Plans of the Pestilent New World

New World is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Amazon Games Orange County and published by Amazon Games released on September 28, 2021. The game was previously scheduled to release in May 2020 and subsequently August 2021, but was delayed until its worldwide release on September 28, 2021. Set in the mid-seventeenth century, players colonize a fictional land modeled after the Americas.

While New World was initially planned as a free-to-play game, it currently employs the standard business model of a buy-to-play game, a point of historical difference in comparison to many—mostly much older—MMORPGs that traditionally utilized subscription models in service of significant regular content updates. The game also offers microtransactions in the form of skins along with a limited selection of both decorative and gameplay-impacting functional items for use within the player housing system.

The players may form groups of up to five members, join one of three factions (Marauders, Syndicate, or Covenant), gather raw materials (wood, stone, animal skins etc.) from resource nodes, craft items, gain control over settlements, quest, explore the world, or fight other players or monsters.

The gameplay involves no auto-locked targeting attacks and, therefore, a steady hand at aiming is required. With each level, the hostile mobs are programmed with increasingly complex and strong sequences of attacking behavior skill sets that will require the player to counter using their mana, stamina, and health with timed attacks, dodges, weapon blocks, retreats, or crawling stealth. The weapon skill tree choices are currently for bow, hammer, hatchet, great axe, fire staff, life staff, musket, blunderbuss, spear, sword/shield, ice gauntlet, void gauntlet, and great sword.

The character levels up personal attribute skills. Diminishing returns scale as an attribute's skill level increases. The player's character also levels up weapon and trade skills. The trade skills are divided into the three categories of "crafting" (weapon smithing, armoring, engineering, jewel crafting, arcana, cooking, and furnishing), "refining" (smelting, woodworking, leather working, weaving, and stone cutting), and "gathering" (logging, mining, harvesting, and tracking and skinning). There is also a "camping" skill (wilderness survival).

Three quick travel methods exist and, although no fast speed mounts are available, there is a set of skills for intermittent forward speed boosts. The player may dodge or climb most environmental objects or use the fire staff to cross large aerial spaces.

The economy centers around gold coins. The player can dispose of unwanted items through market between players in exchange for gold coins, they can "salvage" (dismantle) the items for resources, they can discard the item on to the ground, or they can make a direct trade with another player. Characters that die do not drop items, but with each combat encounter, use, or death, the player's items undergo damage. This damage can be repaired with repair items and gold coins.

The player may purchase personal housing and erect furnishings to achieve aesthetic and utility bonuses, as well as obtain a means for fast traveling to the settlement site.

The game mechanics offer PvP combat with and without questing. Before leaving a safe-zone settlement, players have the option to set the "flagged state" - which will make them vulnerable to attacks from other flagged players and vice versa. PvP Flagged state is activated after 30 seconds cooldown which starts after players leave the zone of settlement.