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| #30 | Wildermyth |
|---|---|
| guessed by | no one |
| platform | Linux |
| release year | 2021 |
| developer/publisher | Worldwalker Games |
| genre | tactical RPG, adventure |
| links | Wikipedia |
Wildermyth was a game kept hearing good things about, so I gave in and tried it myself. And this was a good decision. Because Wildermyth is actually innovative.
In it's core Wildermyth is a story-driven development game, where you make decisions to bring forward your band of adventurers. Things will be broken up by events, including fights in a tactical RPG manner. The game features multiple campaign, each will stretch over decades, with your heroes getting older and younger folks (possibly their kids) taking over.
In it's core these elements are done decently well, especially given it is made by a small indie team. But what makes it special is the way it handles story. The story of Wildermyth is procedurally generated. This sounds bonkers, but let me explain: the game uses story templates, broadly describing an event. The characters put into it can vary and so can the direction it takes depending on your decisions or the character of your party members involved. That can change the outcome of these events.
But they also often change your character considerably. A dream that leads two of your party members away on their own journey might end up with the dreamer gaining crow wings and feet. Or fire hands. They can also be maimed in combat and for instance lose an eye. So you start seeing the adventure so far on the depiction of your heroes.
While each campaign has some set story templates, most of the events are drawn from a random pool, so each playthrough ends up completely differently. This works surprisingly well.
A lot of the story is presented in a comic book style, with your actual characters put into the panels and the speech bubbles are differing depending on choices or character traits.
The characters start off as normal people, they just act in the face of danger, picking up a pitch fork or a pan and facing the monsters. A special mention for the magic system here. The Mystics manipulate objects that are on the tactical map. For instance they can coerce wood to explode into splinter, damaging nearby foes. That can be a door or a book shelf. Or if there is a plant, a tree or bush, they can grow their roots to entangle the enemy. Interesting way to implement magic.
All in all I am wondering why I never before saw such an idea implemented. It is a cool way to create unique stories that are also engaging. If all I think the scope is lacking, a bigger team instead of a small indie could do a lot with this basic idea. But as it is Wildermyth is a great experience. I hope other creators see this idea and developing it further, as I feel the full potential of this style of storytelling is not yet reached. So I wonder how this will evolve in a decade and shape future games. I am pretty sure it will.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T6wqsRa1IU&t=35s&ab_channel=IGN
Last edited by Mnementh - on 02 December 2022
