Thanks in part to the ever awesome Humble Bundle subscription that I have, I am definitely not short on games to play on the PC... in fact, I would say that I have the opposite problem, I have an embarrassingly long list of un-played and uncompleted games. So, it takes a really great sounding game to entice me to purchase a game at launch...

... which brings us to Wildermyth, a game that just exited Early Access on Steam yesterday! I've been seeing some really nice Early Access reviews on the game, and it seemed like a game that was just the perfect fit for me, one that I could really fall in love with!

Welcome to my first impressions of the game, after about several hours in... I will write a fuller review of the game after I've had some more hours and experience (haha..) under my belt.

Wow, at launch, you get a hefty selection of campaigns... which most are locked up until the tutorial campaign is completed. Speaking of which, the tutorial is pretty full-fleshed, even after a few hours of playing the game, I've only just finished the first chapter (of three?)

So, what is Wildermyth... it is a bit of a mixed bag. You start each campaign as three unknowns, proto-legends. Essentially, you are just a bunch of farmers who have a bit of a yearning for adventure... and in the background, some evil is awakening.

Mechanics-wise, it is a mix of a light RPG, procedurally generated campaigns over several generations of heroes and some turn-based tactics.

The real strength of the game lies in the really beautiful storytelling of your characters, the comic-book style that unfolds each campaign, storyline or random encounter. It is a book that chronicles your unfolding heroic legacy, and it is the place where you choose the various branching storylines that will affect the relationships between your characters and the outcomes of world events as they relate your characters.

All of it is told with a sense of light humour, the characters are fleshed out in a loving and endearing way, these are not heroes that were born into the role... you are just ordinary people who have been thrust into the spotlight!

The chapter is played out on a strategic board where you are cleansing lands and liberating towns...with each chapter, the play area grows again... but you do have to spend some time defending your previous holdings against incursions.

There is a light RPG element, as your heroes encounter story events and battles, they gain levels and experience, that will grow their attributes and upon levelling up, you can choose from an huge array (of which you get three to choose from) possible abilities and skills. Most importantly, they also grow in their relationships to each other, with characters forming bonds and rivalries that will affect their battlefield performance.

The battlefield is a tile-based affair that has some cover mechanics and the familiar two move/action mechanic that was made into a standard after the re-imagined XCOM. There isn't too much in the way that this is implemented that is incredibly revolutionary, but it is all delivered with that loving almost naive style that permeates the whole game. The papercraft art style is always going to be one of my favourites... there is definitely something about it that really grabs my heartstrings!

I do have a bit of a gripe about the camera rotation being quite limited... but there isn't too much obstruction in the way that the levels are generated, however, it would be nice to have the full 360 degree option rather than a limited 90 degree field.

Okay.. I wasn't completely honest in that last bit. The turn-based tactics section does have a very new and interesting implementation of magic. Your mages "infuse" various battlefield objects like bookcases, rocks and firepits... and use those to inflict damage on enemies within a certain radius of the objects. Each type of object has different effects, so it becomes a real tactical mechanic as to what objects to infuse in order to get the effects you want with the range required! It is really a nice refreshing take on the magic mechanic of RPG games.

Items drop, or can be constructed in towns... interestingly enough, these equipment pieces are permanently attached to a particular character, and do not get passed from character to character or down generations. I find that to be a bit of a pity, as there doesn't really seem to be a reason why you can't pass down a sword or cloak or something like that!

Each chapter plays out a bit like a rogue-like game...with the enemies slowly gaining in strength as you explore and cleanse the lands. It sets up an interesting balance, where you need to explore to gain enough strength for the next chapter, but at the expense of the current chapter getting progressively more difficult.

During the campaign, you come across other souls who are also dreaming of escaping their mundane lives and becoming legends.. One very interesting mechanic is that if characters are downed in the battle, you can choose to have them survive the battle with crippling wounds, or to have them die... but not before they inflict a final damaging move on their attacker. It is the stuff that legends are made for... the sacrifice that takes down that impossible to kill monster.

Through the game, you are presented with random missions and encounters that develop (if you choose) into some character defining moments and stories. These become pivotal moments in your character developments or relationships, so it is definitely worth pursing these side-quests even if you lose a lot of time.... because the game really makes for amazingly beautiful moments. In this storyline, my ranger fell in love with a river nymph... but they were destined to be apart, as the ranger had to combat this rising evil... however, they promised to meet once a year in the moonlight at a certain location, to commemorate their love and their lost lives together.

... meanwhile, my two fighter ended up falling in love! Apart from the story that evolved out of this, this introduced an interesting tactical mechanic, where if one of the lovers was injured in battle... the partner would inflict some hefty revenge damage on that particular attacker!

At the end of the chapter, when you defeat the chapter boss... you are granted some few years of respite from the arising evil.. until you discover that it has not been fully defeated, but just lying dormant... gathering more strength again.

... in the intervening years of peace, your characters will develop depending on their storylines that you have uncovered during the chapter. So, in this case... one of my characters ended up hatching a little sentient tree pet after discovering and rescuing a seed from the monsters.

Also, during this period, you can upgrade your equipment easily... I did notice afterwards that you can also do this during the chapter... but you do have to be at one of your towns... and the trip back to your town is often not really worth it, as the time that you lose allows the evil to grow much stronger. However, I didn't properly check it out... it could be that you could do this without the heroes actually physically travelling back to the town! Something to keep in mind for the next playthrough...

So, first impressions... this is sort of a XCOM light in a fantasy setting. However, you aren't a secretive powerful organisation... you are just a bunch of farmers who will grow to be something bigger. The mechanics itself would have made for a decent game... however, Wildermyth tells its stories and fleshes out it's characters with such heart and beauty... from the art-style to the beautifully written stories, it is hard to believe that much of this is procedurally generated. I do wonder how much of it will repeat itself on further playthroughs, but for this first play... wow, this is a game that just makes take it slow and savour every little moment!

It isn't often that you find a game where you get so attached to the characters, when you do find one... well, you know that you have a gem of a game!

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