Nothing says Christmas like a game with a disturbing colonialist aesthetic. Amazon's New World (opens in new tab) MMO is celebrating its free weekend, and prospective players are invited to "taste the Eternal Isle" from now until the free period ends next week.

The free weekend started yesterday (opens in new tab) and will last through Monday, December 19. If you're tempted, head over to New World's Steam page (opens in a new tab) and play now. If you really like it, you can take advantage of the 50% discount on the regular and deluxe editions and lock it in your library forever. Amazon really wants you to buy this game, so this discount will last much longer than the free period, which will end next January 5.

New World will also get a fancy new Azoth Edition, which is basically a super-luxury version of the game. It will include the various bonus skins and emotes included in the Deluxe Edition, plus $40 worth of cosmetic items. New clothes, weapon skins, an array of dyes, and most importantly, a celestial rabbit housepet with "the vast expanse of the universe" in its fur. I once had such a gerbil.

Since its launch last September, New World has come a long way. After a successful start and a ridiculous number of simultaneous players (open in new tab), the game began to stall and entered the year in a difficult state (open in new tab). However, Amazon continued to work on the game and recently took steps to revamp the beginning of the game (opens in new tab) and make PvP warfare more accessible (opens in new tab). If this free weekend is any indication, the company must feel that their work has changed the game enough to deserve a second chance.

I hope Amazon is right about that. New World had great ambitions when it was released, but it failed to achieve too many of them. Fraser gave "New World" a 60% score in his review (opens in new tab), commenting that "the attempt to fulfill all the elements left a scattered and undercooked impression. Well, it's been in the oven for over a year, so let's hope it has something to show for it.