2021 in review: Enjoying the life of a humble wanderer with New World

Maybe I’m getting old (or just slower) but it wasn’t New World’s rather thrilling and actually challenging combat that kept me coming back for more – it was poking around at bushes and boulders that did it for me.

You see, New World rewards crafting and sourcing materials with experience. Other games do similar things, but it’s a bit more noticeable with Amazon’s MMORPG. Completing quests is better, of course, but I didn’t find that gripping. Having spent too many years (decades!) completing overly familiar quests, I fancied crafting and being overwhelmed with options.

Because of all this, exploring the world of New World is incredibly distracting. You’ll start heading towards a quest location then realise there are a bunch of boulders nearby that you could hack away at, gain some resources, then pick up some experience along the way. Once you stop, you realise there’s a copse nearby – ohh, plenty of trees to chop down! Then there are herbs, a small pond to collect some water. Wait, what was I doing? Ohh yeah, that quest. Anyway, I think I saw an interesting source of ore nearby.

As someone who likes to feel like they’ve found ‘everything’ (don’t let me near Minecraft), New World is a never-ending supply of distractions. And you know what? It’s incredibly relaxing because of it. So I don’t care about the quests or particularly about levelling up either. I hear there are some amazingly vast battles within the community, but I’ve got some herbs to collect.