With its immersive setting, streamlined gameplay, and bustling endgame (not to mention the one-time buy-in) New World Aeternum is a great MMO for newcomers and genre enthusiasts alike. Whether you want to engage in the persistent Faction War or play it like a singleplayer action RPG, there’s a huge amount of freedom while the core game itself has been enriched through months of updates and fully optimised for consoles.

New World Aeternum is an interesting update that brings a host of new features for new and old players alike. There's a lot on the menu for leveling up, some welcome tweaks to a number of outdated areas, and some interesting new end-game content. The new PvP mode, which is more or less the same as mining, works extremely well, while the new (and first) 10-player raid will give you a run for your money. As far as the console port is concerned, on the controller, New World comes through with flying colors. Apart from a few hiccups in the menus and some odd mapping for certain actions, it's very pleasant and instinctive to hold. It's only visually, however, that the console version falls short. The various graphic modes on offer aren't particularly convincing, and the game relies far too heavily on its artistic direction to make up for its technical glitches. In this respect, we sincerely hope that patches will come along to correct the situation. For the rest, New World Aeternum on PS5 is a good pick in its genre.

Aeternum still manages to captivate after many hours of gameplay, nonetheless, and it’s encouraging for the future of the game that Amazon has stayed loyal to the project for so long already.