Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem

So I really like the GFX, the skills, the enemies, the combat. The voice overs are great, campaign is actually a good story - cut scenes are real nice. I haven't played long yet but i come here as a Veteran D2 Player, D3, D4, POE, Etc. What I like about Wolcen is that it launched as a terrible failure 3 years ago but the team didn't give up. They have been working diligently for free since then. In an age where goliath companies like Blizzard produce over-priced garbage, i believe in the under-dog studio. Wolcen's team is trying REALLY hard to continuously improve this game with free updates and patches. I think if we stick around this will eventually be a top ARPG - it has all the right stuff to reach that level.

7/10
Decent game with very high potential but the team of developers are either not many enough to go up the ladder or they don't care about it anymore.
Pos:
* Good RPG elements for a Hack&Slash game with one of the most intriguing and complex skill build i have ever seen in long time
* Weapons and armour easy to combo with preferred skill combination
* Good graphics & skills animation
* Similarities to Diablo games but not as evolved and tested as Blizzard's.
* Keeps you in front of PC.
Cons:
* Poor storyline
* Mediocre voice acting
* The game itself seems to be unfinished, unpolished and sometimes unplayable because of the servers/region
* Because i couldn't find a way for transmuting gems or combine it, i realised how useless is to keep it in the stash and how a waste of time was arranging it in the hope later i will have the option to make it stronger ones (if i haven't discovered the way to do that but there is an option, then my apologies...)
* Very buggy for a game released 2-3 years ago. That was something totally unexpected and unpleasantly surprised
* The Multiplayer option is DEAD! Either very long times to connect with someone or not working at all in specific regions.
* The loophole involving rising in level for no reason and doing the same thing over and over again, just to get stronger and bigger is so cheeky and ... disgraceful. Probably developers were having a meeting regarding new content release or DLC's and decided to just give as a way to continuing playing the game but without NEW chapters, maps, stories, viable MULTIPLAYER option or something much more exciting. BREADCRUMBS.
Anyway! I believe it's first time in my life when i give a thumbs up or good review to a game which has more cons than pos's and the reason why is simple. I enjoyed playing it for those few 65h aprox and i still reckon it has a lot of potential with a proper team and funding behind.
I'm not a professional gamer or critic, just writing my opinion in a personal way, describing with my own words the experience i had, not trying to be to fuzzy about specific content. Before buying something i read most of the times reviews by amateurs like me as i do not trust nowadays the professional youtuber's or gaming websites for simple reason that they get payed sometimes for those reviews and this have a tendency to influence the decision about rating the game itself. Always trust the "little people" as they will have no hidden interest behind their decisions of rating a game in a good or bad way, at least most of them/us.
PS: Thank you for dedicating some of your time reading all this. Hf gl.

Alright, it is time. While this may be long winded, I'm here with intent of truly trying to help you decide. I have EA experience, as do most of the "negative" reviews; but hear me out; because the end of this review proves I've actually played this title more than most. And i'm just getting started < ( 0_o ) > WHAT!?
20.2% of players beat Malika,, and only 13.1% of players defeated Big Bertha; these are little "mini" bosses literally found easily by just wondering around, 10.2%, of players customized every slot in their inventory, and roughly an average of 45% of players actually did..... well, anything. And I"m not kidding, only 42% of players even beat Act III. Literally most of my achievements clearly show that nobody's really even given this game a chance in it's current state and that's truly mind boggling to me.
TLDR, if you buy this game. PLAY it. EXPLORE it. KILL EVERYTHING. And if you like these kind of games; I guarantee you're gonna dig it.
I bought this game during Alpha EA; and this was like 2016? 2017? Idk it's been a minute brah. At the time, I was grinding hundreds of hours in Grim Dawn; and I was extremely critical of Wolcen. In fact, I put maybe 6 hours in and decided there was no way it was going to be worth my time. Beautiful, but not worthy my time.
Here I am a few years later. And I actually gave this game a shot.
I sat down and started a new game. Things had obviously changed. There was an entirely new introduction to the game, and it's not all "hand holdy" about it. It's story driven, and straight forward. I actually completed the introoduction and before you know it i'd put a good few hours into it. I ended that first session after all these years honestly quite surprised. I called it a night and wondered if I'd pick it up again.
Well.... I did. And here I am a few days wasted later (and 31.5 hours in) and I have just completed Chapter 3. I can honestly say I enjoyed this more than I enjoyed Grim Dawn, Diablo, PoE, and Titan Quest.
I cannot stress enough how critical of this game I was. Just like everyone else. But I can honestly say that looking up as I write this review to see "Mixed" reviews across the board; I'm a bit dumb founded tbh.
The game plays like a dream (I'll share spec's below, but just take my word for it, my machine is a monster). I lock FPS at 100 and it never waivers. The fact that I can just change weapons and respec my build on the fly for a 100% different game experience is incredibly appealing to me.
Offline play: The ONLY experience I care about. The fact I can play this OFFLINE is a HUUUUUUUUUUGE deal (eat donkey sh&(^ Blizzard).
No Microtransactions? WHAT!? Holy crap, you've got to be kidding me. That ALONE deserves a positive review; but I'll continue.
The skill tree system is similar to any other, like Grim Dawn, PoE, ect. ect. Those who say "the skill tree doesn't seem to do anything" clearly don't comprehend basic mathematics. Moving on.
The VISUALS, are just spot on man. The animations are gorgeous, the environment and geography are varied and vibrant. The mob types are detailed and interesting. The armors are cool (I might add not ALL of them make you look like a grim reaper; some of them legit make you feel like you're actually a good guy BONUS points).
I should note, this entire review is based on a SINGLE playthrough, with a single playstyle. And I'm already eager to try out another character, but I'm too caught op in getting Chapter IV finished to worry about a new character at this time.
The story was solid. And I skipped like 50% of it (look, I'm just trying to kill stuff right now mkay); but I still managed, spite skipping a ton of dialogue; to get attached to the main trio. I can't imagine how mind blown i'd of been if I'd of invested into every line of dialogue. It is well written, and captivating.
Look; I get the hate. EA was like any other; and the dev team got hammered like all the others. The project seemed to have gone sour, and yada yada blah blah. But THIS product, this one right here; it's worth your money if you enjoy these kinds of games.
It's made it to my favorites list. And the only reason it doesn't sit above Grim Dawn is because Steam organizes alphabetically. No joke, I will remember this game; and I look forward to many more hours of saving the world.
EDIT: Update on Act IV.... I don't think I've ever hung on the edge of feeling "overwhelmed" in so long. Jeeeeeeeeeesus Act IV hits the spot man. I just completed a mission that took me 4 different attempts and revisions in spec to accomplish and it was the most grafitying experience I've had in an ARPG. It wasn't just the action; it was the way the mission played out. And this is just ONE of these missions. There have been so many good ones that really start making you feel hopeless; and then just in that last stretch of "I'ma just give up, I can't handle this today" you manage to figure something out that gets you that last little stretch to the finish line.
The satisfaction of dealing with literal hordes of enemies and finally overcoming; oh yeah it's good.
Here's a tip I found to help you with gear. If you get through a really hard mission (I've only done this once); before returning to town; BACKTRACK the entire mission. Not only will you find a more laid back experience "cleaning up" (and you'll need the time to breath; trust me) but I encountered like 10 of the golden beetles in doing so; and earned me several Legendary's. Don't be in a rush to return to town after completing a mission! You will be rewarded for your pateince!
Hands down; best experiences I've had in a very, very long time when it comes to an ARPG.
EDIT: I'm now nearly 65 hours deep. My eldest child and my wife now own the game, and I have had a chance to experience multiplayer. It has been a good experience; but I can clearly tell why many are upset about the "state" of the game. Single player "offline" mode is PRIMO. But multiplayer is indeed full of bugs. Dungeon entrances not rendering so instead sometimes you see the "logic" bubble that acts as the door; instead of what should be a cave or a door entrance.
Sometimes you get black screen and have to return to the main menu and rejoin. Nothing that personally has altered my opinion of the game in any way. It's still hands down the most fun I've ever had with an ARPG.
EDIT: some 74 hours in I'm now one of the 2.2% of players actually beat the final boss and the 1.9% of players who stuck around to finish the chapter (like 10 extra minutes ffs!); EVER! If you aint beat it; you haven't given it an honest chance. OR and honest review.
P.S. I was wrong. Act 4 takes about as long to beat as each of the previous chapters. It's play style was a nice change of pace and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
This concludes my HONEST review of Wolcen V1.1.7.16.
SYSTEM SPECS
Arch Linux
AMD Ryzen 9 5950x
RTX 4090 24GB OC
128GB Corsair Vengance RAM

Glad I gave this one a try as looking at all the negative reviews I overlooked this one many times. As it turned out I loved the core game itself, which feels a bit like Diablo meets Path of Exile. I feel bad for the devs as I think it gets more hate than it deserves even if it has some issues.
I found myself wondering am I missing something here? As I was totally enjoying the game and had very few issues... until I had a couple of crashes to desktop which lost me at least 20 minutes progress each time. I also encountered several minor bugs but most of them were not game breaking, just a bit annoying.
I saw that an update caused some people to lose characters with 100+ hours in them and in those cases I totally understand negative reviews - that is completely unacceptable.
But if you are like me and you are quite happy to casually crawl your way through various locations in a great looking Diablo/POE like game, plus you don't care too much about the story (I skipped most of it tbh) and are just there for the ride rather than the destination.... this is a really enjoyable game with a lot to love. I finished the first 3 chapters and now am on the Stormfall Mode part of the game, which I credit them for adding as it goes in a bit of a different direction. But for me this is probably where I stop as I really just want the POE/Diablo style of game play.
If you take your isometric RPG games incredibly seriously then probably stick to POE but if you want to kill a few dozen hours in a POE style game, give this a go if you can get it during a sale.

Thoroughly enjoyed this. I was playing this concurrently with Diablo 4 and found myself playing this more. I played as a sorcerer in offline mode and nothing felt like a grind as it does in D4. Combat is fun and the spells have decent variety. I had the most fun with 3 summons and an OP annihilation beam.
You can pause the game unlike D4, which is super handy as i have a toddler running around and i can simply resume where i was without getting killed or logged off. All in all i am satisfied and will replay this. It was an absolute steal for only 10 dollars. in comparison I paid 150$ for D4 ultimate edition and am mostly disappointed, i should have just watched the cut scenes online and called it a day.

This game actually is becoming a redemption story similar to No Mans Sky. It fixed most of the bugs from launch day and it keeps fixing bugs and adding end game content. End game is pretty decent now and the gameplay loop keeps you in. As i just replayed this game in 2023, what it lacks is more end game content but overall the price of the game vs the content you can play and replay is already a steal. I highly recommend it now in its current state as a side ARPG after you finish all your seasons from other games.

If you're just a casual ARPG player seeking another hack & slash Diablo-ish game, or you're someone that wants to get into those kind of games, then just ignore all those bad reviews. You'll have fun playing Wolcen. It covers the basics of these type of games. I recommend playing with Slayer's Flurry build.
But if you're a vet that plays PoE, Grim Dawn, or any hardcore arpgs, and you love grinding the game to the brim, you'll probably won't want to play this. It's not bad imo, but the the endgame is, for an arpg, kinda short. I played other arpgs yet still think this game is fun to play.
ALSO. BUY THIS GAME AT A DISCOUNT! While I said this game is fun to play and all, in my hours of playing it, it crashes quite a few times. For a game that has been out for a couple of years, its unacceptable. Still, like I said, I enjoyed playing it.