Warlander

About

"Warlander" is a roguelike, stamina-based combat game with Dark Souls and Slay the Spire influences. As a resurrected hero seeking vengeance, explore a procedurally generated world, battling enemies and harnessing their power to appease an immortal deity. Death results in a loss of progress, but the opportunity to fight and sacrifice again in an endless cycle.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

+14

49%

Audience ScoreBased on 57 reviews

gameplay10 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

The combat system is engaging and features unique mechanics like limb dismemberment and targeted attacks, providing a satisfying experience.
The game has an interesting setting and a potentially compelling story, with various abilities and upgrades that enhance gameplay.
Despite its flaws, many players find the game enjoyable and fun, especially when considering its low price point.

The game suffers from significant control issues, with sluggish and unresponsive character movement that detracts from the overall experience.
There are numerous bugs and technical problems, including broken achievements and game-breaking glitches that can disrupt progress.
The game feels unfinished and lacks content, with repetitive environments and a lack of meaningful upgrades, leading to a sense of boredom over time.

gameplay
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
37%
48%
15%
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with some praising its unique mechanics like limb dismemberment and a deep combat system reminiscent of Dark Souls, while others criticize it for being clunky and poorly polished. Despite its flaws, many players find the core gameplay loop engaging and fun, particularly enjoying the slicing mechanics and roguelike elements. Overall, while the game has potential and offers enjoyable moments, its execution leaves much to be desired.
- “Like this game is real jank but it does a lot of things that make the moment-to-moment gameplay great fun.”
- “The core gameplay loop is very promising, scaling a randomly generated tower with varying battles and buffs to engage you.”
- “Warlander offers a very interesting spin on the Dark Souls formula, featuring a deep stamina-based combat system with limb cutting mechanics, interesting setting, and progression mechanics inspired by roguelike games.”
- “I can forgive a lot if the gameplay is at least there, but it's not.”
- “The gameplay is a clunky mess and getting to the gameplay is somehow worse.”
- “However, with the core gameplay being in such a poor state it really taints the whole experience.”
graphics
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the unique aesthetic and enemy models, while others criticize performance issues like stuttering and limited graphical options. Despite the appealing art style, there are concerns about certain elements feeling out of place and a lack of polish in the overall presentation. Overall, while the visuals have potential, they are marred by technical flaws and a generic feel.
- “I love the aesthetic a lot.”
- “Everything else about this game is really good, the skill tree, the graphics, and I love the enemy models; they are so unique.”
- “I would be praising its cutting-edge graphics, gameplay loop, and genius design.”
- “The game's graphics slow down and stutter randomly.”
- “Threadbare graphical options, audio de-sync in cutscenes, and at one point, after deciding to switch to keyboard and mouse in the hopes of gaining some precision when aiming swings (which didn't help), I had to restart the game because the menu stubbornly showed the controller inputs instead when I wanted to check the bindings.”
- “Warlander's visuals and story are generic and it's a bit short on content, not to mention the irksome bug that removes your permanent upgrades.”
optimization
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
60%
Overall, optimization feedback is mixed; while some players report a stable 60fps and no bugs, others criticize the game's performance as poorly optimized, particularly at resolutions above 1080p. Recent updates have improved performance for some, but issues with hit detection and overall polish remain a concern.
- “With the 1.1 update, the performance is now decent, and the halberd boss seems to be fixed.”
- “The optimization issues for resolutions above 1080p have been a concern, but improvements are being made.”
- “The interface and animations still lack polish, indicating room for further optimization.”
- “It's badly optimized.”
- “I could use many adjectives to describe the performance in this game, but none of them would be kind ones.”
- “Optimization issues for resolutions above 1080p.”
story
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
75%
The game's story has potential but is hampered by poor controls and a lack of clarity, leaving players feeling disoriented. While some elements, like the setting and enemy design, are appreciated, the overall narrative is criticized for being generic and underdeveloped, contributing to a less engaging experience.
- “This game has a nice setting, some enemies and bosses look cool, and the story is potentially interesting.”
- “The story might be solid, but when the controls are so bad it really takes away from the experience.”
- “The story might be solid, but when the controls are so bad, it really takes away from the experience.”
- “The story is bad and just throws you in midstream, but not in a good way.”
- “Warlander's visuals and story are generic, and it's a bit short on content, not to mention the irksome bug that removes your permanent upgrades.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is marred by numerous bugs and glitches, including issues with achievements and progression after miniboss encounters, which can lead to frustrating gameplay experiences. Despite these problems, some players still find enjoyment in the game, indicating a mixed reception regarding its overall stability.
- “Those who have the 'luck' to play it have a buggy game; some achievements don't work, and sometimes you can't continue after killing a miniboss, which makes it boring after a while.”
- “Now there are glitches in the game that can kill you during a good run, or prevent you from completing an area to progress because the enemy has, god knows what happened to it.”
- “I wish there was a neutral option because it has its faults, issues, and glitches, but for some reason, I still have fun playing the game.”
music
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game's music is characterized as heroic and epic, enhancing the addictive action-based gameplay. However, some users have reported issues with the music abruptly stopping during play.
- “The music is quite heroic and epic.”
- “The game music just stopped for some reason.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find that while Warlander offers free access to its fast-paced arcade combat, the experience is somewhat marred by tedious visuals and audio, which may detract from the overall enjoyment and lead to a sense of grinding.
- “Warlander will cost you nothing to try out and see if its high-paced arcade-style combat overcomes the tedious visuals and audio.”