INTRODUCTION
As a big Diablo, Path of Exile and Torchlight fan, Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem has been on my radar for a long time, and plenty of people are understandably hyped that this could be the next big thing in ARPG genre. On the other hand, I'm usually very wary of early access games. The word a lot of people, including me casually throw around when talking about them is potential.
Basic game functionality is implemented and the rest is just a roadmap and promises. The frequency of updates, developer engagement, and transparency is what matters the most during this period as the game struggles to stay relevant. Wolcen studio, after a successful Kickstarter campaign, moves to early access and consistently stays in the top seller section even at this stage of development.
So does Wolcen have the potential to be the Diablo killer we've been waiting for or does it need a lot more time in the oven to even come close? Let's break it down.
Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem is available for purchase on Steam Early Access for 19,99€.
STORY and gameplay
The game starts you off with the character creation screen. There aren't very many options currently in place but you can create a badass looking character nevertheless, courtesy of the graphical engine.
After that, at this stage of development, the game begins like the Sopranos would end – rather abruptly. You are spawned in front of a crumbling bridge in what is supposed to be your prison. The official synopsis states that you were a Republic officer and developed forbidden magical powers and after being discovered you were locked up and experimented upon.
You escape into the wild and you are quickly drawn into a grim world that's on the brink of starvation with the corrupt and crumbling republic going to monstrous length to survive just a bit longer. All the while, dark, occult forces are plotting to push it further toward the edge of the cliff giving a magical user such as yourself plenty of things to do. Although the story seems interesting with all the dark undertones, currently not much of it is implemented and what's here is really hard and uninteresting to follow due to "click to continue" dialogue that features no voice acting.
When it comes to actual gameplay mechanics, Wolcen studio made great strides in a few recent updates to bring us a great combat system and it shows. It's responsive, impactful and tactical with a resource management mechanic implemented. In the middle of the screen, you will find that you have an umbra meter which is a source for your magical powers while on the other side, you have the rage meter which powers your melee skills.
Combining these two is imperative to winning any of the more difficult encounters. Sure, regular enemies can be sliced no matter what you hit them with but the bosses require a bit more tactics in terms of what you use against them. It's important to stress that going through the fodder enemies doesn't get stale as killing them feels great through a combination of fun physics, impactfulness of your skills and their visual effects.
The skill tree is circular in its design and presented as if on stone tablets which you can rotate for combining different skill trees. There's plenty of options to choose from and it's really easy to respec all the points to try something else entirely. You can focus on melee, ranged, magic and all sorts of combinations to truly define a unique playstyle that you find most fun to use. I'm not sure if quick respec of skill points is going to be as easy once the game is complete but it eliminates the unnecessary grind of using another character which I find tedious in other games. Many of the skills are currently not implemented but it can still be a lot of fun trying to min-max different classes available, trying to find the best combination of skills, powers, weapons, and armor.
Speaking of gear, you have your regular gear progression implemented, designated by colors depending on rarity. White for common, blue for magic and yellow for rare. Weapons are split into close combat and ranged, going from swords, axes, staves to crossbows and guns. Combination of stats can make all the difference and although there's plenty variety in that regard too, there just aren't that many different models to make you appreciate new drops. 90% of loot drops is simply a minute improvement to stats that scale to your character level.
All of this should be pretty familiar if you played any of the prominent ARPG's in the last decade. Even the HUB city features almost the same setup in terms of shops and blacksmiths to upgrade your weapons. It remains to be seen how future updates will reflect on the systems currently in place, the most exciting being the "apocalyptic forms" which were teased all the way back in the Kickstarter campaign. They promise to give a transformative mutation to switch up the end-game and give players something to strive for. There's no co-op as of yet but it is planned and I'm assured it's being worked on and tested at the time of writing this article.
VISUALS AND AUDIO
Visuals are what truly sets this game apart as Wolcen has got to be one of the best looking isometric RPG's ever made. This is to be expected from a game that's rocking CryEngine under the hood. Even in its unfinished state, the game takes full advantage of the engine with unparalleled texture fidelity (even when zoomed in) as well as lighting and particle power effects that will blow your mind. This is further supplemented by a thick atmosphere and dense environments that the game takes place in.
Everything from reflections, god rays and weather system works toward making this as immersive of an experience as a top-down RPG can be. Where in other games, the weather system just boils down to "oh, look, it's raining", in Wolcen, you'll know when it's cloudy, rainy, overcast or any other shades in between and it contributes to the experience that much more.
As mentioned, visuals are not just a simple eye candy and they indeed make everything in Wolcen a lot more enjoyable, from simply walking through the world to combating a wide variety of enemies sprinkled about. It's one of those games that will draw in innocent passersby to peek at the spectacle unfolding on the screen. Trust me.
The sound, on the other hand, leaves a lot to be desired. As mentioned, there is no voice acting just yet and it makes the game feel awfully quiet and what little story there is – uninteresting to follow. Combat and ability sounds can be a bit buggy and often don't align with what is happening on the screen, making the combat sometimes seem less impactful and a bit clunky.
CONCLUSION
Currently, Wolcen doesn't break the mold in any way apart from its amazing visuals. The game started it's development three years ago and still leaves a lot to be desired leaving me torn between recommending it in order to support its promising future and waiting a bit for Wolcen Studio to work more on this unpolished gem. If you do decide to check out the game – as always with early access titles, keep your expectations in check and keep in mind that If you are not a fan of ARPG's, Wolcen in its current state won't change that – but for the fans of the genre, you are sure to find plenty to have fun with.
