No Rest for the Wicked
From Moon Studios, the award-winning developers of Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps comes No Rest for the Wicked, a visceral, precision Action RPG set to reinvent the genre.
The year is 841 – King Harol is dead. As word of his death echoes throughout the kingdom, the crown passes to his arrogant, yet untested son Magnus.
Even worse, the Pestilence, an unholy plague not seen for a thousand years, has returned. It sweeps across the land, corrupting everything and everyone it touches. Madrigal Seline, a ruthlessly ambitious figure in the church, sees the Pestilence as a chance to prove herself in the eyes of her god.
These forces converge on the backwater Isola Sacra, where rebel groups and the provincial government fight for control amid the isle’s crumbling ruins.
You are a Cerim – a member of a group of mystical holy warriors imbued with remarkable powers and sworn to defeat the Pestilence at any cost. But the task will prove increasingly challenging as you become entangled in the people’s plight and the vast political struggle of this downtrodden land. Chaos will pull you in every direction as you seek to cleanse the land of wickedness and shape the kingdom’s fate.
Steam User 2113
No Rest for the Oven. It still needs to cook, but there is a game here (which is more than I can say about other "games").
These are some suggestions for the devs and some of my pain points from my initial playthrough. By no means do they have to change all of them in the way described below. So, off the top of my head:
- Add key rebinding as soon as possible.
- Add a "Quit to Desktop" button. Can't have a PC game without that one.
- When speaking with NPCs, reading notes or kicking ladders, make it so the character does not need to face it to interact.
- Environment readability needs to be improved. Sometimes you can't see things like flowers/shrooms because they blend with the background colors.
- Camera sometimes moves in a position where you can't see your character.
- I get that the game should be hard, but it would be nice if the monster/boss attacks were better telegraphed. (Example: you should be able to see where a bomb flying towards you will land, a chime sound when you can parry, the autotarget dot should reflect what kind of action you can do to that monster, etc) This goes a long way towards improving how the combat feels.
- Movement (especially during combat) is sluggish. Not sure if enemies input read, but if they do, it would be nice for us to have animation cancelling when doing dodges, would make it more responsive.
- Durability is useless and has no place here. It does not add to any of the mechanics, it is just a pain for the player and not fun at all.
*Edit 1: So I've played a bit before and after the Hotfix:
- Before the hotfix, I was soft-locked after beating the 1st boss at level 4. No equipment or weapons were dropping so I kept dying to the respawned enemies, that seemed to be more difficult during the day, until I had no gold to repair. It was just frustrating. Thankfully the hotfix has made it so you can get out of this death spiral and actually continue the game.
- Durability is better now, but I am still of the opinion that it doesn't add to the game. It is just a way to force us to go into town and check in with all the NPCs. Tedious.
- I don't think there is any need for timers when building improvements. Why wait 15 minutes for a simple blacksmith upgrade?
- Inventory management and the fact that you have to unlock rows for each separate tab takes away from improving your character. It makes me prioritize the resource tab upgrade (since that fills up the fastest) instead of anything else.
- It would be nice if all upgrading equipment would take into account the items that are in the community chest, instead of making me run from and towards the community chest.
- The stamina fix has made it better to time swings and combos. Still punishing, but much more fair.
- At least one of the heavy enemies has a double bomb throw. This is next to impossible to dodge since he throws them one after the other and staggers you both times, while also setting you on fire. Would be good to have at least a bit of a delay between throws to give time to dodge.
This isn't an exhaustive list and I'll probably update it as I find more stuff. All in all it's pretty decent for an Early Access game. The quick response to feedback makes me really hopeful that devs will make a true gem. The world building, story characters, artistic direction is top notch, and, with time, the gameplay will be on par as well.
Steam User 277
As a fan of both aRPGs (especially Diablo 1 and 2) and Souls-like games (especially Demon Souls and DS1), this game is a dream come true for me. The game draws heavily from these genres and incorporates a few ideas from farm sims and metroidvanias - drawing on their background from Ori - to create something bold and unique.
Main Influences
Diablo 1 (heavy influence): Includes RNG (loot and enemy spawns), isometric view, centralized hub, dark atmosphere, replay-ability, fixed camera etc. What I particularly love about their approach to the genre is how they've moved away from the mindless combat of current aRPGs, which typically involve running around, 'exploding the screen' with ridiculous numbers for damage, stats, currencies etc.
Dark Souls (heavy influence): Features methodical, visceral, tactical combat with rewards for well-timed dodges and parries, stamina management, sparse save points and waypoints, and tougher boss fights.
Farm sims (light influence): Allows us to collect resources outside the main hub to help build your main base, create furniture, etc.
Metroidvanias/Ori (light influence): Offers interconnected paths across a centralized map, with plenty of hidden treasures and some platforming elements (crossings and jumps).
Who might enjoy this game?
People who are not fans of the current state of aRPGs—especially end-game combat and the screen clutter typical of games like Diablo 3 and Path of Exile—appreciates the isometric view w/ fixed camera and a tactical approach to combat.
Who might not like this game?
aRPG and/or Dark Souls purists who enjoy these games for what they are and are not too open to mixed ideas. Even so, I urge you to give this unique gem a try—at least reach the main hub and unlock some of the side missions there—before you completely dismiss it.
Feedback to developers (in order of relevance)
Stay true to your vision. Feedback is crucial for all games, but be careful not to cater too much to a particular group of fans (aRPG fans might ask to speed up everything, DS purists might ask for more unforgiving combat, etc.). The most recent game to completely ruin its premise for a more tactical approach to combat was Diablo 4. The game was ruined by this feedback, and the current endgame already has the mindless gameplay of running around exploding the screen like D3 and PoE, ‘gold sink’ where you spend billions of gold to perform simple tasks like item re-rolling, builds causing trillions of damage etc—it's sad. So far, PoE 2 also has a strong vision of what they believe is the evolution of aRPGs and I truly hope you both stay true to it.
Performance is king. FPS dips are quite frequent, and I have a 3090Ti. Also, consider that not everybody has an NVIDIA card, so make sure to add both DLSS and AMD FSR tech as soon as possible.
Build diversity. I'm only level 16, but so far, Archer and Mage pure builds—even building 100% focus—are not possible and just a gimmick (spells and arrows consume focus and don't have a basic attack to their weapons, needs to be addressed ASAP in my opinion for enthusiasts of ranged builds). Feel free to correct me if pure ranged builds are possible past a certain level (or by acquiring specific unique items); even so, it should be 100% possible from level 1 onward if you want to promote build diversity from the start and win over people who hate melee combat (lots of people).
Take your time before releasing the multiplayer patch. It is one of the most complex aspects to introduce in any game, and the number of bugs will skyrocket. It is a feature that many people look forward to, and they will get super frustrated if you release it in an alpha stage.
Loot and RNG. I know loot is full RNG, but the loot from bosses/mini-bosses could see a slight increase in rarity. Having bosses / mini-bosses dropping trash loot is detrimental to the experience. Fixing this would add to the 'dopamine effect' from aRPGs. :D
Lastly, thank you for spending the last six years creating my dream game. I wish you the best of luck!
Steam User 394
Overall recommend,. Im having a lot of fun. But as a fellow game dev I have some feedback for developers as they finish the polish on this one:
EA Feedback
Gameplay
* Durability changes in latest patch helped so much! Not needing to evac and repair every few deaths is wonderful.
* Stamina buff likewise fantastic. I can swing more than once and hope to dodge lol
* You should be able to backstab fatties, at least if not hostile yet.
* Crouch movement too slow to catch non-stationary guards from behind. Maybe if light armored, moves at walk speed when crouched? Would fit that character type.
* Input dropping - As a dev this is hard issue to solve. There are many times where input was dropped because my character didnt do the button I pressed. When this gets you killed, it sucks.
* Bloat enemies sometimes explode on last hit instead of charging up. I know its a single hit and not two hits because I have a very slow claymore. Assume it has to do with the cold damage on the sword counting as a second hit.
* Rolling right before a clif edge will prevent jumping from that edge, even if holding run. Problem if you plan on having some ranged enemies in tight walks.
* Enemies throw projectiles with near homing accuracy. I can hit dodge as it releases from their hand and it will hit me dead on.
Weapon/Build Options
* More rune options would be awesome. The Gore Covered legendary is nigh unusable do to the slow attack, but its runes were REALLY fun to use so I used it until the sewer anyway lol (claymore is just so much better)
* Having a shared stash to hand gear to an alt in a world is awsome, but the world leveling up means theres no where for that alt to level. (I started a mage after the sewer fight and everything 1 shot my new lvl 1 character, who is now lvl6 and still gets 2-3 shot)
* Like Int has spells, I hope to see Faith based weapons have some cool miracle type stuff. Have only seen hammers with smash and kite shields with... I dont remember.
* Would be cool to have some Str/Dex runes with flair too. Ground pound/shadow step that sort of thing.
* Equipment feels heavy, but that may just be early game. My level 6 mage has to have 19 equip load (3/5 level dump) to carry a staff and cloth armor to barely light roll... which feels weird. BUT, will I need much more going into higher levels? Prob not. My level 14 Warrior has 21 equip, much heaver stuff, and still mid rolls. So it may just be an early game quirk and not an issue at all.
Misc Notes
* Would like a cheapo house for 5s that has no room, just so I can drop a chest to store the crafting items Im always full on. Im saving for the Manor, but just having the extra stash early would be very nice.
* The sewer boss fight was VERY long with my high damage character. Consider having him turn at half health if he gets topped off anyway.
* Sewer boss also felt like he had lagging hit boxes. I would dodge past the attack and get hit well after his sword passed through.
* Consider making the stamina bar stand out a bit more.
* Terrain does not block LOS for enemies you try to sneak up on (at least not destructible terrain)
* Please let us rebind dodge/run to B lmao. I have died more than once hours in trying to roll with B ;D
* Second characters need more ways to get ichor, as all story bosses cant be replayed
* allow us to limit what options appear on item selection (holding up or down to set quick-use). Nothing worse mid battle when Im sifting through furniture to find the rune potion (theres a funny meme in there though)
Steam User 1463
No Rest for the GPU
Steam User 149
reading the other reviews it feels like people bought this game thinking it was diablo. the performance issues are annoying, yes, and the games systems definitely need some tweaking (this is still early access, what did you expect) but the core premise of the game is executed flawlessly from the (vertical) exploration to the juicy souls like combat. and all that while feeling very novel in many regards.
i was really on the fence about the game bc of the reviews even though i was very hyped since it was first announced but this was truly money well spent and i hope that the developers dont get too discouraged bc of all the harsh negativity here on steam.
Steam User 1069
“Is this really a souls-like?”
character rolls through barrels
“Very well then”
Steam User 201
As a 51-year-old gamer, I've journeyed through gaming history since the days before the Atari Woody even hit the scene. Picture this: a time when having not one, but two Voodoo 2 graphics cards 24 Meg of graphic goodness, linked by SLI Scan-Line Interleave BY 3dfx (not the SLI you youngsters know today) was the pinnacle of gaming glory
From Castle Wolfenstein's pioneering thrills to the seismic impact of Quake 1 and 2, my shed became the hallowed grounds A router and dozens of cables for LAN parties with my Mates, blasting each other to pixelated bits in Killer Quake and strategizing through Command and Conquer marathons. Total Annihilation, KKnD (or Krush, Kill 'n' Destroy for the uninitiated) – you name it, I've battled through it.
But then came Diablo, and oh boy, that was the moment I sealed my fate as a lifelong gamer. Diablo 2? Pure gaming nirvana. And just when I thought it couldn't possibly get any better, along came World of Warcraft, where strolling out of Iron forge with my trusty Dwarf Hunter and my Bear Companion by my side felt like stepping into a digital utopia. Back then, gaming was pure. No micro transaction nonsense – just you, your game, and maybe a trusty floppy disk or CD-ROM.
Yet, I must confess, the golden age of gaming seems to have lost some of its luster in recent years. Sure, there have been glimmers of greatness, but nothing quite captures that insatiable grip on your attention like the classics did.
Enter early access games – often rough around the edges, but occasionally, they ignite that long-lost spark within us. And let me tell you, something special has rekindled my gamer spirit, and it's all thanks to Moon Studios. Their latest creation has breathed new life into this old gamer's heart. Sure, we gamers can be a demanding bunch, but this game? It's pure gold.
So, here's to you, Moon Studios – for giving this aging gamer a reason to stay up past his bedtime once again. Here's to the promise of what's to come, and to the joy of watching this game evolve. Thank you.