How do bears made of stone, supernatural technologies and the 17th century fit into a dark fantasy setting? We explain the lore behind the Amazon MMO New World.
New World throws many themes into the ring: fantasy, horror, colonial setting. Marble bears and deer made of tree roots, a mighty power and the struggle between life and death. But how does it all fit together? We break down the story of the Amazon MMO for you.
Table of Contents
Aeternum – Home of God and Devil
The story of New World takes place on Aeternum, a fictional island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Here exists a powerful resource called Azoth. It is considered the embodiment of both God and the Devil and is a pure and powerful force that amplifies everything it comes into contact with – good or evil. Azoth can make things more beautiful and stronger, but also more corrupt and deadly.
You are one of many adventurers lured to Aeternum by the stories surrounding the mineral, and in doing so you also put yourself in great danger. For as Spidey knew: with great power comes great responsibility. However, quite a lot goes wrong right at the beginning of your journey: your ship capsizes and you are washed up on the beach with nothing in your hands. This is how the beta starts, which we were able to play in advance:
Eternal life has a high price
Azoth is considered the source of eternal life. Some adventurers have already been able to attain it, but had to pay with their souls and now roam the lands of Aeternum as undead – enemies you must fight. And they are not the only ones who want to get at you.
In its pure state, Azoth is a glowing blue rock. However, when used for greed or other wrong motives, it turns red and corrupts everything and everyone around it. In the north of the country, armies have formed from people who have been infected by the corruption – so-called Corrupted. They are advancing inexorably to the south – to where you have settled with the other explorers. Especially in PvE this plays an important role, as their invasions are the co-op counterpart to the mass battles in PvP.
A living island… that hates us
Furthermore, no less than the island of Aeternum itself seeks our lives. Through the power of Azoth, nature can shape beasts and monsters out of plants, stone and earth. These so-called Angry Earths are the guardians of the island and go after anyone who disturbs its balance.
Long before you came to the island, a civilisation lived there in harmony with nature. The people called Ancient used Azoth for their technologies, which can still be found in the ruins they left behind. Only there is no trace of the Ancient themselves. No one knows where they disappeared to and what role the power of the island played in this. You can see for yourself how believably this all fits together in the upcoming open beta:
New World Beta: Everything about duration, keys, content and more
How does the colonial setting fit into the picture?
New World is set in a fictional version of the 17th century and tells the story of discovering a new world – hence the title. Originally, a historical colonial setting was even planned, but the developers now want to distance themselves from this. Game director Scot Lane said in an interview with Eurogamer that this section of the story was too problematic:
“The colonialism: there’s no way to tell that story in a positive way. That’s not us, that’s not America. We don’t have any American history on this island. ”
How do you experience the story of New World?
New World presents you with its stories in the same way as other MMOs like World of Warcraft. You get new quests from NPCs, who then explain everything to you in German or English. This is how you get to know the world better. Sometimes you will also find little stories along the way that are connected to further missions. However, many of the quests can also be taken on via a task board in settlements. There is little narrative surrounding the whole thing.
Nor can you expect extensive cinematics. Instead, the MMO relies on exploring the ruins, reading books or documents and discovering secrets in the world. In this way, you can make sense of the lore and characters and learn more and more about the past and present of Aeternum. We were not yet convinced by this in the beta. On the other hand, New World offered a lot of potential for casual questing.
On the other hand, the so-called social storytelling is important for New World. This works like in Eve: Online with its large space battles and requires that the players interact with each other and thus write their own stories. The three factions fight entire wars for dominance on the island and the players fight for victory under their mantle.
You are not only supposed to beat up other players in PvP, but also shadow them, spin intrigues and more to bring in new territories for your faction – including tangible benefits like tax revenue or cheaper fast travel.
Players are already competing against each other in the beta. If you want to start the conflict as well prepared as possible or simply get as much out of the few days of play as possible on your own, our guides will help:
New World Beta Guide:Tips to help you get started in Amazon’s MMO
New World: What you should know before the Amazon MMO’s release
Does the plot pick up later?
As Senior Narrative Design Lead Robert Chestney revealed to us, only the first half of the main story is playable in the beta. Later on, the main story will offer even more complex missions and focus even more on the corruption, the upcoming storm or the acceptance of the players by the soul guards – so you will learn even more details about what you want on Aeternum away from Azoth, who your friends are and who your enemies are.
In addition, some missions will even have a direct influence on the game world. Characters meet a tragic fate, others betray us or change location because the open world has changed. This at least promises more suspense than in the first hours of the game, where the rich lore does not yet really come into its own.
