Initial thoughts on New World
Can Amazon Games actually put out a game that works? Apparently so, though not without controversy and wounds along the way.
This isn't AG's first attempt at making a game, but with the other games being small and/or cancelled, it'd be nice to see this company actually put out a game that stands up to expectations. New World is their attempt at an MMORPG, a historically difficult (and expensive) market to get into. New World hasn't always been an MMORPG though, and it shows.
Note that I had not played the game before release.
Valheim: the MMORPG
Valheim is an excellent indie single-/multiplayer survival, sandbox, exploration game by Iron Gate Studios. It was an overwhelming success when it launched into early access on Steam, with raving reviews. I have over 100 hours logged in the game, many of which I played with friends. The game wasn't perfect, but the atmosphere, music, world, and progression made for an enjoyable experience that contains both laid-back and high-action segments. Given that it was (and is) early access and only $20, I definitely recommend it.
The ideas of Valheim permeate New World through and through. Exploration-driven progression? Check. A myriad of trainable skills on one character? Check. Biomes with different resources? Check. Back-and-forth combat encouraging attacking, dodging, and blocking? Check. Combat feel? Check.
Are any of these mechanics or ideals unique to Valheim? No.
Do they make New World feel like Valheim: the MMORPG? Yes.
The good
New World (like Valheim) has a visually attractive, interesting, diverse, and challenging world. Looking for resources in different biomes, killing animals for hides, and running around to unlock quick-travel points are all enjoyable. The sound work of the game is great, and helps to set the atmosphere. I've only logged 20 hours so far, and ~8 of those were just running around to collect materials to craft. I can set up a camp, sit down to rest, and turn the camera to look around the world and enjoy the mood. I also enjoy running around the world, which is good because there's a lot of that, though there's a good balance of manual vs fast travel.
Being able to level all weapon skills on one character is a fantastic choice. FFXIV is really the baseline which I measure new MMORPGs against when it comes to not needing alt characters. In FFXIV, you can do absolutely everything in the game on one character, which allows players to not have to switch to alt characters to get more content out of the game. New World allows a single character to do all of the content, though the character's attributes cannot be switched without respec'ing, which does cost resources to perform (though not much). Regardless, I have no desire to create alt characters, and this makes me happy.
Combat is fairly fun when you understand how the devs seem to want you to play, with an active back-and-forth between your character and the enemies. This isn't like class tab-targeted combat, nor like Guild Wars 2, nor like Swords of Legend Online, another newer MMORPG. It is, however, like ... yes, Valheim. The weapons are very different from each other, and playing with different weapon sets, armor weights, and attribute spreads can yield a lot of build diversity.
The bad
The game doesn't run great. When not in towns (and after playing around with the graphics settings), I sustain 60 FPS at high graphics on a GTX 1080Ti and i-7700k, though the game uses so much CPU seemingly without much concern for the graphic settings (like Guild Wars 2, really), that I imagine I could crank them up higher if I wanted without FPS loss.
The game is fairly grindy when it comes to crafting and gathering. It's certainly more time-intensive than crafting in older MMORPGs like The Lord of the Rings Online, Guild Wars 2, and World of Warcraft, and newer ones like Swords of Legend Online. It's not as involved or developed as FFXIV. It's not as grindy as RuneScape, though it's more that way than not. In terms of progression, flow and feel, it's a lot like ... Valheim.
I'm getting the hang of the combat, but it still feels stiff.
The ugly
The game kills RTX cards. No, it's not likely entirely Amazon's fault, but ignore their attempts to shirk all responsibility.
The studio lied about server transfers. No, "the customer service representative didn't know" is not a good excuse. The company said they would, so now they get to honor that. The amount of people shilling for Amazon here make me think that they're paying moles to argue for them.
Enemies respawn too fast and inconsistently. They also have long aggro ranges and long leash ranges. Killing one enemy is easy, a few (depending on weapon) is fine, but it's very easy to get into a situation where you can't get away and are better off letting your character stand there and die while you get a drink.
Conclusion
I'm enjoying the game so far. The atmosphere and general look & feel are good. Gathering and crafting is an enjoyable gameloop, though a little grindy. I'm getting the hang of combat and enjoying, though it took me a bit to do so. For $40, it's a decent price, though I'd wager people who aren't hard-up for a new MMORPG (at least while we're waiting for FFXIV: Endwalker or Monster Hunter: Rise on PC) wait to see what the studio does.