New World open beta starts September 9

After many delays, New World is for real, real, real, real releasing on September 28. Before that, on September 9, Amazon's MMO is going into open beta for one last public test. 

The news comes by way of a new Gamescom trailer (embedded above), which once again sets up New World's historical fantasy premise: You're coming to a legendary island where hidden treasure is waiting to be found, but dark magic threatens to consume greedy sailors.

It's a nice trailer, but not exactly indicative of what New World feels like to play. I included some gameplay gifs in my preview of one of New World's dungeons, if you want a better sense of what the combat is actually like. 

And, of course, you can try it for yourself when the open beta starts. Barring technical issues (one of the reasons for the last delay, which followed a closed beta), it should be easy to get in to. Amazon is using Steam's recently-added playtest feature, so you can request access to the open beta directly on the New World Steam page and download it there when the time comes.

During the closed beta, Sarah found the game's opening hours to be formulaic and grindy, but there's much more MMO to explore. This next beta will run from Thursday, September 9 through Sunday, September 12, so it'll be another fairly brief look, at least in MMO terms.

If Amazon finally stops delaying New World, it'll release in full on September 28 on Steam for $40. The MMO will potentially be the ecommerce company's first successful major game release, if the excitement we're seeing around it holds (something Evan talks about in his recent analysis of Steam wishlisting).

For more, here's all the info we've gathered on New World over the past few years.

Tyler Wilde
Editor-in-Chief, US

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.

Read more
Avowed companions - Kai
Avowed launch times, release date, and advance access period
Sci-fi character from Dune
Dune: Awakening promises us a breath of fresh air, skipping early access for a full launch with no monthly subscription in May
In Monster Hunter Wilds, a hunter triumphantly holds aloft a slab of perfectly-grilled steak.
Monster Hunter Wilds beta release time and rewards
Seekers of Skyveil screenshot
Extraction MOBA Seekers of Skyveil will launch into early access in March, but first, the 'largest playtest' yet is coming later this week
monster hunter wilds pc release date
The Monster Hunter Wilds beta is now live
Sci-fi character from Dune
Survival MMO Dune: Awakening launches in May and I am way more excited about it than I thought I'd be
Latest in Action
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The First Berserker: Khazan review - Blade Phantom
How to claim The First Berserker: Khazan pre-order bonus and deluxe edition DLC
gta 6 trailer
Publishers 'don't want to be anywhere near' Grand Theft Auto 6 when it launches: 'It's proving to be very stressful'
An image of a Helldiver from Helldivers 2 shooting at a red dragon from Dungeons & Dragons.
'Ok, so dragon builds are a thing now': galaxy-brained Helldivers 2 player incinerates a bile titan with a hover pack and a flamethrower
Assassin's Creed Shadows promo image
Ubisoft scores a legendary ratio against Elon Musk on his own platform—which hopefully marks a final end to all the Assassin's Creed Shadows' culture war nonsense
Assassin's Creed Shadows immersive mode - Naoe holding a tanto in her hand as two guards fall to the ground behind her.
Assassin's Creed Shadows' first hotfix addresses stability issues and a photo mode crash
Latest in News
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway