Getting my first mount in New World was an incredibly memorable experience. Standing before me was a figure I had read about for years and studied, thanks to a voracious desire to learn all I could about the Mongol Conquests of the Middle Ages. Jochi Khan, the eldest son of the great Ghengis Khan, stood before me in a felt tent, speaking about communing with the wild beasts of Aeternum, namely the horses, and his connection to them.
It’s a compelling moment if you’ve played New World since launch, as getting a mount has been one of the most requested features. Obviously, in an MMO set on a magical and deathless island, those mounts don’t have to be horses, but it was inspired to have the first you earn be a steed, given to you by one of the great Horse Lords in history. Jochi’s own personal history is mired by the mists of time - and it’s a reminder of one of the great qualities of New World: being able to take cues from our own history and make it their own.
Under The Eternal Blue Sky
Mounts in New World weren’t in the game at launch, and the MMO had a lore reason for this: they could not be tamed. As animals came to Aeternum, the lore said that they essentially go wild and cannot keep being tamed. It was a tidy, in-universe way to explain why you couldn’t saddle up and ride despite the fact that many of the adventurers in the world would have likely brought a steed with them at one point (you can’t tell me that the Roman Auxiliary in Brimstone Sands didn’t have a single mount with them).
However, thanks to New World: Rise of the Angry Earth breaking some of the lore rules and transforming the region of First Light into Elysian Wilds by Adiana, alongside the Beast Lords coming out of hibernation in the Abyssal Realm, this connection has the chance to be formed again.
In the intro mount quest with Jochi Khan, there was a moment where he was finally able to feel that connection again. It was almost a religious moment for someone who would have had a great affinity for horses, whose culture was so dependent and bound to the horse itself.
“For Jochi, he’s been on the island for centuries,” Rob Chestney, New World’s narrative lead, told me during a press preview of the expansion earlier this month at the Amazon Games Studio in Irvine, California. “Being able to tame horses and ride horses again is a dream that he’s waited for for a very long time.”
When approaching how mounts would be introduced, starting with the horse and working from there made sense. When Rise of the Angry Earth launches in October, there will be three mount types: the horse, the direwolf, and the lion. Starting with Jochi and the horse makes a lot of sense as, historically, in our real world, it has been the beast of burden that has helped define empires, kingdoms, and even humble travelers. We still measure how powerful car engines are through horsepower.
So it’s fitting that one of the sons of Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongolian Empire, which as conquered using the Horse, introduces mounts to players.
“When we were approaching the mount quests, we started to think about each of the different mounts: you can get the horse, the lion and the direwolf, and what kind of theme we want to have around each one,” Chestney continued. “And of course, the horses, we’re thinking about what character might be involved and we thought Mongolian. And we talked about a few different ideas, but the writer who picked it up, David Dunn, was really passionate about doing Jochi.”
Ride Off Into The Sunset
Mounts are unlocked in New World starting at level 25. They aren’t simply handed to the player. Instead you’ll need to kick off the mount quest, beginning with Jochi Khan and the Horse.
At level 45, you will unlock the quest to get a direwolf mount, while level 60 will see the lion open up. Each mount has unique animations, with the Horse moving majestically across the road while the direwolf and lion bound more freely. They all bring a bit of their own character, with the lion feeling a bit more weighty in motion versus the more nimble horse or direwolf, for example.
Players will also unlock the new riding trade skill in New World when unlocking the mount. This skill will directly influence, well, your skill with your new steed, as higher skill levels will increase your mount’s speed, and riding even brings a sprint movement feature to the MMO.
Now add it to the player character, and things will be sweet Amazon.
I remember the first time I climbed onto my horse in New World. It was an exciting moment for me, as this was my most requested feature since the MMO launched in 2021.
And boy, does it make traveling the world so much faster and more convenient. Riding along the roads confers the same passive speed bonus you get right now while running along them, while riding off the path see the mount speed tank. You’ll still be faster than on foot, but it’s diminishing returns at that point.
Zipping around the region of Everfall was a blast, but most importantly, it was quick. While many of my friends would tell me they thought New World was too small a landmass for mounts, this never felt too quick for me in practice. It still took a bit to get from one end of Everfall to the other, riding from the borders of Windsward on towards Brightwood. Even sticking to the roads themselves, the ride felt balanced regarding the time it took to get across the map.
I can still see where mounts aren’t always the best way to travel when doing certain activities. Trolling the hillside for iron deposits and resources? Walking instead of hopping on and off your mount might make more sense. In the time it takes to dismount, another player might run up and snipe the resource.
I am eager to see how crowded towns like Prydwyn and Everfall’s Oxboro feel when everyone is mounted. The streets already feel cramped during peak hours, now throw a few horses, lions and more on top of it? It’s going to get interesting.
Pimp My Ride
Mounts aren’t just there to get you from point A to point B quicker. This is an MMO - we all know what the real endgame is: cosmetics.
Mounts will have different cosmetics you can unlock, changing the overall look of the mount, from the breed of horse to whether your lion is armored. Mounts can also have items equipped to them that increase speed or stamina, with vittles helping to boost this while on the go.
But you can also deck your mount out with a shield or a flag to personalize your mount a bit for all to see thanks to a dedicated slot near the beast's rump. You can also rename your mount, so expect to see variations of Asfaloth, Shadowfax, and Fatty Lumpkin next time you ride up next to me. You can also equip dyeable gear to your horse to further customize the look.
Then again, one of the direwolf skins is named after my real-life dog, Wolfgang, so that may forever be my mount of choice.
The Great Race
With mounts comes a new minigame activity across Aeternum: racing. These races are all over the map in Rise of the Angry Earth, and completing races will reward players with vittles and more to make mounts faster overall.
I took part in a race across Everfall and it’s less a race against someone head to head, but rather a timer. Running across the roads, you’ll need to hit a series of checkpoints before the timer runs out. It felt like playing an old Western version of Cruisin’ USA as I hit checkpoint after checkpoint in my first race, extending my timer.
It was also easy to get lost if you missed a turn. This saw me fail my first race because I kept going straight when I needed to turn down a small, easy-to-miss lane to find the next checkpoint. It was a shame, and Fatty Lumpkin got no vittles that day, unfortunately.
New World: Rise of the Angry Earth will make the MMO better purely thanks to the inclusion of mounts. Adding this feature removes one of the more monotonous activities in the game: simply running between points of interest. It was in these moments I would find the most tedium. It wasn’t the gear grind or the fact that experience gain felt slow - rather my biggest pain point was getting places, especially when early quest givers were all the way across the map from each other.
I’m looking forward to the chest runs now, which will see riders rushing over the landscape as if they are the Rohirrim answering the Beacons of Gondor. I cannot wait to start seeing races with players competing against each others times, learning the optimal way to maximize speed and the mount’s stamina to eke out those extra milliseconds.
For me personally, I’m hoping that this intro mount quest isn’t the last we see of Jochi Khan and New World’s narrative team explores his history, both within the Mongol conquests themselves and how he ended up in Aeternum instead of at the head of a Mongol column, and through it all makes use of my newfound horse companion.
New World’s Rise of the Angry Earth expansion launches on October 3rd, 2023.
