THE WAYLANDERS

An ambitious adventure that may have debuted too soon

- Malindy Hetfeld

This impressively ambitious fantasy RPG, currently out in Steam Early Access, could be the thing to fill that Dragon Age shaped hole in your life. That’s not only because former Dragon Age creative director Mike Laidlaw held a consulting role – from combat to its dialogue, plenty will feel pleasingly familiar to long-time Bioware fans.

Currently, The Waylanders promises between ten and twelve hours of content. More of its story, as well as additional character skills and classes, will be added progressively. The version available at launch is in a very rough state, something developer Gato Studio is transparent about. It’s so rough I didn’t make it past the three-hour mark – inevitably a fatal error would take my game out each and every time. The gameplay itself also needs improving – although you control the camera, it tends to get away from you and is regularly blocked by obstacles. Sometimes your cursor vanishes or things aren’t clickable. Animations, cutscenes and voice-over are missing in many places. There are sound mixing issues and freezes. Gato Studio has warned that big future updates may delete your saved games. All in all, right now even for an Early Access game, it feels entirely too soon to start playing.