Here you can even see some cool looking volumetric fog. Yes I know, Unreal had that in 1998-- but it's still a neat effect which isn't commonly used.
The main thing with makes "New World" unique is that control of the map's different regions is constantly being duked out by PvP-flagged players from each of three colored factions. The controlling faction sets the tax rates for that region's town hub, and also does projects to improve the crafting stations.
The game has pretty modern looking water. It obviously just uses screen space reflections, but the resolution is pretty high, and the wave effect is nice.
Unfortunately, being in such a secular society where young people are taught to hate religion, virtually no one picks the faction I did: yellow. They are the religious faction, trying to spread faith in "the spark". The young people don't even get the name: "The Covenant"-- obviously a reference to the covenant God made with his people through Abraham.
Here you can see that yellow is about to get wiped off the map altogether.
It's difficult to capture combat screenshots, but the engine is fully real-time, like a single player game. You get slaughtered if you don't dodge and block. You get two swappable weapons-- I'm using the fire staff as my primary, and a rapier for close-range. Combat is a lot of fun.
Flagging as PvP makes your name and icon above your character turn red in the other players' views. This means that you can get ambushed at absolutely any time, adding a new "head on a swivel" tactical aspect to the gameplay: don't take the main road if you're weak!
I'll write more about "New World" as I continue to progress in it. It's the only MMORPG I've ever had fun with it-- it's all I want to play right now.