While there are certainly some (myself included) who still have mixed feeling about New World, it’s becoming clear that millions of gamers have already decided that they love or hate this game and likely won’t be swayed from their views anytime soon. We’re used to seeing major games inspire one reaction or the other, but it’s truly rare to get a modern Triple-A title that inspires both from such a wide array of people. So why is New World so divisive? Well, there’s certainly no shortage of opinions about this game floating around the internet wilds at the moment, but these are a few of the major talking points that have inspired most of the New World debates so far.
New World’s Colonialism Themes
Truth be told, there’s been a debate about New World’s colonialism themes and visual design elements since the game was first revealed. Not only does the game’s core concept invoke the fundamentals of that controversial topic (its gameplay and narrative are based on colonizing an island), but some of New World’s character design and world-building decisions clearly invoke famous historical periods of colonization (especially the colonization of the Americas). At the same time, it must be said that it feels like New World’s developers were well aware of this controversy and perhaps even went out of their way to ensure that the final game’s lore, quests, characters, and world design avoid directly referencing this subject whenever possible. I’d hesitate to say that the game actively exploits the subject, though it certainly leaves plenty of room for debate so far as that goes. Actually, there are quite a few New World players who have been quick to praise this game for its theme and the ways it distinguishes the experience from the fantasy/sci-fi traditions we typically see from this genre.
New World Embraces the “Grind” With Its Slow, Survival-Based Gameplay
There’s a degree to which “grinding” is an inevitable part of any MMO. There are few titles in this genre that don’t require you to level up a character, slowly gain skills/resources, and work your way up to late-game content. It’s a style that comes with the territory, though more and more developers in recent years have tried to find ways to speed up the process. Yet, there are some fans who actually love (or at least really like) New World’s speed and say that it reminds them of classic MMOs that were more about the journey than the destination. Indeed, New World’s pacing and emphasis on “monotony” feel like deliberate design decisions in a lot of ways. You could even argue this is more of a hybrid experience meant to combine ideas from classic MMO titles like World of Warcraft with gameplay concepts seen in modern survival titles such as Valheim.
New World’s PvP Gameplay Sometimes Comes at the Expense of Its PvE Content
New World is hardly the first PvP-focused MMO in the history of the genre, but this is the first time in a long time that we’ve seen a Triple-A version of that concept which, quite frankly, has historically been incredibly difficult to balance/manage. Putting aside concerns regarding New World’s future for the moment, though, it has to be said that the game’s focus on PvP gameplay was destined to be divisive. Yes, there is a PvE side to New World, but if you’re not willing to participate in the game’s factions vs. factions competitive scene in some way, you’re going to miss out on a significant chunk of the intended experience. That also means that New World’s naturally “grindy” gameplay and the ways that grind is designed to slowly enhance the depth of the PvP scene is going to be even less appealing to anyone who just wants to play the game’s fairly basic PvE content. Of course, a big part of the reason why New World’s PvP focus is so divisive is less about the game’s mechanics and more about its community…
New World’s Social Gameplay Brings Out the Best and Worst of Its Players
While New World avoids and alters a lot of traditional MMO elements, the one classic MMO idea the game wholeheartedly embraces is an emphasis on social gameplay experiences. There are numerous aspects of New World’s gameplay that practically demand you work with (and against) others, and you’re constantly reminded of the presence of other players during the game. At the same time, the New World community can be a rough place. The New World servers I’ve played on so far have been filled with instances of immature (often toxic and downright hateful) chat feeds, player griefing, and people already eager to insult and disown other players for not mastering what is essentially a four-day-old game. While some embrace that side of the genre, it’s easy enough to see why others simply want no part of it.
New World’s Server Problems and Technical Issues Raise Concerns About the Game’s Present and Future
It’s hardly a surprise that so much of the New World talk so far has been dominated by discussions regarding the game’s technical problems and server issues. Actually, a big part of the reason why New World has been “review bombed” on Steam so far is simply that there are so many people who bought the game who weren’t even able to play it initially. While we’re on that topic, though, it has to be said that the New World team has already pointed out a few of the mistakes they’ve made in this area and have committed to quickly addressing some of the game’s biggest queue issues by expanding server capacity, opening new servers, and allowing for free server transfers. Of course, the debate over whether or not this is another case of a major company releasing a game too early and letting its early adopters pay for the privilege of testing it will go on.
