Can you not understand the difference between realism and an art style?
Yes, we all understand there are magical elements in the game. We’re not idiots. We can all accept that crazy things happen on the island. That’s not the issue or the “ha ha, gotcha” point you think it is.
What we’re looking for is verisimilitude, which in terms of media means that a work of fiction sets up certain rules and expectations and then the world abides by them.
New World puts us in a world where true death is rare because most people (and things) resurrect after dying and sometime they come back wrong. We know there’s a magical element (Azoth) to the island (as evidenced by the Angry Earth) and there’s a corruption spreading that is causing all kinds of problem. We play as the latest shipwreck victims and try to make our way on the island and learn what’s going on.
That’s all fine, it’s what we’re here for.
However it also portrays everything as being a real place on our Earth not dissimilar to Atlantis. We’re 16th or 17th century explorers, probably sailing on a Spanish ship given Captain Thorpe’s armor.
So now we’ve got both fantastical elements, but it’s been grounded in the real world. Take every real weapon and the armor and you can trace them back to their real world equivalents, except for the great axe and war hammer. And the magic weapons are designed to look like weapons humans can carry and wield, despite magic not being real.
Now there’s some variation in the weapons, for example some of the spears might be a touch too big, but that’s fine. Some artistic license is fine so long as it fits the visual style.
Likewise, cannon, muskets, fire launchers, and all that are real weapons that existed during the game’s setting. Even the repeater isn’t too far off as repeating weapons were first invented in the 17th century. Using the magical metals and other regents would allow gunsmiths to take their knowledge of those primitive repeater weapons and make larger versions.
But the great axe and war hammer stick out like sore thumbs. They do not fit. It’s not a case of us not realizing there’s magic on the island. It’s that the grounded nature of the weaponry. They’re rejects from anime. Hell, even World of Warcraft has better sized axes.
Being a fantasy game doesn’t mean “anything goes”. The setting has rules and those weapons break those rules. If we can lug that war hammer around, why am I wasting my time with a musket when I could run around with a ship cannon? Why can’t I carry a ballista around and fire it at people? It would weigh less than a war hammer after all.