Some video games are designed like nostalgia-seeking missiles, custom-built to hit you right in the feel-goods as they emulate the classics of yesteryear. They try to connect with a gamer of a certain middleish-age, and make them feel all warm and cuddly as they reflect upon their halcyon years when they had the free time to do lots and lots of gaming and without modern day adult problems. Wolcen is such a game.
Wolcen is an isometric hack ‘n’ slash action RPG adventure that immediately brings to mind Diablo 2 and 3. Not only does Wolcen visually emulate Blizzard’s finest, but it also plays in the exact same way too. You’ll steer your customised avatar around a fantasy landscape, furiously hitting the attack button as you chop away at any beastie you meet. Every now and again you can unleash a few special abilities and then it’s back to thwacking until your abilities recharge.Sure, it’s not doing anything particularly new, but it is mighty fun all the same. Combat in Wolcen is fast and frantic; hordes of gorgeously designed baddies head your way, only to be quickly dispatched in as gory a manner as possible.
Character design is strong throughout, with everyone you meet having a charmingly chunky aesthetic that brings to mind the distinctive visual flourish of Warhammer. Attacks are visually impressive too, flame trails sweep behind burning swords, magic spell blasts illuminate the landscape, and humongous demon character thingies crash and smash all before them. This is Lord of the Rings with its sunglasses on, the windows down, and the stereo turned up to 11.
The story? Well, there is a story, and some cut scenes too, but all of it was entirely forgettable. A thinly veiled excuse for the protagonist to get back into a dungeon, kill some more, and find some loot. Talking of loot, boy-oh-boy, is there a lot to find. Perhaps a bit too much, as many of the items are empty filler and fail to stand out, with the really cool spectacular weapons and armour coming few and far between. The thing is, for those looking for a Diablo nostalgia hit, that is absolutely fine. Grinding for hour after hour only to bin most of your gathered items is all part of the experience.
What is less appealing, however, is the fact that this is a terrible console conversion. During its early access on PC, Wolcen had all sorts of technical issues, bugs, and glitches that were largely resolved by the time of its full release. Unfortunately and inexplicably, it seems that these technical hitches are back with a vengeance on console. The game frequently crashes and has severe frame rate issues rendering some sections of the game borderline unplayable. Menu screens are an absolute chore to navigate too, with bizarre configurations of button prompts required to access items or level-up abilities. And, seeing as a big part of this style of game is all about accessing items and levelling-up abilities, that’s down right unforgivable.
Performance may be better on the latest consoles, as I was playing on PS4, but there’s plenty of complaints of bugs and glitches on PS5 after the most recent updates.
