Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem Impressions

System

Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem Impressions

Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem is the debut effort from WOLCEN Studio just having recently left Early Access. Priced at $40 (40 US Dollars), this crowdfunded game clearly wears its ARPG inspiration on its sleeves. And what beautiful sleeves they are. Having playing roughly two hours at the time of writing, here are my initial impressions of Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem.

Read the full story here

Palebane

Whats a wolcen? Like a cross between a wolf and a Vulcan?

Gobstopper3D

Another top-down game. I wish I enjoyed those, but I don't. Never have and never will. Looks good though.

Panther2103

I've been having fun. The server issues aside it's been a pretty enjoyable ARPG, I like how the passive tree works a lot.

The bugs are kind of frustrating, I ran into multiple unkillable enemies yesterday because they were all stuck in some area that was not hittable but they were able to hit me. 

kitarad

I love  how you can rotate the tree and make all types of builds. This makes the game interesting

Utinni

Do not join a game with a friend that is farther along in progression as yourself! It will save the progression as your own and you will have to restart!

Lumiere123

Sorry but this game is hard copycat of Diablo 3 with only few improvements. (not diablo fan)

Endgame? Great rifts with special tasks (big joke for me). And rifts have very low density of mobs.
Skill? Copycat of Diablo with "improved versions via passive updates" but yeah you a pick up 4 passives, instead one like in Diablo.
Skill tree looks massive, but nothing innovative what was not seen before in any game. 100% time you will be searching for High DPS nodes, anyway.
Maybe when you are not new in ARPGs its look great (cuz graphic and flashy skills), but it really do not bring something innovative on the table.
Maybe I expect so much from this game, but I tried and refunded. Maybe I try if after 2 years again, when they bring up more updates, fixes, etc... If it will be not dead in meantime...

Zilverback

Well, if one is going to be fair you have to compare this game to the release versions of D3 and POE, if you do that this game is so much better than both of them... Sure, there are minor issues and bugs and a lot of room to grow but overall a damn good game if you like arpg's...

Another thing to take in consideration is the studio and the size of it. To pull of something like this with a crew of 10-15ppl is nothing less of remarkable and truly impressive!

Personally im having a blast and loving it, been waiting so long for a good arpg and this fits me like a glove...

Cheers

Theocritus

$40 thats a bit steep isn't it?

Tokken

I've loved it since it's early stages...... it's even better now!

Untamedgunner

Wolcen is absolutely an incredible ARPG! Bar none the best looking ARPG on the market. The skill system is awesome,with a dagger in one hand and catalyst in the other. I’m a melee wizard! I love changing my builds through each section. The combination is limitless. With hidden bosses and secondary areas to explore the games packed with content. I won’t spoil anything but I’ll say this new systems introduced in the game kick butt. It truly feels like next gen ARPG I’ve been waiting for. 24 hours in chapter 2.

TiamatRoar

It's true that it's unfair to compare today's D3 and Path of Exile with a game that just came out, and that it'd be fairer to compare yesterdecade's D3 and PoE to it instead.

However, the D3 and POE we have today isn't the one from a decade ago.  It's today's D3 and PoE.   (heck, the latter one is free-to-play, even)

Well, the article writer does say the first impressions of the game actually does hold up to today's D3 and POE.  Although of course that's only after 2 hours of play.  Obviously not really enough playtime to fully know yet.

It'll be interesting to see how the game turns out in the longer run.  At least more competition might be good to keep ARPGs on their toes and learn from each other.

Riqqy82

The first boss took me about 100 tries to beat, I dont know I kind of cheesed it to beat it, didnt really feel like i dominated the fight as much as he dominated me, im not sure if i tried fighting him too early or my build and ability selection werent that great, but it was frustrating and hard due to the mechanics and the platform on which you had to fight him, he had 3 abilities all of which 1 shot me if i were to get hit (which i did.....oh i did) i smoked a whole pack of cigs as this 100 attempt boss adventure ensued. That being said this game is really alot of fun, is it anything innovative? not really its 2020 and creative minds are non exhistant, but there alot of mr' fix its out there currently and this is a better version of diablo and a side grade to PoE, however wolcen doesnt require in game purchases which makes it a ton better imo.

Warlyx

started a mage not a bad game , but dislike that story text is on the right and hard to see , gameplay looks good but something is missing dunno what....still low lvl but looks linear at best

sk8chalif

the game does not allow you to perform actions while performing another one. This is not necessarily a bad design decision, but because there's zero input buffer when you're animation locked, it makes the game feel massively clunky.
You know when you jump in d3 and then do a Whirlwind the transition between skill are smooth. in  this game sometime you press it after doing an action and nothing happened. then u press again now it doing it

not a bad game tho. i enjoy it and i will stick too this game for a while. but i hope too see lot of improvement .

blazingcut

Been playing since early access. Best game since diablo so far. Late game is quite boring and dull

Deadrites87

I'm enjoying the game so far. This one has stuck with me more than the others have.

cmacq

People complaining about the story being linear? Please tell me how POE or D3 are not linear if you're doing the story.....I'm really enjoying it so far but like many others, I'm playing in offline mode. Let them sort out their problems before attempting online. How well I remember D3 some 8 years ago. Even with it's problems this is a much better game.

McSleaz

I think the Loot Drops need a ton of work, very un-impressed with the loot.

Utinni

Lumiere123 said:

Sorry but this game is hard copycat of Diablo 3 with only few improvements. (not diablo fan)

Endgame? Great rifts with special tasks (big joke for me). And rifts have very low density of mobs.
Skill? Copycat of Diablo with "improved versions via passive updates" but yeah you a pick up 4 passives, instead one like in Diablo.
Skill tree looks massive, but nothing innovative what was not seen before in any game. 100% time you will be searching for High DPS nodes, anyway.
Maybe when you are not new in ARPGs its look great (cuz graphic and flashy skills), but it really do not bring something innovative on the table.
Maybe I expect so much from this game, but I tried and refunded. Maybe I try if after 2 years again, when they bring up more updates, fixes, etc... If it will be not dead in meantime...

So you bought an ARPG and it was an ARPG with ARPG elements found in other ARPGs, but were surprised it was an ARPG ? 

blamo2000

I would have bought this game but many mmorpg.com users explained to me how evil exclusives are whenever the Epic store is brought up.  Since this game is only on Steam it is an evil exclusive and no good person would ever support it, right?  

DafAtRandom

Refunded.  There is ZERO reason for this game to be more expensive than Grim Dawn, which is a superior game (except in graphics).

retiredmj

Games pretty clunky, can be fun, looks nice but the hype is why this game is doing as well as it is nothing else. Devs have been working on this game for over 3 years, don't expect polish anytime soon.

Game will be forgotten in a month, only reason to pick this up is if you're burnt out on PoE, D3, and Grim Dawn. Game has no business being $40

Palebane

Do they ever explain what a wolcen is?

cheyane

I posit it is the droplets you release when you come across an ascendant form resource. That is what wolcen means. Ice droplets and crystals. Can also mean heaven.

Iselin

cheyane said:

I posit it is the droplets you release when you come across an ascendant form resource. That is what wolcen means. Ice droplets and crystals. Can also mean heaven.

I'm going to go with its Old English meaning, the heavens, because it wouldn't be an ARPG without some involvement from angels and demons or their non-judaic counterparts.