At the time of writing this, I'm level 21 and have just completed the first of the three chapters within the game. So these are my first impressions after playing the game for approximately 13 hours. My first thought is that this is a love-child between Diablo 3 and Path of Exile. The familiar ARPG traits from Diablo 3 such as the looting mechanics, combined with the choice of skills and additional perks that can be garnered through a choice wheel similar to that found in Path of Exile. The difference is that this game is classless, leaving it up to the player to decide what weapons, skills and traits each of their characters have. So although most will choose either a build that is recognisable in other ARPG's as a Ranger, or a Mage, or a Barbarian - here you can have all three... An average Joe of ARPG characters! Due to the crazy problems that happened at the launch, my game has consisted of playing offline for 95% of it. My single-player experience has been for the most part bug-free, though a few things have cropped up that taint the enjoyment slightly. But we'll get to those in due course. Character Creation The character creator within this game leaves quite a lot to be desired, with the choice of Male/Female, each of which has a choice of Skin Colour, Eye Colour, Hair and Facial Hair - these are fairly generic and none of which really stand out. Not that I really cared about this, as for the most part, you can't see your characters face in the game anyway (apart from cut-scenes). edit: I hear that there will be more choice in an upcoming major patch Character Traits One of the promoted aspects of Wolcen is that the game lets you choose what kind of character you want to play, there are no pre-defined classes. If you fancy something tanky you load up points into your Toughness, if you like to be DPS then you stick them in Ferocity and so on. But this is just the beginning, the next part is choosing where you are going to put your level point in the Wolcen Wheel, the Gate of Fates! Here you can choose to truly define your character, though not as in-depth as Path of Exile, it's still quite fun and does make a difference during gameplay. Story Not that anyone really cares, but from what I can gather, the plot revolves around your character popping out an angelic/demon form during a battle, and all of your mates turning on you like you're some sort of rabid dog. The Good The first thing that struck me about Wolcen was how damn nice it looks... Everything seems really polished, with truly detailed environments that change from area to area. Not once did I stop and think that something could be improved upon. Your character it smoothly animated and each item appears upon them no matter how weird your choice of attire. The same thing goes for the sounds, with everything except a few characters voice acting being great. There are a few stiff lines delivered, but for the most part, it really is a great game to listen to. The Gameplay is generally in the "good - very good" range with only a few issues cropping up which I cover below in - the bad. The Bad A few things have cropped up that tarnish the experience slightly, nothing major (except the Multiplayer), but after defeating a level or dungeon boss you are immediately presented with the choice of prizes, even if there is still mobs or creatures in your vicinity. So you have half the screen covered and are still taking damage. Please let this appear at a more suitable time, it would be greatly appreciated. After attempting to play Multiplayer on launch, I swiftly had decided against it after all manner of connection drops. But a week or so later, a friend and I try again, this time we can at least play, although his character seems to be consistently running towards the Northeast, and warps around the screen instead of running. Quite jarring and something we hope will be resolved in a patch asap. The Ugly Okay, now we're down to my single biggest gripe, the damn difficulty spike when it came to meeting the first boss... I mean, WTF... I was merrily breezing through the game, taking out swathes of enemies without so much as breaking a sweat and then this behemoth appears (no spoilers). Those of you who have reached this point will probably have dealt with the big bad a lot easier than I did, but the amount of damage that they/it soaks up and dishes out is immeasurably higher than anything that you had previously faced. C'Mon, level the difficulty out a bit... Please... All in all, I think it has great potential and I'm looking forward to seeing the game improve over time. Pros • Simple to learn • Straight into the action • Graphics are great • Enjoyable for the most part Cons • Multiplayer is buggy as all hell • Difficulty Spike on End of Chapter Baddies is horrific ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 9/10 • Sound Design: 9/10 • Gameplay: 7/10 • Longevity: 7/10 • Fun: 8/10
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