consistently hilarious and heinous.

In the several dozen hours it'll take to reach the level cap of 65, New World: Aeternum players will trek across the length and breadth of the island, meeting factional movers and shakers, investigating the mysterious Corrupted, and engaging in endless side activities. Much of the questing is standard MMO fare (kill X number of zombies, gather X amount of herbs), with the occasional welcome twist.

There are over a dozen six-person dungeons to delve into (beginning at level 25), rewarding players with powerful loot for overcoming gruelling combat and puzzle encounters. New in Aeternum is the title's first raid, which puts 10 players into an instanced space, representing some of the most challenging content currently in the game. Horseback races, a sprawling, regional PvP system, and in-depth crafting and manufacturing disciplines are just a few of the many ways players can otherwise spend their time.

Combat is the star of the show here, and we were shocked at how weighty and impactful it feels; with our experience mainly limited to the aforementioned World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XIV (and that was a while ago), we didn't think that was allowed in MMOs. Unlike those more traditional class-based online games, with their hot bars full of skills and ticking cooldowns to manage, Aeternum is a proper stamina-based action RPG, and you can dodge, block, and parry enemy attacks in real-time. There aren't classes as such; your weapon choice is the most meaningful you'll make, and you can equip any two of the 14 categories available at once.

For example, the Musketeer archetype uses rapiers and muskets, which synergise well together, scaling as they do off of a character's Dexterity and Intelligence attributes. There's very little stopping the player from respeccing into Strength, say, and wielding a Sword and Shield and a two-handed Hammer, and the flexibility, freedom, and fun allowed by the system is one of the game's core pillars. An interesting trade-off to this approach is that most characters are damage dealers by default, and specific items must be equipped to play the role of healer or tank in group content. The upside is you can play whatever character you fancy; the downside is that Dungeon Finder queue times can be excessive.

The conversion from mouse and keyboard controls to DualSense has been smooth, and we've found ourselves a bit spoiled. Players can equip any three weapon abilities at once, bound to R1, L1, and R1+L1, and across two weapon sets; that's just six abilities to worry about. Hitting L3 initiates auto-run, and once you unlock a mount, it'll even stick to roads and major pathways, leaving your hands free to pull up the map or do some inventory maintenance.

Visually, Aeternum is stunning in just about every regard except the NPC face models, which are a bit wonky and take a little getting used to. But the important stuff — the weapons and armour, enemies and the environment, ability and weather effects, and the rest — look great. The sound design is also solid, with the booming reports of black powder weapons accompanied by a suitably epic score. Again, some NPC characters detract from the overall effect with some stilted delivery, but there is a lot of voiced dialogue, another advantage of that Amazon money.

Playing in performance mode on PS5, the resolution certainly takes a hit, but again, we were surprised at how well the game performs, maintaining a consistently high frame rate during gameplay. It plummets in the major cities during peak hours of play, but outside of that, it's pretty solid. We didn't encounter any bugs of note during our time with Aeternum, another benefit of getting the game a couple of years late.