New World Aeternum Gets Two Massive Free Updates: Nighthaven And Rise of The Angry Earth
- The Nighthaven expansion adds a huge Gothic zone with a new story, 20v20 battleground, procedurally-generated dungeons, and the tough Isle of Night raid.
- Rise of the Angry Earth is now free for all players, with recent PC buyers getting refunds.
- Level cap raised to 70, gear score to 800, new gear mods added, plus set bonuses, and reworked perks for better customization.
Jump to:
You Can Escape The Darkness…
Amazon Games’ MMORPG, New World: Aeternum, has just launched season 10, and brought with it a huge Gothic area called Nighthaven, as well as made previously paid DLC, Rise of The Angry Earth, completely free.
Nighthaven includes a new Tear of Gaea story mission building on events from previous seasons, as well as spooky areas that encourage exploration. Main game systems are getting an overhaul too, and the Rise of The Angry Earth expansion that introduced rideable mounts two years ago is now free for both new and existing players.
“An ancient land rich with history, Nighthaven was largely cut off from the rest of Aeternum for lifetimes under the direction of its powerful king,” Amazon Games said on the official New World site. “Those few who did visit the haunting woods and mighty castles tell stories of mysterious figures, tall and lithe, engaged both in the politics of the court and in the dark hallways of the land’s many ruins.”
“There are also stories of monstrous creatures that seem to exhibit the qualities of both man and beast. Although they have largely been known to stalk the dark forests and hills of Nighthaven, they have recently become bolder, becoming a more ever-present threat.”
…But You Can’t Escape The Night
Season 3 of New World: Aeternum introduced the Elysian Wilds zone back in October 2023, alongside the Rise of The Angry Earth DLC. Now, with the Nighthaven expansion, players can find out what happened when a powerful artifact called the Tear of Gaea went missing from the Elysian Wilds.
Rumors have it the artifact is hidden somewhere in Nighthaven’s sprawling Gothic zone, which includes the vertical Tower of Calomel – home to a 20v20 battleground – and the new Catacombs areas. This is a new game mode that lets players team up with up to two others and explore procedurally-generated dungeons, with the risks and rewards increasing after each defeated boss.
Nighthaven also introduces a new end-game raid, the Isle of Night. Amazon Games promises that this is one of the hardest raids in the game, that encourages up to 10 players to tackle three new bosses, multiple new enemy types, puzzles, and set piece encounters.
Base Game Tweaks
As well as the above end-game content, the Nighthaven expansion also brings with it a ton of tweaks for the base game. These include raising the level cap to 70, gear score raising to 800, and a new gear modding system that lets players add up to four charm sockets. Charms come in four types (Gem, Defensive, Offensive, and Skill) and can be found fully refined but more often than not will need to be crafted from rare materials.
Gamers who like to go all-in on min-maxing builds and trying out new gear sets can now take advantage of a ‘set bonuses’ mechanic. Special gear can be found when participating in the new Isle of Night Raid, Catacombs, and the PvP Track (which includes activities like Arenas and Outpost Rush), and can be mixed and matched. Gear can also be upgraded with Umbral Shards, which has seen the system refined to make it easier to use.
Perks have also seen a refinement in that they no longer affect attributes, and instead are now designed to encourage thoughtful implementation that better suit a player’s style rather than something to spend points on purely to slightly boost one particular stat.
Rise of The Rebrand
New World: Aeternum was first launched as just New World, in Sept. 2021, but received a major update and name change when it launched on consoles in Oct. 2024. Aeternum itself is a supernatural island, and character classes include Occultist, Mystic, and Musketeer, but otherwise it’s business as usual for anyone who’s ever played an MMORPG in the last few years.
As for the Rise of The Angry Earth DLC, it’s PC players who get this extra benefit with the latest New World expansion. If a gamer bought the original base game (when it was only on PC and without the Aeternum part), they can now claim Rise of The Angry Earth for free.
Any PC players who paid for this DLC within 30 days of the Nighthaven update (ie. before Oct. 13) will get a full refund. PC gamers who bought or are thinking of buying New World: Aeternum get access to this content for free from the jump.
The full list of tweaks, fixes, and updates that come along with Nighthaven is extensive and can be found on the official site.
Amazon Games
New World: Aeternum is just one of the MMOs Amazon Games has made, alongside Throne And Liberty, and Lost Ark. The studio recently released a co-op party game, King of Meat, and has multiple titles in development.
These include Courtroom Chaos (featuring “the honorable AI-powered Judge Snoop Dogg”), an MOBA called March of Giants, an untitled driving game in conjunction with Maverick Games (which features veteran devs from the Forza Horizon series), a new Tomb Raider game, and a new MMO set in the world of Lord of The Rings.
or
