Warlander is the latest free-to-play online multiplayer game from Toylogic and Plaion, and it promises to deliver a unique blend of hack-and-slash, shooter, and strategy action in a medieval world .......with robots?
Sounds a bit good , eh? Well, hold your horses.
While the game has some cool features and ideas, it also has some serious flaws that make it hard to recommend.
Warlander is a PvP war game that lets you choose from five armies and three classes: warrior, mage, and cleric.
You can further customize your character with different gear and cosmetics that you can obtain, either by spending real money or earned from loot boxes.
Once kitted out you join matches of up to 100 players and try to destroy the enemy's castles using various siege weapons and items. The game also boasts full cross-play support across Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC.
While Warlander's concept is intriguing, its execution is disappointing. The game's art style is suitable for purpose but feels extremely generic. It reminded me a lot of the original 2004 World of Warcraft character models and it just is lacking the charm and humor of Toylogic's previous title "Happy Wars".
The maps are also repetitive and that gets old fast, offering little incentive to explore or discover new things.
Gameplay is fairly shallow and monotonous, with matches that feel too similar and predictable.
Most of my criticism however centers around balance, either between classes or players.
Some classes are clearly superior or inferior to others, but the worst part of the is its monetization scheme. The game relies heavily on microtransactions and loot boxes that give players access to better gear and cosmetics. This creates a pay-to-win scenario where players who spend more money have an unfair advantage over those who don't.
This is further compounded by the crossplay, which in almost any other game would be a welcome addition. With the console version being released after the PC version there is a hefty chunk of the player base that already has extremely well geared characters.
The game's free-to-play model is appealing, but its microtransactions are borderline exploitative.
Warlander is a game that tries to do too many things at once, but ultimately fails to do any of them particularly well.
Warlander definitely has some shining moments and there is fun to be had; however for me these were all in the first few hours and it was nothing more than a veneer which quickly wore through.
But hey, it's a free to play game so you have nothing to lose by downloading it and having a try for yourself!
Warlander is available now on PC and console .
Comentários