Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem seemingly came out of nowhere and has proven itself to be a competitively unique, high quality and addicting ARPG that can certainly stand next to other established names in the ARPG genre, such as Diablo, Path of Exile and Grim Dawn, despite some shortcomings that need to be addressed as developers continue to tweak and build on Wolcen.
Though Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem comprises gorgeous graphical visuals, a unique node-based skill tree for creating diverse character builds, fluid combat and all the key ingredients of an addictive ARPG, there are still a number of large and small issues that need to be addressed in due time in order for Wolcen to be a great ARPG game in the long run.
Despite Wolcen’s official release, there are still very much issues with the game that need further development. And given that it is out of early access, some fans may be less patient or willing to forgive these oversights or shortcomings if they are not addressed quickly enough.
From underpowered to overpowered passive abilities, there is much in the way of balancing which Wolcen’s developers need to tweak before players can become too comfortable with their character builds, even though some have already been fixed in the latest patches.
But as long as the balancing issues with skills and passive abilities can be hashed out, there is a solid character building system underneath it all, with a similar skill-tree of Path of Exile’s, but more streamlined for those who may have felt overburdened. Many players have described Wolcen as being “Path of Exile lite”, or even “Diablo 2.5”, which for many is complimentary given that fans have been desiring an ARPG more akin to Diablo 2 over Diablo 3 for years.
Wolcen’s deep character customization also has a learning curve that is more tolerable for many, especially the way in which Wolcen allows players to modify individual skills similarly to Diablo.
Wolcen allows players to equip any gear they wish unrestricted, but the stats on even the game’s most rarest gear often provide players with nothing desirable, or are out of sync with their supposed value. For example, the loot players come across is not catered to a player’s uniquely individual build and skills in Wolcen, and the long awaited rare item will often have randomly generated bonuses which are completely irrelevant to that build and gear, and is out of touch with what the player specifically needs.
This can be extremely frustrating for both the hardcore gamer who puts a lot of time into trying to obtain the most rare items necessary to build up their character, as well as the casual player who will need to regularly gain gear that fits the build they are developing.
Also, as deliciously mouth-watering as the visuals entail, and it certainly does look jaw dropping at times, the game still has some optimization issues even for those with particularly powerful computers, and especially those who wish to play the game in 4K. Normally, the isometric overhead view of an ARPG allows for more leeway for computer hardware to handle its graphical load, but not Wolcen.
Even on a 1080Ti video card, which is still considered fairly high-power, with the latest generation i7 CPU, and 16gb of ram, the game often runs below 40fps in 4K, even in cities where enemies are not present. The performance could easily stutter far below that threshold on mid-range computers with older video cards, even at standard 1080p resolution (1920 x 1080).
Sometimes the issues related to optimization, and other times they are clearly bugs which can bring the game to a standstill, especially in navigating the game’s user interface and inventory system. Often times, it ends up requiring a complete restart of the game, which can be frustrating even for player’s who were willing to patiently play through Wolcen’s rough launch.
Perhaps the largest area of the game in need of further content and development is the end-game. Upon finishing the game, the Champion of Stormfall mode is unlocked, which enables players to manage the city and expeditions. It sounds deep and enjoyable, but at the moment it is very limited, and comes with some tough tribulations in addition to requiring lots of resources in Wolcen.
This creates a new skill slot and crafting abilities, but making changes and upgrades to the city requires an overburdening amount of resources. This would be fine and rewarding if it was not for needing to replay the same content and missions in Wolcen’s Acts over repetitively. This shortcoming can be overlooked to a degree, as long as developers are serious about bringing new content to fans actively.
Unfortunately, death has a heavy reward in this mode, causing players to lose everything they had gained for their cities resources and upgrading opportunities. On one hand, it provides a worthy challenge and consequences for death, but it also removes some of the incentive for a player to pursue the longer expeditions for greater rewards, as opposed to a mission.
For some fans, the zero-sum nature of expeditions may be unappealing for the end-game city management experience, and it may suit well if developers can manage to make some compromise in allowing players to walk away with something in the unfortunate event of death, or have some means of multiple chances, with consequences.
Also, as mentioned before, the questionable and random item stats which are gained make repetitively running through these missions an even bigger requirement, since gaining items with desirable stats is too heavily drawn by luck at the moment, and less catered to the build of the character. This can make it a difficult process in investing time to create a particular type of class build in Wolcen which a player may have in mind..
Wolcen is a game of which fans of ARPGs may want to hold out on, if they are still contemplating the purchase. The most dedicated players are really just guinea pigs for the game’s development team, especially in balancing out its many issues in the way in which the stats and abilities on its complex skill-tree work together in their synergy.
But ARPG fans should definitely keep Wolcen on their radar, if they are not ready to make the purchase at this current time, because Wolcen has the fundamental ingredients to stand out as something both unique and addictive. But it is a game that will certainly age well and will truly shine further down the road, if Wolcen developers follow through on patching issues and the show the same level of support and active content updates which other games such as Path of Exile has enjoyed.
Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem is currently available on PC.
