Wayfinder is a character-based online action RPG, developed by Airship Syndicate, the studio behind Darksiders and Battle Chasers, and published by Digital Extremes, the company behind Warframe. They have a stream scheduled for the 20th July announcing early access release date, founders pack details and much more.
A return to mmo style gameplay
From the 2 betas Wayfinder has had, the game looks to have a similar cooperative style of gameplay older MMOs had. The game has characters called Wayfinders (unsurprisingly) which fall into the traditional tank, healer and DPS role and the interplay between them with the addition of a shared world is highly reminiscent of old MMOs. The characters themselves are not blank slates but have their own names, backstories and abilities.
Wayfinder takes place in a world, which is being consumed by a dark force known as the Gloom. The Gloom has corrupted the land and its creatures, and threatens to destroy humanity. Airship Syndicate had recently worked on Ruined King a League of Legends turn based RPG and its cartooney influence has undeniably left a mark on the art direction of Wayfinder. Wayfinders combat is a mix of Monster Hunter and Airships own Darksiders. There are multiple types of melee and ranged weapons available and no character is locked to a single weapon type, so there is considerable freedom in build crafting in that regard.
Wayfinders
Wayfinder at release will have 5 characters with a 6th coming later. Each Wayfinder is fully voiced and has narrative connections with other characters. After choosing your first Wayfinder you can farm the others through in-game activities. It is encouraged to play with multiple Wayfinders for bonus account wide rewards. The 6 Wayfinders are:
- Wingrave: Clad in heavy armour, Wingrave is a support that can heal and shield allies.
- Silo: A character centered arround crowd control, best used with ranged weapons.
- Niss: An Assassin DPS, highly mobile with damage dealing abilities.
- Senja: The tank character, she can buff allies and works best with heavy weapons.
- Kyros: An AOE focused DPS, he is a mage that avoids close quarters combat and prefers to stay at range.
- Venomness: The 6th character recently revealed, not much is known about her abilities.
Progression
Progression works through leveling up your weapons and Wayfinders and applying echos to them, the system is similar to applying mods to a Warframe. Experience is gained through completing quests that goes to leveling your weapon and Wayfinder. Your weapons and Wayfinder level up independently of one another.
Monetization
Free to play, and poor monetization practices go hand in hand. Fortunately for Wayfinder, their publisher, Digital Extremes, through their own experience with the free to play model know what works and what doesn’t. The game will be monetized in the early access period with a founders pack and then with seasonal battle passes. Airship Syndicate want to avoid FOMO in their game so if you have bought the battle pass once you can complete it whenever you like, but you have to buy the pass within the season it was released even if there is no completion deadline.
The way everything is going, Wayfinder looks like it will have a bright future. Their publisher has a proven track record of player friendly monetization, the team at Airship listen to their community and make changes accordingly and, they’re avoiding FOMO which in my eyes is a massive plus. Keep your years pricked on the 20th of July for the early access stream.
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