Wheelborn

About

Wheelborn is a single player action adventure game. It was developed by Alex Klexber and was released on February 17, 2025. It received very positive reviews from players.

Embark on your own journey through the atmospheric ruined kingdom and uncover its secrets and stories. Key Features: Choose your wheeled hero: Five distinct character types to pick from, each with plenty of visual customization options. Explore the kingdom your way: Follow your own path and see where it takes you—you never know what surprises you might stumble across. Shape your village and…

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

95%

Audience ScoreBased on 57 reviews

story8 positive mentions

character development3 negative mentions

Wheelborn offers a charming and unique experience with engaging gameplay, exploration, and a captivating world filled with secrets.
The game is completely free, showcasing the developer's passion and dedication, making it accessible to a wide audience.
With multiple character types and endings, players can enjoy different playstyles and replayability, enhancing the overall fun factor.

The game suffers from bugs and technical issues, including awkward combat mechanics and clunky movement, which can detract from the experience.
Visuals and graphics are dated, which may turn off some players looking for a more polished aesthetic.
The narrative and character interactions feel underdeveloped, leading to a rushed and anticlimactic conclusion.

story
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
16%
17%
The story is generally well-received, praised for its depth, emotional resonance, and intriguing backstory, despite the game's short length. Players appreciate the moral dilemmas presented and the engaging lore, although some feel the story progression could be improved. Overall, the narrative successfully captivates and invites exploration, making it a standout aspect of the game.
- “Wasn't expecting too much, especially since it was a free game, but I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of the story, environment, and secrets.”
- “The story is unique and emotional.”
- “It's a beautiful and very dark world, an engaging story that doesn't overstay its welcome and has a lot of secrets to uncover.”
- “The story progression and implementation were lackluster.”
- “There are some moral discussions around whether the player should be completing the quests they are given.”
graphics
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
23%
33%
The game's graphics feature a distinctive art style that blends retro elements with a fresh aesthetic, reminiscent of older games and animated films like "Kung Fu Panda." While the visuals are generally appealing and the movement is smooth, they are also described as mediocre and dated, which may deter some players. Overall, the graphics contribute positively to the game's atmosphere but do not compensate for its shallow gameplay and technical issues.
- “It has a distinctive art style, runs well, and just rolling around as the little car-folk feels smooth and satisfying.”
- “Slick visuals, satisfying movement, and some neat twists!”
- “This is a console-esque third person driving/brawling game with retro graphics, but unfortunately while this shows promise, it turns out to be a bit of a shallow experience and it's riddled with bugs that can turn out to be game breaking.”
- “Visually, this has some fairly mediocre and dated looking graphics that will understandably be a turn off for a lot of gamers, and it's a big contributor to the failure of the game to attract gamers despite having no up-front cost.”
- “It's very hard to describe, because it merges a few aesthetics seen in other, older games, while being fresh and quite new as well.”
gameplay
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
60%
Gameplay is characterized by a mix of engaging mechanics and simple combat, complemented by appealing visuals and a unique art style. However, some players find the map size and movement mechanics to be at odds, leading to a less polished experience overall. While it may appeal to those who appreciate its aesthetic, the core gameplay lacks depth.
- “Not only does it offer fun, engaging gameplay and mechanics, but it also features beautiful art and a distinctive artistic vision.”
- “If you like the sort-of-cute art direction and fairly simple combat and mechanics, it could be worth playing.”
- “From the lore, to the actual mechanics, to just smashing enemies.”
- “The size of the map and the awkward small spaces are at odds with the movement mechanics.”
- “From the lore to the actual mechanics, the gameplay feels repetitive and lacks depth.”
- “While the art direction is sort-of cute, the combat and mechanics are fairly simple and uninspired.”
character development
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
100%
Character development in the game is visually appealing, with interesting character designs that enhance the world. However, the narrative twist revealing the game's events as mere imagination left some players feeling disappointed, detracting from their overall experience.
- “The character designs are interesting.”
- “I really liked the character designs and the game's world.”
- “I really liked the character designs and the game's world, but when I got to the part where it turned out the whole game was just the imagination of kids playing with toy cars, I was incredibly disappointed — it ruined the experience for me.”
- “The characters felt one-dimensional and lacked any real growth throughout the story, making it hard to connect with them.”
- “Despite the interesting premise, the character development was shallow, leaving me wanting more depth and complexity in their arcs.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users have reported performance issues on Mac, particularly with M1 chip models, where the fans become excessively loud during gameplay, indicating a need for better optimization. Many hope for future updates to address these concerns.
- “Regarding Mac: I stopped playing every 15 minutes or so because my M1 chip Mac's fans started running. I am hoping there will be some optimization coming one day.”
- “The game is poorly optimized; I experience constant frame drops and stuttering, making it nearly unplayable.”
- “Even on high-end hardware, the game struggles to maintain a stable frame rate, which is disappointing for such a visually appealing title.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere is praised for its stunning, dark, and mysterious qualities, creating an eerie beauty that encourages exploration throughout the game.
- “The atmosphere is stunning—dark, mysterious, and full of that eerie beauty that makes you want to explore every corner.”
- “The game immerses you in a hauntingly beautiful world, where every sound and shadow adds to the sense of unease and wonder.”
- “From the haunting soundtrack to the intricate environmental details, the atmosphere pulls you in and keeps you on the edge of your seat.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is criticized for being highly buggy, particularly during traversal, where characters often slide instead of climbing. Players also report frequent issues with getting stuck in menus and a lack of automatic saving, leading to a frustrating experience.
- “The most buggy, difficult, and disappointing part of traversal in this game, mainly because the wheelborn won't climb them but rather slide up them.”
- “I enjoyed the game, but it is still super buggy, and you can get hard stuck in menus often, even in the prologue conversation with your mom. Also, why is auto-save not enabled by default?”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find that while combat can become grindy, resourcefulness can mitigate the need for excessive grinding to complete the game. This allows for character progression without fully engaging in repetitive tasks, though the grind aspect remains present.
- “Ultimately, combat can become grindy, but you actually don't need to do much to beat the game if you're resourceful, so that much is nice.”
- “It's a nice way to become stronger without engaging in the 'bad' path, but it is still grindy.”
music
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
100%
The music in the game is creatively integrated through charming music-box shadow play theaters scattered across the wasteland, which effectively convey the lore and backstory of enemies, enhancing the overall narrative experience.
- “Lore is presented in the form of these darling music-box shadow play theaters found throughout the wasteland, which help contextualize what your enemies are and who they were before.”
- “Lore is presented in the form of these darling music-box shadow play theaters found throughout the wasteland, that help contextualize what your enemies are and who they were before.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game features a unique and emotionally resonant story that deeply engages players.
- “The story is unique and emotional.”