New World's first expansion will add mounts and extended story

Amazon Games' MMO New World will receive its first expansion in October.

Named Rise of the Angry Earth, it will tell a brand new story, extend the level cap, and - most importantly - add mounts.

It will be available for $29.99 from 3rd October.

Mounts will allow for faster travel around the world and can be summoned at any time. They'll traverse quicker on roads too, but won't be usable during expeditions. Players will be able to master horses, dire wolves, and lions, all of which can be customised through in-game skins, attachments, and can also be named.

So what of the story? It will focus on Artemis who takes over Aeternum, ravaging the fields with the fury of the Angry Earth to turn First Light into the magical Elysian Wilds. Earthly powers awaken the Beast Lords - both a new adversary and the secret to taming and riding animals, hence the mounts.

The maximum character level will rise to 65, while the gear score will also increase to 700. Alongside this, a new loot system has been introduced to increase quality and decrease trash. It means players will collect less loot overall, but it will be of a higher quality and biased towards their playstyle.

Another important addition will be Artifacts, a powerful new tier of weapons and armour. Players will only be able to equip one weapon and one armour or trinket of this type, but Artifacts will hold a playstyle-defining sixth perk with a mini quest associated with it. This should add an extra layer of depth to player builds.

New World proved incredibly popular at launch and initially took the fifth spot for concurrent players on Steam.

Since then, however, interest has waned. Amazon hopes this new expansion will win back lapsed players.

As for new players, there are no concrete plans for a free trial in the vein of Final Fantasy 14, but Amazon is willing to explore that option.