The Waylanders

If someone told you that yet another high-fantasy, tactical RPG was coming soon to a PC near you - what would you say? More often than not, the response would be - "bring it on!". Fantasy RPG fans can never really get enough of this stuff - and that's why the upcoming The Waylanders gains interest right from its announcement.

That excitement about another game to add to our portfolios does not omit it from criticism, though. In fact, these games tend to get the heaviest critique of them all. The dedicated fan-following of the genre can be pretty relentless. The Waylanders is still in early access - but coming along enough to face the wrath of a public trial. So where are we at?

Show Me The Way To Kaltia

The world that The Waylanders is based in already sets the tone for the lore of the game. The environments are openly based on a blend of the real-world location of Galicia, delivering a healthy mix of Galician and Celtic mythology into its universe. First glances show the levels rife with color, detail, and livelihood. That's what you would want from an RPG world.

As one would expect, the narrative is heavy. It takes a detailed journey through different periods of the region's history with a story about power and corruption. The typical tale but expertly delivered through experienced RPG writers. It all seems to come together to create an epic role-playing game until we come to the core gameplay.

We respect there's ambition here, but there is a lot of work that needs to be done to bring this world to life. The combat is real-time with a tactical pause, but the extensive options are clunky. The level of visual detail is causing performance issues. Finally, the animations look incredibly stiff. But what we can say - the groundwork is all there.

The Waylanders ambition has set the foundations in place for an excellent RPG. There is excellent camera control to immerse players into exploration and battles, and the vast levels of customization don't go amiss. The problem at the moment is fine-tweaking everything, so your holistic experience isn't interrupted by some really irritating bugs. But that's what early access is for, right?

Still a Ways to Go

There's a lot of potential for The Waylanders despite its troubled state at present. The developers have a genuine ambition to bring a wholesome, engaging RPG experience to players. It's pretty clear-cut that the team are genre fanatics and are building a game to please other dedicated and nostalgic fans. There's just a long way to go at the moment.

Pros:

• A beautiful, vibrant world with a rich lore
• The concept of mixing real-world and fantasy mythologies comes off as excellent
• Customization and dialogue options are vast

Cons:

• Many bugs are littered throughout the gameplay
• Animations are painfully stiff in places
• Combat AI needs a lot of work