During the Opening Night Live event at this year’s virtual Gamescom conference, Amazon revealed a new trailer for its upcoming MMORPG New World and invited all interested players to sign up for a new open beta.
That beta is scheduled to run from Sept. 9 at 7 a.m. PT until Sept. 12 at 11:59 p.m. PT, with requests for access opening up on Sept. 8 at 7 a.m. PT.
According to the official New World blog, the open beta will make use of Steam’s new Playtest feature, an option for developers on the service that premiered in April. Would-be beta testers can apply to participate in the test via Steam, with no need for email lists or beta keys.
The aim of the open beta is apparently to give Amazon Game Studios more data regarding server issues and over-population, both of which were a problem during the earlier closed beta period in July. There’s been no mention of any particular player rewards for participation, aside from being able to try New World out a few weeks in advance of its planned debut on Sept. 28.
New World‘s previous beta was unusually popular despite being closed, with around 200,000 players on Steam at its height. It was also a moderate success for the livestreaming crowd, and reached No. 14 overall for hours watched on Twitch for the month of July.
Amazon also revealed a new trailer, “Chart Your Fate,” at Gamescom, meant to highlight features like enemy design, large-scale siege warfare, and the magical island of Aeternum, New World‘s setting.
In New World, players take the part of sailors who’ve ended up stranded on Aeternum following a shipwreck. The island is infused with magic that allows for miraculous feats, but also spawns monsters and interferes with the natural cycle of life and death.
To survive, players must band together under the flags of one of three mercenary factions, which fight against both each other and the dangers that are native to Aeternum. Unlike classical MMORPGs, New World features a leveling system that makes you gradually better at whatever you end up doing, rather than a chosen class or profession, as well as real-time combat.
The New World news was part of a series of game revelations that took place at Opening Night Live, a livestream event scheduled during this year’s virtual edition of the Gamescom industry event. Typically held in Cologne, Germany in late summer, Gamescom is the largest video game conference in the world when measured by physical attendance.
Other big news from Wednesday’s show includes the long-awaited release date for Microsoft’s Halo Infinite; the debut of a new Marvel game, Midnight Suns, an occult-based tactical RPG from the creators of the popular XCOM series; and the first full trailer for the upcoming fighting game The King of Fighters XV, which confirmed it will feature online-friendly rollback netcode.
