Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem

[DXCHASE]

I know not every game is covered by PCG but i feel that this game deserves some attention! The last article that talked about this game was from 2016 when it hit Early Access, now, today actually, its finally leaving early access. Having been with this game since kickstarter, i want to say that if you like Diablo PoE Grim Dawn or just the ARPG genre in general, this is worth checking out. I would love to see PCG do a review on it.

 

[Mknott]

I really enjoyed what I played in early access. Looking forward to seeing how that experience translates to online play.

 

[randyl]

Agreed. This game has received very little attention around gaming sites in general. I don't want to overhype it and pump expectations, but I think it's a pretty good ARPG. Hopefully they will offer a demo because I think Wolcen can sell itself.

The pieces for a solid ARPG are in place - attractive loot chase, interesting build tree that begs to be fiddled with, and punchy combat. It also looks nice. The ambiance radiates a strong Warhammer vibe.

 

[Frindis]

Not played it myself, but it seems interesting. I have a question concerning the game though: How is it different compared to for an example Grim Dawn, PoE & Diablo 3? I ask this because I am looking for something fresh, not something that is borrowing too much from the giants (which from the gameplay I watched, it seems to have done) Don't get me wrong, every game builds from a source, but I need the game to have soul, a feeling of identity.

 

[DXCHASE]

Server issues aside, it seems that Wolcen has been reaching up steam charts for high sales this week and reaching over 60k online, as a kickstarter backer, its nice to see its being well received, it seems PCG is going to write a review on it, so im happy about that too!

 

[randyl]

Not played it myself, but it seems interesting. I have a question concerning the game though: How is it different compared to for an example Grim Dawn, PoE & Diablo 3? I ask this because I am looking for something fresh, not something that is borrowing too much from the giants (which from the gameplay I watched, it seems to have done) Don't get me wrong, every game builds from a source, but I need the game to have soul, a feeling of identity.

If you're looking for something different it might not scratch the itch. On a systems by systems level Wolcen doesn't invent anything new. However, it does put its own twist and the sum of all those parts gives the game its own character and style. Rather than reinvent the wheel it feels to me like Wolcen has adopted established designs and made them their own.

What I want out of an ARPG is punchy combat, flexible build system, and an interesting loot chase that is well connected to the character build. Wolcen fits that, not perfectly, but pretty good. This is why I think all games should offer a short demo.

 

[Frindis]

@randyl Good explanation. I might just give it a go. Update 1: Just watched Rhykkers impressions of the game after 1K hours in it and he brings up a lot of interesting points. I especially like the ability to dye your own gear and the town customization options which makes you able to put points into things like more stash tabs & missions. He also mentions that the bosses can be quite hard if you do not have a solid build and I like that.

As of now, there are some server issues according to their own twitter page so I will sit on the fence a little longer while that gets ironed out.

Update 2: Since you can play it in offline mode, I am giving it a chance while the server issues get worked on. Two hours of gameplay should be enough to give me an overall feel of the game.

 

[DXCHASE]

I hope you liked it. PCG's reviewer didnt give it any good points, just called it generic basically. Yea the server issues are a bummer but im cutting them some slack, esp. after sitting in their discord with all the toxic AF kids who have had nothing better to do (like actually play the game offline) than sit there and send death threats to the devs while they have been trying all weekend to put the servers up.

its a great game, yes there are flaws that i could go through and the many things it does right, but for right now, i cant give a full review (outside of the pre-release one i had for their early access) until i can get a good chunk of time in online using the coop feature which was the main thing ive been looking forward to since i got wolce back in 2015/2016

 

[Frindis]

@DXCHASE about three hours played in offline mode and so far it has been an ok experience. The environmental details are quite nice, the skills I have used have been really cool and some of the sound effects got a really nice punch to them. The story I could not care less about & the voice acting hit/miss.

The one thing that irritates me the most is that the pick-up loot animation is pretty broken. I have to stand still and hold shift a lot of the times to force pick-up items, sometimes even pressing multiple times on the mouse button.. The inventory management is also a bit lackluster in animation, so there is definitely a need for some more polishing. When that is all done, I think I will have a pretty good experience with the game.

 

[randyl]

@DXCHASE I didn't get any value out of the review either. I literally got nothing out of it that I couldn't have learnt from a quick glance at the Steam reviews.

Wolcen definitely has rough spots and flaws. It spent a lot of time in Early Access defining and redefining itself. It probably could have spent another 6 months in EA. On the other hand, some issues like server performance and net code need the crushing weight of the masses to bring out problems.

It's a small studio and they're working on the issues. If they tackle these issues like they have in the past couple years, then they will slowly work their way through them.

 

[DXCHASE]

With Wolcen reaching into the top 10 games being played atm on steam, having over 100k players. The studio needs to step up here and listen to the community feedback and tackle some of the bigger issues. It doesn't bother me that its out of EA because the changes they make im used to having the game come and go when it was in EA. They just have to give it their all right now with the way the game is and how popular it is atm. ie unfortunate crunch time for those devs working there.

My biggest gripe right now is the inability to rotate camera and the clicking for walking, like the reviewer said, i made an offline gun character and it got annoying at some points trying to shoot enemies but then run into the group of them while trying to shoot them from a distance. My characters didnt move right at some points and there arent a lot of side quests to do things.

Still, now that i can play online with friends finally, im just hoping a lot of bugs get tackled and i will be able to overlook its state that its in.

 

[Frindis]

I just have to mention what an awesome time I had trying to kill the Act 1 boss. When Rhykker (YouTuber) talked about how the boss would be insanely hard, I thought he might have been overexaggerating a bit, but then I met the boss myself and all I can say is that you are in for a fight. I know how I have to beat him, but that means I have to respect or get some spells/gear more suited for that fight. Now that is something I have missed doing for some time now. Most games have bosses that are pretty straightforward in the sense that you do not really need to think at all, just bash at them and roll. Sure, this boss is not reinventing the wheel in that matter, but you really need to come prepared. I sincerely hope more bosses in Wolcen will be like the first boss and even harder. Yes, much, much harder! Give us plenty of challenges!!

Edit: Killed the boss last night. Had to respec and get slightly better gear, then I was able to both avoid the majority of his attacks through dodge/shield.