The WILDS

About

"The WILDS" is a single-player Role Playing game that offers a compelling, realistic animal experience with stunning graphics. Players take on the lives of various animals, such as wolves, deer, bears, and eagles, tasked with survival, stalking, foraging, and forming packs to raise families. With an ever-expanding roster of animals, the game presents a dynamic and immersive world to explore the animal kingdom's hierarchy.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

80%

Audience ScoreBased on 328 reviews

graphics25 positive mentions

stability38 negative mentions

The game has a great concept and beautiful graphics, showcasing a rich environment and interesting interactions.
There is potential for fun gameplay, especially for animal lovers who enjoy simulation games.
The developer is responsive to community feedback and shows dedication to improving the game over time.

The game is currently very buggy and lacks many features, making it feel unfinished and more like a tech demo.
Gameplay can become repetitive quickly, with limited objectives and quests, leading to boredom.
The developer has seemingly abandoned the game, with little hope for future updates or improvements.

stability
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is currently plagued by numerous bugs and glitches, including issues with animal interactions, rendering, and gameplay mechanics, which significantly impact stability and playability. While many players acknowledge these problems as typical for early access titles, they also express optimism about the game's potential and the developer's responsiveness to feedback. Overall, the stability is considered poor, with some players finding it unplayable at times, yet others still enjoy the experience despite the technical issues.
- “The game looks really nice and like there is a lot of potential with this, but it is an abandoned project and very buggy.”
- “Very buggy to the point that it's unplayable.”
- “So many bugs and glitches, it's barely playable.”
graphics
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
69%
22%
8%
Overall, the graphics of the game are widely praised for their beauty and high quality, with many users highlighting the realistic animal models and stunning scenery. However, some players have experienced performance issues, such as lag and awkward animations, particularly during combat. While the visuals are generally well-received, there are suggestions for improvements in animation fluidity and environmental detail to enhance the overall experience.
- “The graphics are very beautiful, and I'm loving all the mechanics it currently has.”
- “Beautiful graphics and animations.”
- “Although still in beta, the graphics are incredible; the animal models are so realistic and the scenery is beautiful!”
- “The graphics are only pretty in the screenshots: the animal movements are awkward and/or unnatural, especially in combat as well as in flight, where crows and eagles can hover in mid-air like hummingbirds.”
- “There are some graphical shenanigans going on and at the start, the legs of the wolf look weird.”
- “Very beautiful game fun to play, only issue is it lags on even the lowest graphics settings; besides that, I love it.”
gameplay
33 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
58%
18%
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players appreciating its beautiful graphics and potential for engaging mechanics, particularly in the context of a survival game. However, criticisms focus on clunky controls, particularly flight mechanics, lack of tutorials, and some unengaging elements that can lead to a feeling of boredom. As the game is still in early access, players express hope for future updates to improve gameplay and address existing bugs.
- “Needs some work but it's obviously a new game, but I can't wait for more updates! It's a great game if you like survival games and has very realistic gameplay.”
- “The wilds is genuinely one of a kind and despite being in early access, it provides a consistent gameplay loop that keeps the player engaged.”
- “Overall, I recommend this game to players that want to invest in a small indie dev and get a solid, constantly improving gameplay experience in return.”
- “Controls are horrible, especially the flight mechanics.”
- “You get no tutorials for the basic mechanics such as hunting; I was able to find the mechanic, yet I couldn't hunt a single thing. Some prey animals will just sit and chill next to you despite you being a predator.”
- “There are many bugs and glitches (several will require restarting the game to solve), and also clunky controls and camera. I hate the dynamic camera; even locking it, it still feels bad and makes gameplay worse on keyboard/mouse.”
story
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
74%
13%
The game's story aspect has received significant criticism for lacking depth and engagement, with many players noting the absence of a meaningful storyline or quests beyond basic survival tasks. While some appreciate the realistic survival mechanics, they express a desire for more diverse objectives and narratives to enhance gameplay. Overall, the consensus is that the game feels more like a walking simulator with minimal story elements, leaving ample room for improvement in this area.
- “I love these animal-based realistic survival games, but almost every single one I have ever played has either been about wolves (which I am getting tired of) or has these elaborate quests that take you out of the 'I am just a wild cat trying to survive another day' mindset, which I love to embody.”
- “Made an entire storyline with lore off of a lighting glitch, 10/10 would recommend.”
- “I would love to see more playable species, a higher variety of AI, and more quest items.”
- “There's no real storyline, there's no quests apart from finding food for another pack mate, and finding another animal to kill.”
- “It feels like it's meant to be more quest and level oriented than full realism survival.”
- “There's no story to it, so don't expect that.”
optimization
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
25%
38%
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with many users reporting poor performance, especially on lower-end PCs and devices like the Steam Deck. While there are calls for improvements in controls and overall gameplay experience, players acknowledge the developer's active engagement and potential for future enhancements.
- “There are things that need to be worked on, some optimization and more gameplay, but the dev is very active and clearly loves this game.”
- “It could be optimized or improved for clarity, and I think the markers need work.”
- “Has promise, needs to be optimized better.”
- “Not optimized at all for lower-end PCs.”
- “Definitely worth it on sale; however, the performance is abysmal for whatever reason on my Steam Deck.”
- “Just seems really badly optimized, and gamepad controls are glitchy.”
music
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The music in the game is generally appreciated for its quality, but players have noted that it can be excessively loud, with a non-functional music slider. While the overall experience is enhanced by the music, some users experienced burnout after extended playtime, suggesting that the music may contribute to fatigue.
- “Nice graphics and good music.”
- “The music slider doesn't work since the music is very loud.”
- “I experienced a quick burnout after the 58-minute mark due to the repetitive music.”
- “While the game is visually appealing, the music can become overwhelming and detracts from the overall experience.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
33%
33%
Users highlight the game's potential for infinite replayability, expressing a desire for additional playable species, a greater variety of AI, and more quest items to enhance the experience.
- “Infinite replayability.”
- “I would love to see more playable species, a higher variety of AI, and more quest items.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is noted to be hit-or-miss, with some players finding amusement in the quirky facial expressions of animals like the cougar, wolf, and fox, while others feel the comedic elements could use improvement. Overall, the game's humorous aspects are largely tied to its unexpected visual quirks.
- “The best thing about this game is probably the environment; the cougar, wolf, and fox have very funny faces to me. I don't know, it just seems very off with the eyes, lmao.”
- “Needs some work, but there are some funny bugs.”