This way to repetitiveness
Developer Airship Syndicate has released some great games here lately beginning with one based on studio co-founder Joe Madureira comic Battlechasers. Both of which the comic and the game are awesome; so, when I saw the launch trailer for their latest game Wayfinder and the incredible art style that evokes Joe Mads Battlechasers I knew I had to check it out.
Wayfinder is a colorful fantasy action RPG that combines the MMO flavor of the Destiny series, the visual style of WoW, and utter grindfest that is Warframe. Set in the world of Evenor, players learn of a dark threat known as The Gloom who is trying to overtake the world. It’s up to players like the titular Wayfinder to push back against the Gloom by venturing into areas known as ‘Lost Zones’. I wish I could tell you more about the story but currently the game is still in early access and lots of assets and things are still missing. The world itself is quite promising and as I said big and colorful, the initial training area opens up to reveal the open zone area. Open zones are full of fantasy themed areas from forest to villages and players will run into all manner of enemy from goblins to raiders.
MSRP: $19.99 (Founder’s Pack)
Platforms: PC
Price I’d Pay: Wait for F2P
The Wayfinders are the stars in the game and currently there are 7 to choose from and they vary from Kairos who uses medium range elemental attacks to Wingrave who is a tank and a healer for the team. After the tutorial players will be able to choose which character they want to start with; the others can be unlocked via grinding, but the initial choice is one player’s will have for quite a while, so they need to make sure they like their choice. Each Wayfinder has four active abilities and two passive abilities. And even though they start with a weapon like a sword and shield or a gun, players aren’t locked to that choice and can switch weapons at will so if you want your tank to have a gun instead of a shield, go for it.
Wayfinder is a live service game and is going to expand with the seasons. Each season will come with a type of battle pass that plays out like a board game which players will earn xp for by completing various quests. These seasons will also come with new Wayfinders, the first of which is Venomess who of course uses poisons and potions to combat her enemies. The developers are firmly behind Wayfinder and have promised many updates and revealed that they have 14 new Wayfinders in the can which means we will see this game for at least 14 seasons. The cash shop isnt as offensive as it could be with everything being skins or giving you the ability to pay for new Wayfinders instead of grinding for them. If anyone has played Warframe it works the same, you can grind for Warframes or just buy em with cash money.
Combat is what you would expect from a 3rd person action game, there are melee and ranged Wayfinders and combat moves feel weighty in a good way and extremely fluid. In fact, combat is by far my favorite thing about Wayfinder, which isn’t any surprise because I also love the combat in Warframe. What I hate about both games is the grind that is required to get anywhere. If this was my only game that I played, then there is more than enough content to keep one sated; but having to grind to get anywhere or upgrade anything means I am playing the same stuff over and over instead of experiencing new games that are dropping.
As it stands, Wayfinder is by no means a bad game, it’s just an incomplete one at this point due to it only being in early access. Unfortunately, the combat just wasn’t enough to keep me coming back repeatedly lost zone runs and grinding for resources for new weapons. Also, the fact that the narrative has a stopping point due to the nature of early access is kinda lame; I mean I get it, but I don’t like the EA model. I think Wayfinder will be a great game when it finally sees its 1.0 release across all platforms but as it stands the game is but a shadow of what it could be, and it may be best to just wait for its launch later in 2024.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
