Review by Wildermyth. A masterpiece indie RPG that you missed
Wildermyth is not hard to miss. Even during the dry season for releases. There was no powerful advertising campaign, no big promises, news feeds told about other projects. Wildermyth came out quietly, modestly, almost imperceptibly. And became a powerful candidate for the indie of the year. Yes, it happens, but we just have to rejoice and make out an unexpected hit from the successfully debuted Worldwalker Games LLC team.
Independent developers often break the usual genre foundations and do it with visible pleasure, but not everyone succeeds in doing it correctly and interestingly. Wildermyth is proof that a deliberately cheap looking game is actually capable of giving completely unusual emotions. Before us is a leisurely RPG with turn-based mechanics and an unexpectedly deep strategy with a global map. Game mechanics are divided into three roughly equivalent elements. We have to go through a full-fledged party RPG, make dozens of wise decisions on the strategic map, and jingle swords in turn-based tactical fights. All three elements are made at a high level and will surely delight fans of challenging projects.
At the same time, Wildermyth quickly shows that it differs in many ways from similar things in recent years. Take, for example, the plot, which at first glance is not impressive at all. The story of Wildermyth tells how gangs from various monsters began to invade the vastness of the fairy kingdom. A team of heroes immediately gathers and tries to repulse the scoundrels, break off their grabbing paws, claws and tentacles. But here it does not matter what tries to tell a game, and then, like she said. The script constantly throws up interesting situations, unexpected wanderings and moral dilemmas.
 |
| Fighter, hunter, magician. Everything is according to the canon. It will be more interesting further |
A team of adventurers can be brought to a small town where everyone is happy for no apparent reason. Then it turns out that a magic machine pumps life juices from the inhabitants, and in return broadcasts simple human happiness to the town. Break the mechanism? Or let the townspeople continue to live "high"? Or you can get inside the fragile body of a sorceress from our brigade. There you have to deal with a gang of pathogenic microbes. Negotiate or Bare Blades?
The choice is up to the player and has to be done very often in Wildermyth . It is necessary to maneuver between three or more options; the traditional good and bad choices never end. And the game generates such interesting situations at every step, for which it is only worth praising the developers.
 |
| On their territories, you need to prepare a defense against monsters |
The entire narrative is presented in a static comic book storyboard, and for once, sad thoughts about a lack of budget do not come to mind; in Wildermyth, such scenes are numerous, lengthy and really cute. The artists drew them in a somewhat frivolous manner, none of them tried to achieve the level of DC or Marvel , but it turned out very nicely, with a style consistent in the same key. It is a pity that in such episodes the characters communicate strictly in text. The developers did not voice all this abundance of dialogues and monologues, and the reasons are clear - long hours of acting are too expensive.
In the manner of turn-based strategies, you move through the regions and perform actions from the list of available ones. In this mode, we collect resources, expand the safe area and even engage in development. The situation in the country is tense, and our squad must prepare the surroundings for the invasion: a special counter will show how many days are left before the raid of monsters. The tighter the bins are filled, the more fortified lines in the defense of cities and towns, the less damage the villains will inflict.
 |
| If the heroes stand shoulder to shoulder, they are supposed to increase their defense |
On the strategic map, every decision must be made with special attention, because we simply will not have time to complete all available actions and all travels. Therefore, we carefully collect trophies on the lands recaptured from the enemy, send out patrols or in a hurry plunder the loot to save time. There is no dizzying freedom of action on the global map, but proper planning gives tangible bonuses, so in this place the game does not sag in any way.
All the mechanics from decent RPGs in Wildermyth are up to par. We enthusiastically tinker with the generation of characters, choosing a class, hairstyle and other attributes. I was pleased with such a trifle as the opportunity to give a name to my detachment. So we will be called by local storytellers, and "Avengers", "Dynamo-Minsk" or "Voronezh Sith" can rush into battle. Well, what about without the rich loot obtained in the battles? By the way, every strap or cloak made of animal skins is reflected on the models in the aforementioned story comics. Passive and active skills are not forgotten; the ability of a hunter to pierce an adversary with an arrow can really make a difference in the arena.
 |
The tactical scuffle hides a ton of options and could very well be a standalone game in the spirit of the endless Disgaea series . If you think carefully and use all the available tricks, victory can be obtained with ease and pleasure. How to position your squad, where to shoot and who to hit in the first place - before us is a time-tested unhurried and exciting process.
Separately, we note a very cool study of the magic system. The wizards here do not wave wands or mutter spells in Latin. The magician must in his own way merge with one of the objects of the environment in order to perform witchcraft. So, the enchanted boulder will explode into hundreds of sharp fragments, and the lamp in the room will blind the monsters with a flash.
Wildermyth's enchanting looks are a hint of a clamshell book, and the lack of fluid animation is mitigated by the vibrant colors of the scenery. And it happened again: in a budget indie, excellent music sounds to the envy of AAA hits! Such a powerful cello was last heard in the French game A Plague Tale: Innocence two years ago.
The game is separated from the ideal by several drawbacks, which, however, are still worth arguing about. A high threshold of entry is not fashionable in game development for 20 years. But in Wildermyth, the developers seem to give a message: “Here's a mountain of cool mechanics, you’ll figure it out yourself! Or not ... ” Yes, training is on the spot and it is interesting to play from the first minutes. But after a few hours, you may find that you still do not distinguish between resources by their types, you could not spend precious heritage points, and some regions are closed for visiting without explanation. To understand all the abundance of available tools, you will have to spend several hours. But it's worth it.
And the most important thing is the graphics. Most will simply take a look at the game and realize that this is not at all interesting to him. There is nothing to admire here, and gamers are crazy about graphic wow impulses.
It's a shame that Wildermyth can get past the massive player. However, this is what specialized media are needed for. We highly recommend it during the dry summer season: do not miss this multifaceted, extraordinary and beautiful game, it can take you to a fabulous dimension for a long time!
Comments
Post a Comment