In New World, players are pitted against the haunted wilderness of a mysterious island known as Aeternum. Success in New World depends on players’ ability to conquer not only companies of rival players, but the dark soul of Aeternum itself, as it unleashes undead legions, hell-bent on purging them from its shores. In its unsettled state, Aeternum is open and chaotic, but rich in opportunity for soldiers, explorers, artisans, and empire-builders.

Fate has summoned you to the shores of Aeternum, the Eternal Isle. Overcome the brutal legions of The Corrupted and draw battle lines with competing players in this land of danger and opportunity. In a land hell-bent on your destruction, what will you do to survive? Strike out alone to forge your own heroic path, or band together, fortify, and fight.

Massive battles set New World apart, with fortress sieges against other players and supernatural invasions, featuring up to 100 players on the battlefield at once. Combat in New World is visceral and skill-based, giving players direct control over their movements and attacks. Players can band together to form powerful Companies operating out of fortified strongholds, or play alone and acquire and customize their own homes as they contribute to the growth of the larger community around them. New World provides near-limitless play, with classless character progression, social systems, and rich crafting mechanics. 

To survive and thrive in New World you will need to overcome many challenges, learning new skills and abilities as you adventure forward. Characters progress across three major categories: Core Attributes, Trade Skills, and Weapon Mastery. While you are free to master as many or as few weapons and Trade Skills as you like, your Core Attributes ultimately govern a large part of how powerful you are relative to the various hostile creatures and other players in Aeternum.

Core Attributes

When you first arrive in Aeternum, your Character will have 5 points in each of the core attributes and you cannot drop below that 5-point minimum. Each time your Character levels up, you are granted an Attribute Point to spend on whichever Attribute you choose. Gains from Attributes are soft-capped at 60 points. You can go beyond the soft cap with the help of Trinkets, but there are diminishing returns beyond that point. If you feel you’ve placed a point in error or you want to switch up your total point allocation, you can respec your attributes for a small fee of Coin. Early in the game, respecs are free so players have an opportunity to experiment without paying the respec fee.

• Strength: Strength governs your power with melee weapons. Heavy melee weapons, such as the War Hammer, scale their damage exclusively on Strength, while lighter melee weapons like the Sword scale their damage primarily on Strength, but also slightly on Dexterity.
• Dexterity: Dexterity governs your effectiveness with ranged weapons. Bows and Muskets both grow in power as your character’s Dexterity increases. Lighter melee weapons also see a benefit from your Dexterity, but not as much as they gain from Strength.
• Intelligence: Intelligence governs your power with magical weapons, including any magical Perks your weapons might have. Both purely magical weapons like the Fire Staff and physical weapons with a Magical Perk (such as a Flaming Sword) grow in power based on your Intelligence Attribute.
• Focus: Focus governs your Mana recovery rate and your skill cooldowns. Higher Focus not only means that you can cast more spells more regularly, but also that you can use your cooldown-based abilities with a higher frequency.
• Constitution: Constitution governs your overall Health pool. The higher your Constitution, the more damage you can sustain before succumbing to your injuries.

Trade Skills

Trade Skills make up a variety of non-combat skills that you can master. There are 4 Gathering Skills, 5 Refining Skills, and 7 Crafting Skills.

• Gathering Skills: The 4 Gathering Skills are Mining, Skinning, Logging, and Harvesting. Leveling up a Gathering Skill unlocks the ability to gather different, higher-level resources. Miners gather Stone and Ore, Skinners gather Animal Hides, Loggers gather Wood, and Harvesters gather Fibers, Fruits, and Vegetables. As your skill at gathering increases, you also gain the ability to detect nearby valuable resources and find special resources that can modify items when crafting.
• Refining Skills: The 5 Refining Skills are Smelting, Stonecutting, Woodworking, Tanning, and Weaving. Leveling up a Refining Skill unlocks the ability to refine higher-level resources into higher-level crafting materials. Smelters refine Ore into Ingots, Stonecutters refine Stone into Blocks and cut Gemstones, Woodworkers refine Wood into Lumber, Tanners refine Rawhide into Leather, and Weavers refine Fibers into Cloth. As your Refining Skill increases, it makes you more resource-efficient: higher-level refiners have a chance to gain extra refined resources while they refine.
• Crafting Skills: The 7 Crafting Skills are Weaponsmithing, Armoring, Jewelcrafting, Engineering, Arcana, Cooking, and Furnishing.
  • Weaponsmiths craft melee weapons.
  • Armorers craft soft and hard armors.
  • Jewelcrafters craft trinkets.
  • Engineers craft ranged weapons and ammunition.
  • Arcanists craft potions, tinctures, and magical weapons.
  • Cooks craft meals and drinks.
  • Furnishers craft furniture, storage, and trophies for houses.

Leveling a crafting skill unlocks more recipes and more powerful versions of them, along with some other things we will go over in more detail in our upcoming Crafting article.

Weapon Mastery

Using a weapon in combat against creatures results in gaining XP for that weapon’s Mastery when those creatures are defeated. Every weapon in the game can be mastered. Each Weapon Mastery has 2 Skill Trees, and each Skill Tree has a selection of active abilities, passive modifiers, and bonuses that are exclusive to that weapon. Leveling up in a Weapon Master grants a point that can be spent to unlock one of these abilities, passives, or bonuses. However, it is not possible to unlock everything between both Mastery Trees, so you’ll have to choose wisely. If you want to try out a different build for a weapon, you can respec its Mastery Trees in exchange for some Azoth. We will dive deeper into Weapon Mastery in the future. However you choose to fight, you’ll need to forge and discover powerful weapons to fit your combat style. Whether battling in wars with other players or holding back waves of The Corrupted, your combat skills will mean the difference between life and death.

You will arrive to Aeternum battered and weak, but by venturing into this daunting and supernatural land you will find your power and forge your destiny. You will learn by doing, harden through combat, and become as dangerous as the forces you will face. How will you choose to grow in power and knowledge as you adventure in Aeternum?

Key Features:

• FIGHT THE WORLD: Under the surface of Aeternum’s breathtaking landscape lay the seeds of an ancient evil that plots to erase all traces of humanity from its shores. Warriors of bygone ages, doomed adventurers, and creatures of legend have all succumbed to its corruption. It must be stopped.
• A CALL TO ARMS: Combine skill and strength in melee combat, attack at range with precision, or master arcane attacks. However you choose to fight, you’ll need to forge, discover, and customize powerful weapons to fit your combat style. In epic wars with other players or holding back waves of The Corrupted, your combat skills will mean the difference between life and death.
• STRONGER TOGETHER: Unite players with in-game social systems that power organization, hierarchy, and command and control of formidable in-game Companies. Venture out with your own intrepid party to battle The Corrupted or to seize the land and treasure of your enemies. A thriving Company consists of master craftsmen, fearless soldiers, guileful traders, and strong leaders. Where do your strengths lie?
• TAME THE WILDERNESS: As you explore Aeternum, you will discover beauty, danger, and opportunity at every turn. Bend the wilds to your will by hunting fierce beasts for food and crafting materials and harvesting valuable resources from the land to fuel your ascent to power. Leverage geographic advantages to control rare resources to accelerate the growth of your territory.

Pre-order New World here. Players who pre-order New World will receive Isabella’s amulet, the Fist Bump emote, a guild crest set, and the Expedition One unique title, plus access to Closed Beta in April 2020.

New World is scheduled for release on August 25, 2020.