The Waylanders

43%
Game Brain Score Based on 226 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • graphics
The Waylanders Game Cover
The Waylanders is an interesting concept let down by poor dialogue and inconsistent challenge, but it’s not without its charm.
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"The Waylanders" is a party-based RPG that transports players between Celtic and medieval eras. Control a customizable character and six companions, switching between human and animal forms in strategic combat. Explore a rich, historically inspired world filled with mythical creatures, political intrigue, and the complexities of friendship and romance.

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Reviews

43%
Audience ScoreBased on 226 reviews
story37 positive mentions
stability33 negative mentions
  • The game has an interesting world and races, with a compelling story that shows promise.
  • The graphics and art style are visually appealing, creating a vibrant atmosphere.
  • The character creation area is encouraging, allowing for some customization despite its limitations.
  • The game is plagued by numerous bugs, crashes, and unresponsive controls, making it frustrating to play.
  • Many cutscenes are missing or poorly executed, leading to a disjointed narrative experience.
  • The voice acting and dialogue often feel awkward and inconsistent, detracting from immersion.
  • story187 mentions

    The story of the game presents an intriguing premise with a rich world and potential for engaging character arcs, but it suffers from significant execution issues, including disjointed pacing, missing cutscenes, and numerous bugs that hinder quest progression. Many players find the narrative hard to follow due to abrupt jumps in the plot and a lack of meaningful choices, leading to frustration and a diminished emotional connection to the characters. While some appreciate the initial concept and voice acting, the overall storytelling feels rushed and underdeveloped, leaving players hoping for improvements in future updates.

    • “The story felt compelling, something fresh and different, which is why I originally supported it.”
    • “The characters, the story, and the lore (inspired mainly by Celtic culture and legends from Galicia, Spain) are original and cool.”
    • “I definitely enjoyed the story, the characters (love Nazhedja and Amergin), the atmosphere, and the art style.”
    • “The story is messy as can be and from what I've heard only makes less sense the further you go.”
    • “It's hard to get invested into the story and characters when it obviously didn't seem like they were investing enough time into making this done properly.”
    • “The story is really rushed so it's hard to grasp what exactly is going on & there is a part in the start of the game that I'm guessing for early access reasons is told with *a few hours later* and then suddenly you're rushed into things without knowing what just happened.”
  • gameplay51 mentions

    The gameplay of the game has received largely negative feedback, with many users citing clunky mechanics, frequent bugs, and a lack of polish that detracts from the overall experience. While some players appreciate the potential of certain features like the formation system and find the story intriguing, the overwhelming consensus is that the combat is tedious and unbalanced, making it difficult to enjoy the game. Overall, the gameplay is seen as a significant barrier to immersion and enjoyment, overshadowing any positive aspects of the narrative or visuals.

    • “Waylanders has great potential - interesting story, gameplay mechanics, setting, etc. It could actually become your very 'indie Dragon Age'.”
    • “The gameplay reminded me of classic squad real-time strategy titles such as X-Men Legends, where you can select the heroes that are going to be part of your squad and level them up to make the ultimate strike team; with cool added features such as formations which could be a game changer once the game is fully tuned.”
    • “Characters are interesting, the lore is original, and gameplay is fun.”
    • “The problem is the actual gameplay: the combat is a grindy, tedious, unbalanced mess, and it is probably one of the worst examples of real-time with pause I have encountered.”
    • “I'm sorry but when you encounter a bug or a glaring lack of polish every 30 seconds of gameplay, if not more, it becomes just painful to go on.”
    • “When the core of the gameplay is bad, no amount of interesting characters, good story, or dialogue will make up for it.”
  • graphics48 mentions

    The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the unique and charming cartoon-like art style and impressive landscapes, while others criticize the visuals as outdated and lacking detail. Although some players find the graphics appealing and emotive, they also note issues such as poor animations, a lack of character customization, and overall visual inconsistencies. Despite the aesthetic appeal, many agree that the graphics alone cannot compensate for the game's other shortcomings.

    • “The graphics are nice, the scenery is well-made.”
    • “The artwork and colors are impressive!”
    • “Very nice graphics, lighting, and art style.”
    • “The graphics are from 2002, the controls are from 1964, and the game is unfinished and in a genuinely woeful state.”
    • “Visuals are extremely weak for this time of gaming.”
    • “In terms of visuals and story away from gameplay, the voice acting ranges from fine to absolutely horrible, animations are generally poor, but facial animations especially are horrible to look at.”
  • stability33 mentions

    The game suffers from significant stability issues, with numerous reports of freezing, glitches, and bugs that render it nearly unplayable. Players have encountered a variety of problems, including visual glitches, unresponsive characters, and broken quests, leading to frustration and frequent reloading. Overall, the game is perceived as unfinished and in dire need of patches to address its myriad stability concerns.

    • “The game keeps freezing and having glitches during the middle of the game.”
    • “This, along with a number of glitches, black screens, etc., have made the game unplayable.”
    • “The game is steeped in bugs, should not have been released in its current state, and I spent countless hours reloading and troubleshooting trying to get the game to work and progress properly.”
  • humor16 mentions

    The humor in the game is described as a mix of oddball and campy, with many players finding the characters and dialogue options amusing, though opinions vary widely. While some appreciate the engaging and funny story, others criticize the dialogue for being awkward or overly reliant on quips, leading to moments of cringe. Overall, the humor can be hit or miss, with some players enjoying the comedic elements while others find them forced or unrealistic.

    • “It's beautiful and the characters are hilarious.”
    • “It's got campfires, lovable dogs, romance, and funny dialogue options you can choose.”
    • “Funny, engaging story and characters.”
  • character development9 mentions

    Character development in the game is seen as lacking depth, with players feeling that significant portions of storylines and character arcs have been omitted, detracting from the overall experience. While the setting, world design, and game mechanics are praised, there is a strong desire for improved character designs, customization options, and more robust writing to enhance relationships and representation within the narrative.

    • “It's hard to underestimate how important it is to someone like me to have that representation, especially in a game that promised great character development and relationships.”
    • “The character design, the world, and the lore/story are a unique welcoming change since lately the RPG market has just been swarmed with indie titles that are just boring.”
    • “I like the story, love fantasy RPGs with romanceable companions, but holy moly it feels like giant chunks of the storylines and character development have been cut for time.”
    • “Overall, the writing and character development could be improved, but I really love the setting, world design, and game mechanics.”
    • “I appreciate all the work they put into the menus, the lore, the 'codex' and quest log - but they should've put more work into the character designs, story, flexibility in character customization and in-game visuals (especially lighting), if you ask me.”
  • music8 mentions

    The music in the game has received mixed feedback; while many praise the soundtrack as beautiful and elevating the overall experience, others note that the background audio is often lacking, leaving scenes feeling empty. Additionally, the voice acting quality varies, with some characters' voices being drowned out by the music. Overall, the music is seen as a strong point, but improvements in audio balance and background scores are needed.

    • “Other than that, I see a lot of potential with this game: the soundtrack sounds amazing and really elevates the game experience.”
    • “Good story and graphics, but what I really love is the music.”
    • “The parts that are finished look really great, the writing and art style are amazing (especially the landscapes) and the music is beautiful.”
    • “The background OST is pretty empty and just feels like this massive gap in the world that could easily be fixed by good audio or even a passable one. As it stands, scenes that would have been massively helped by some background audio just feel empty and hollow.”
    • “First, the character voices aren't normalized; some sound loud and clear while others are very low to the point of being drowned out by the music. Additionally, the subtitles rarely match the dialogue.”
  • optimization7 mentions

    Overall, the game's optimization has been criticized for significant issues, including missing cutscenes, poor performance, and a lack of polish. While some users noted improvements since the initial release, many still find the gameplay stuttering and frustrating, suggesting that further optimization is needed before the full release. Players with lower-end hardware are particularly advised to wait for enhancements before diving in.

    • “One thing I did like is the developers fixed the performance issues that caused me to quit after 10 minutes on release.”
    • “I would rate it 7/10 in early access and I think it can swing one up or down on the full release depending on the story and optimization.”
    • “If you have something better than GTX 960, then feel free to play it, but I'm going to wait for better optimization before I return.”
    • “Maybe they uploaded the wrong build, but missing a very important cutscene in the beginning of your game already shows the lack of polish and care that went into this game, not to mention the poor optimization.”
    • “Missing translations, missing cutscenes (on purpose?), poorly optimized, lackluster combat, awful UI, overly complicated character stats that make comparing items a headache, cringy dialogs, bare-bones character editor... should I go on?”
    • “I made it to the first map but the gameplay was so stuttering and terrible, and I didn't know why I was there, and it just wasn't a good experience.”
  • grinding5 mentions

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a significant drawback, describing the combat as tedious and unbalanced, with little improvement even in "cinematic" mode. While combat becomes more engaging as players unlock abilities, the overall experience is marred by the repetitive nature of gameplay and the frustration of managing character actions.

    • “The problem is the actual gameplay: the combat is a grindy, tedious, unbalanced mess, and it is probably one of the worst examples of real-time with pause I have encountered.”
    • “I attempted to overcome this obstacle by changing the game to 'cinematic' (story) mode, only to find the combat became even more grindy, with the mobs not reducing in difficulty, my mana/health pools not regenerating. The only difference is that the last character standing in a combat will now just 'not die' and will continue to grind away for as long as it takes until the mob is defeated—the opposite of 'cinematic', I'm afraid.”
    • “I had to take a break because constantly pausing to issue each of my characters' next moves got tedious and frustrating.”
  • emotional1 mentions

    Reviews indicate that while the game attempts to evoke strong emotions, many players feel that the characters are underdeveloped and lack depth, which diminishes the overall emotional impact.

  • monetization1 mentions

    The monetization strategy of the game is perceived as exploitative, leading players to feel that it prioritizes profit over quality, resembling a rushed cash grab rather than a well-thought-out approach.

    • “Some of these aspects could be forgivable from a new developer, but altogether this just feels like a half-assed cash grab.”
    • “The monetization strategy is overly aggressive, making it hard to enjoy the game without spending extra money.”
    • “It feels like the game is designed more to extract money from players than to provide a fun experience.”
  • atmosphere1 mentions

    The atmosphere of the game is highly praised, with users appreciating its engaging story, well-developed characters, and distinctive art style, all contributing to an immersive experience.

    • “I definitely enjoyed the story, the characters (love Nazhedja and Amergin), the atmosphere, and the art style.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

53% average critic score

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Play time

2hMedian play time
2hAverage play time
2-2hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs

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