Amazon's New World wasn't the utopian MMO people thought it would be. The game struggled with issues that the devs just couldn't manage to solve, the endgame content was not enough to keep players invested, and every new update broke something else in turn. Add to that the resounding success that Lost Ark's Western launch turned out to be, and Amazon's New World was left facing a cataclysm.
However, the developers will be hoping to turn things around in 2022, starting with a roadmap of the new content players can expect. The Heart of Madness update has already been live on the public test server for a while now. Its official release will see the conclusion of the game's main storyline, along with a new endgame expedition called Tempest's Heart. It will further see the introduction of the Blunderbuss weapon, PvP arenas, and a PvP reward track.
Later in the Summer, players can expect a new endgame expedition called Barnacles and Black Powder. While there isn't too much detail about it, the key art and name suggests it will be pirate themed. The endgame expedition will be joined by a feature that will help players find a group for expeditions, as well as a Summer event.
Autumn seems to have a lot more content. A new territory in the way of Brimstone Sands, a new endgame expedition called The Ennead, and a new Greatsword weapon. These will be accompanied by Leaderboards for PvE and PvP related activities and two seasonal activities – Nightvale Hallow and Turkulon 2022.
Along with all of that, 2022 will also see "New Mutators, Quests, Encounters, ongoing improvements, balance tuning, and bug fixing."
Along with most other developers, publishers, and manufacturers, Amazon Games has also announced that it will halt operations related to Russia. Namely, New World's Russian localisation has been put on hold indefinitely, following the country's horrifying attack on Ukraine. "We were looking into localizing New World for Russia, and we stopped that," said Amazon Games vice president Christoph Hartmann in a statement. While the localization has been shelved for now, the game is still available in Russia.