Author: Dean Takahashi / Source: VentureBeat
In my first foray roaming the world of Amazon‘s New World, I came upon some animals. I chose to run away from the bear, and I chased after the wild turkey instead. That summed up how powerful I was feeling as a small creature in this vast space.
New World is a sandbox massively multiplayer online game set during the 17th century.
I saw it at a preview event staged by Amazon. The studio, formerly known as Double Helix, has been working on the game for more than five years. And from what I saw of the world, it’s a big and ambitious project.You start out as a settler arriving on the shore of a continent. But this place has supernatural elements and creatures that you might expect in a zombie or fantasy game. You have to gather resources, team up with other settlers, craft your survival gear, and go stake your claim in the New World. It’s a savage place, meant for thousands upon thousands to roam.
It feels like the colonial times, when Columbus sailed the Caribbean, but the continent that you find in the Atlantic Ocean is a supernatural place. Like in the Bermuda Triangle, ships and people go into it, but they never come back out, said Patrick Gilmore, studio director at Amazon Game Studios Orange County, based in Irvine, California.
In this world, dubbed Aeternum, you can pretty much do anything you want. You can craft hundreds of items, including magical elixirs, weapons, and fortifications. You have to fight for survival and deal with the brutal wilderness and the growing evil.
You start out on your own, but you can join powerful companies of craftspeople, mercenaries, prospectors, and architects. You can conquer dominions, build castles or blow them up, and progress through thousands of levels with your weapons, armor, perks, and buffs. Once you take over a plot of land, you can lay claim to your prize. I played the game on a Windows PC, and you can see more journey in the video.
Hands-on in the New World
The funny thing about the demo was that they told us we could do anything in the world. And then they proceeded to show us how we could do a particular something. I suppose a demo where you wander around aimlessly in a world would be pretty dull. So I appreciated the suggestion.
Upon arrival on the shore with nothing, except your clothes, you have to set up your campsite. At night, it looked pretty, glowing in the darkness on the beach. Then I had to go pick up some flints and wood from bushes, so I could start crafting some items. Once I had enough stuff from the nearby woods, I crafted a hatchet and a spear. I went out scavenging again and learned how to run, jump, inspect my inventory, and look my map.
Nearby, I found a village with storage sheds and little shops like a blacksmith. I followed a small horde of other people…
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