Wildermyth

Wildermyth is a 1 of 1 game. Not quite a rogue-like, not really a CRPG, but a wholly great and unique experience. The game will have you moving through campaigns with randomly generated heroes that tackle procedurally generated events while an overarching story takes place. Campaigns take narrative decades to complete and your heroes may retire, be maimed, or completely killed by the time the threat is completely dealt with. Upon completion, some of your characters will be written into the annals of history as legendary heroes akin to King Arthur and Joan of Arc. In future campaigns you can call these heroes into your party where they will start with some of their power and act as the grizzled vets of the party. The overworld map involves elements of time management board games like Pandemic. The enemy is pushing back at certain intervals. For example, when building a town you can do it quickly to save time, or take longer and scavenge for items. Taking too long could lead to “Calamities” (permanent enemy buffs) or “Incursions” which the enemies will actually move about the map pillaging until dealt with or they are whittled down by the townsfolk. On most difficulties you can manage this without the crippling anxiety and analysis paralysis these systems usually give - but if you want everything to be do-or-die then the customization is there for you (there is even a “no reload” mode). The combat is your standard grid-based fantasy fare. Warriors have armor and can taunt enemies, Rangers can move in and out of stealth and the Mages, peculiarly enough, can only cast magic by interfusing with terrain. Using plants to root enemies or stone pillars to shoot out a ricocheting rock is a fun twist on the standard spell slinging. Less is more with the class system in Wildermyth. It only features those three classes, but they *work*. Each class feels overpowered but you never feel unkillable as a party. The game features a great action economy as well, with many tactical abilities only costing your “swift action” and not negating your ability to attack and move. Too many games I find myself asking “why would I try to stun when I can just kill it?” However this rarely comes up in Wildermyth. In between combats you’ll chart the map revealing new “tiles” and getting a procedural event. Some can be benign, but others can have long lasting consequences. For example you may happen upon a flame that calls out to you; choosing to touch the flame will start a process of you slowly losing your limbs to becoming a fire elemental. Who needs swords when you can shoot fire! Your characters can also fall in love, causing retaliating strikes against a monster that hurt your loved one to do more damage. Friendships also provide block buffs when you stand next to each other in combat. Again, these are things decided in the road during the events of the game. There are 5 enemy types each with their own flavor. Cultists, bugs, biomechanics. It’s all there. I can guarantee you will find a monster in each type that you’ll grow to hate. The music is well done featuring a very depressing Cello-fronted orchestra. The music actually got re-released with live recordings versus the original MIDI tracks, thanks to a successful kickstarter. However, there is no voice acting which can be expected from a budget of this type of game. This wouldn’t be too much of an issue, but the dialogue is overly human and sometimes can be troublesome to follow unless you’re hyper focused on reading. Be prepared to read through a lot of “Huh - oh, yeah…..about that. I-I-it’s just, well…I don’t know.” Which I believe translates well to voice acting but is a little much when you’re trying to get through a cutscene before a fight. What really makes this game so special about how it’s bigger than itself. Going through your compendium of legendary heroes and reading the synopses of all their adventures (each party has its own name to refer to) is just a heartwarming experience. You feel like you’re truly creating your own book.

No game has ever gotten me so emotionally attached to randomly generated characters. It also evokes such amazing feelings of adventure, that I've only previously felt while playing pen and paper RPGs with my friends.