How to play New World: Aeternum on Mac

Game Overview

New World: Aeternum is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Amazon Games, set on the mystical island of Aeternum during the Age of Exploration. Players find themselves shipwrecked on this supernatural island, where they must navigate a world filled with danger, magic, and ancient mysteries. The gameplay focuses on a classless system that allows players to customize their characters’ abilities and playstyles, emphasizing freedom and adaptability. Combat is action-oriented, requiring skillful dodging and precise attacks, and players can engage in large-scale PvP battles over territory control, or collaborate in PvE to conquer formidable enemies and complete quests. The game’s crafting and gathering systems are intricate, encouraging players to explore the island’s diverse environments to collect resources, craft powerful gear, and build settlements. Aeternum’s vibrant and immersive world, coupled with dynamic weather and a day-night cycle, adds depth to the exploration experience, capturing the imagination of its community. The social aspect of the game, with players forming companies and alliances, creates a vibrant online society, fostering camaraderie and competition. New World’s popularity can be attributed to its unique blend of survival, crafting, and intense combat, as well as its ability to constantly update and evolve, keeping the community engaged. However, Mac users face challenges as the game does not natively support macOS, often requiring additional software like Boot Camp or a virtual machine to run the game, which may impact performance. Despite these hurdles, the allure of Aeternum continues to draw players from various platforms, eager to explore its wonders.

1. Play New World: Aeternum on cloud gaming services (GeForce Now and AirGPU)

Cloud gaming platforms stream games from remote servers, offering high performance without demanding hardware. Cloud gaming services are expanding the accessibility of gaming by eliminating many of the traditional barriers, such as the need for constant hardware upgrades and the initial cost of games. As internet speeds increase and technology advances, cloud gaming continues to grow as a popular alternative to traditional console and PC gaming.

GeForce Now

GeForce Now is a cloud gaming service developed by NVIDIA that allows users to stream video games to their devices, leveraging NVIDIA’s powerful cloud-based GPU servers. This service enables gamers to play their own games from popular digital libraries such as Steam, Epic Games Store, and Uplay on virtually any device, including PCs, Macs, Shield TVs, and mobile devices. GeForce Now differentiates itself by not requiring users to purchase games from a specific library, instead allowing them to play games they already own, provided those games are supported on the service. It offers various membership tiers, including a free option and a premium subscription that provides enhanced graphics with RTX technology, reduced waiting times, and extended session lengths.

1. Register for a GeForce Now account on their website. Choose between free or premium plans.
2. Install the GeForce Now app on your chosen device (PC, Mac, or mobile).
3. Use the search feature in the app to locate New World: Aeternum.
4. Click Play on New World: Aeternum within the app to begin streaming the game.

AirGPU

AirGPU is a cloud gaming service that offers users the ability to rent high-performance virtual gaming PCs on demand. This platform enables gamers to stream the latest and most demanding games directly to their devices without the need for high-end local hardware. AirGPU provides a flexible rental model, allowing users to pay by the hour for access to powerful gaming rigs equipped with top-tier graphics and processing capabilities. The service supports a variety of devices including desktops, laptops, and some tablets, ensuring that users can enjoy a premium gaming experience from virtually anywhere. AirGPU stands out by offering personalized settings and configurations, giving gamers the freedom to customize their virtual machines to meet specific gaming needs.

1. Sign up at AirGPU and rent a high-performance virtual PC.
2. Connect to your cloud PC, install New World: Aeternum from any digital platform.
3. Enjoy the game with high-quality graphics.

2. Use Boot Camp (for Intel-based Macs only)

Note: Boot Camp is not supported on Macs with M1/M2/M3 chips.

Boot Camp is a utility software included with macOS that allows users to install and run Windows on Macintosh computers in a dual-boot configuration. By partitioning the computer’s hard drive, Boot Camp enables a Mac to boot either into macOS or Windows, providing full system performance for Windows as it runs natively on the hardware. This solution is ideal for Mac users who need to run Windows applications that do not have macOS versions or who require the performance benefits of running certain programs directly on the hardware without virtualization overhead. Boot Camp simplifies the installation process, guiding users through the setup with step-by-step instructions and making it straightforward to switch between operating systems.

1. Get the Windows 10 ISO file (Windows 11 ISO file) from the Microsoft website. Choose the version that matches your license.
2. Find Boot Camp in the Utilities folder within your Applications. Open it to start the setup.
3. Use Boot Camp Assistant to allocate space on your hard drive for Windows. Follow the on-screen instructions to adjust the partition size.
4. Follow the prompts in Boot Camp Assistant to begin the Windows installation. Your Mac will reboot into the Windows setup.
5. During the Windows installation, choose the BOOTCAMP partition and format it.
6. Complete the installation by following the Windows setup instructions.
7. To switch between macOS and Windows, restart your Mac and hold the Option key to select the operating system you want to use.
8. Once Windows is installed, set up New World: Aeternum like on any PC.

Why New World: Aeternum is not running on Mac via CrossOver or Parallels?

“New World: Aeternum,” the ambitious MMORPG from Amazon Games, has drawn significant interest from players using various platforms, yet it faces compatibility challenges on Mac systems, particularly through solutions like Crossover or Parallels. The game is built on the Lumberyard engine, which is heavily optimized for Windows environments, thus creating hurdles when trying to run it on macOS. Crossover and Parallels, while innovative in bridging the gap between macOS and Windows applications, struggle with the complex graphical demands and system calls required by the game. Additionally, New World’s reliance on certain Windows-specific APIs and DirectX components compounds these issues, leading to performance bottlenecks and stability problems. The dynamic, large-scale world of Aeternum also demands significant processing power and graphical fidelity, which virtualized or emulated environments on Mac may fail to deliver effectively. Consequently, players are often met with unsatisfactory frame rates and unexpected crashes, detracting from the intended immersive experience. Until Amazon Games or third-party developers offer more robust support or optimization for macOS, Mac users may find themselves at a disadvantage in accessing the full potential of “New World: Aeternum.”