As a child of the 80s who spent countless hours poring over Choose Your Own Adventure books and rolling dice for Dungeons & Dragons sessions, Wildermyth feels like a dream come true. It’s as if Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone decided to craft a video game just for me! This grid-based strategy RPG takes the best elements of games I love, like RimWorld and Stranded: Alien Dawn, and wraps them in a unique narrative that allows you to shape your own story.
As someone who came of age in the 1980s, I was raised on interactive storytelling through books like Choose Your Own Adventure, which were first introduced by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone during the early days of fantasy role-playing games. Ever since then, my preference for gaming has been towards titles that let me craft a character and guide their narrative, be it determining their talents and attributes, or shaping their connections and choices. Consequently, it’s no surprise that a game like Wildermyth from Worldwalker Games has me completely hooked.
This tale unfolds as a Choose Your Own Adventure style narrative, immersed within a fantasy realm devoid of a central antagonist or catastrophe. Instead, it presents a collection of independent stories, each with its unique length and context. As you embark upon this journey, you’ll have the opportunity to introduce three characters – either randomly generated or personalized by you. The course of your adventure depends on the decisions you make, which may lead to unexpected moments such as witnessing romantic developments or the evolution of friendships into rivalries. It bears resemblance to games like RimWorld and Stranded: Alien Dawn, where each character possesses distinct attributes, personality traits, quirks, and ideals that dictate their interactions beyond your immediate influence. While you steer them towards specific paths with your choices, the unpredictable outcomes – like watching them form bonds or grow apart – can be both startling and gratifying.
As you journey through the different campaigns, your heroes will transform from ordinary citizens into powerful figures, either earning fame or infamy based on their deeds. An overall map allows you to claim territory, recruit new heroes, or collect resources to fashion stronger equipment. Eventually, you’ll be able to assemble a team of up to five heroes, with many more being recruited for scouting, defense, and control of locations. Keep in mind that these heroes can die permanently, so consider carefully who and when you send them out.
Engaging in combat proves surprisingly enjoyable and intriguing, utilizing an isometric grid-based strategy system that allows you to allocate action points for movement, attack, or other actions. A diverse set of skills for each class offers numerous tactics during a fight, but what truly sets it apart is the ability to imbue ordinary items in each arena with magic.
For example, infuse a chair with magic and you can make it explode in a hail of splinters. You can literally pick up and spread fire (which you’ll need to extinguish if it gets too close), directing it at your enemies. That said, my biggest complaint is that when Wildermyth decides a fight needs to be tough (major bosses, for example) it just increases enemy hp and damage massively, which creates difficulty spikes that have little to do with player skill. It’s irritating to go through hours of gameplay with no issue and then roll into a boss that two-shots your heroes. Of course, you can tweak the difficulty if you like, so that’s not a major problem in the long run. Combat isn’t all that common in Wildermyth and arguably not the point of the game; you’ll have more fun finding ways to avoid combat altogether.
In the game, you’ll often encounter situations where your decisions impact not only your initial group of three characters, but also any additional members who join later. The plot may occasionally bring together random characters, creating a natural flow as if they’re embarking on a brief journey while the larger world continues to turn. During these side quests, character relationships might develop or new abilities and talents could be acquired that persist throughout the rest of the storyline.
If you’ve had fun playing games like RimWorld in the past, this one could be perfect for you. While it’s not as intensely procedural as that game, I don’t think many players would have similar experiences or tales if they start from scratch. The choices you make can influence certain events, but character traits also play a significant role. For instance, a cowardly character might not find themselves in situations to become brave overnight, but you can nurture them towards bravery over time.
In this game, plundering loot is significant as well. You’ll find armor, weapons, or resources to make more, all of which are randomly distributed. Interestingly, you get to decide who gets each found treasure. This aspect adds an unexpected twist, as the character’s appearance changes depending on what equipment is equipped, something I wasn’t anticipating from primarily static 2D models. However, the drawback is that the characters themselves aren’t overly detailed compared to the enemies you encounter, which are often corrupted versions of ordinary creatures, or bandits and other monsters. While Wildermyth is visually pleasing, it doesn’t offer a visually stunning experience when compared to some other games.
As a gamer, I’ve got to mention that while the game isn’t visually stunning, the console version does have its hiccups. Nothing too major so far, but occasionally, characters will appear without textures during intense battles, which can be quite jarring. It’s not frequent, but it stands out when it happens.
Wildermyth is quite simply different from anything else I’ve played and feels genuinely compelling and charming at the same time. The malleable stories are fantastic, offering almost endless replayability and wonderfully rewarding adventures. For fans of Choose Your Own Adventure games, this is a must-have.
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2024-11-11 20:16