Written by 
Everyone loves an underdog, coming from behind to take the spotlight and become all it was promised to be. That’s part of why Final Fantasy XIV’s relaunch was so successful, because the bones of a great game were always there and in its second incarnation it managed to bring that greatness to the fore. On the other side, sometimes a relaunch fails, with the new version of a title disappearing without trace. In the case of New World Aeternum, however, it looks like its new, retooled version is carrying on in pretty much the same fashion as before, at least in the case of its Steam reviews.
Despite the near-infinite resources of Amazon Games and the huge amount of new stuff included in the New World Aeternum relaunch, it doesn’t look like this updated version is proving to be a hit. Though it has sent player numbers in the MMORPG to their highest point in a year, Steam reviews are stubbornly refusing to budge. In fact, they have slipped a little.
At the time of writing there are 241,049 overall reviews for New World Aeternum with 68% recommending the title. For recent reviews that number has stayed pretty much the same, with 1,589 players stepping up to have their say about the game, with only 65% of them responding positively. So it’s not exactly a failure for the title, but you’d expect that needle to shift in a better direction given how much has been invested in the relaunch.
It looks like there are several different gripes which are stopping the game from achieving a better score on Steam, such as a perception the game has been retooled in favor of console players. “I played this game since day 1, on and off, but with the console launch they chose to update the UI for consoles and it’s awful for PC players,” reads one review. “Loved the game but can’t recommend because I’m no longer confident they will do what is best for PC players,” says another.
Other players raise complaints about the seemingly unambitious scope of the New World Aeternum launch. “Launching the game will reveal they only slightly adjusted the UI and the only differing content is the tutorial. They focused on completely rebranding the game to make it able to be sold on consoles and not actually fixing the core problems the game has had for two years,” one highly-rated review states. “Nothing else is significantly different with this update besides the name,” says one more.
It’s not all doom and gloom, however, as some are taking the time to hype up the title. “It’s fun! Stop reading this and go and play it!” one player enthuses. “This game is fun – a lot of fun. I own it now on Steam and on my console. It doesn’t have a steep beginning learning curve, the story is fun and it has guild wars feels. I’m enjoying the heck out of it,” another warmly cheers.
So it’s still a very mixed picture for New World Aeternum out there right now, with players still reviewing it more positively than negatively – though it does feel a little underwhelming as a launch. If you’d like to make up your own mind about the title, head over to Steam to learn more.
Should this spur you to jump into the game, our guides to the best New World Aeternum builds and the best New World Aeternum archetypes will give you every bit of information you need.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or grab our PCGN deals tracker to net yourself some bargains.