The Waylanders
By Jesse Nau,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Mature fantasy adventure plagued by bugs.
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What’s It About?
THE WAYLANDERS is a fantasy role-playing video game connected to the 2018 board game of the same name. The game takes place in Galicia, an area of northern Spain, during two time periods. The first portion of the game has players explore the region's Celtic heritage after an attempt at meeting the Celtic gods (or the Tuatha de Danaan) goes horribly wrong. Finding the mythological beings of the era corrupted by an unknown magic that drives them mad, players explore Galicia looking for answers where they run into other mythological races like the Fomorians, Goblins, Werewolves and Mourians. Things are complicated further when the player character is discovered to be outside the bounds of fate, a being known as the Mil Espaine, who can slip between their current time period and Spain's medieval future. Players must investigate the source of this corruption by jumping back and forth between these time periods, while helping resolve political and personal issues of their friends and allies.
Is It Any Good?
This mature RPG (role-playing game) features a fantastic setting but stumbles in its execution. The Waylanders' choice of Celtic mythology as its inspiration provides a unique set of story beats, monsters, and locations that sets it apart from many of its peers. Unfortunately, the writing is inconsistent and characters often use language that feels too modern and out-of-place in its much older setting. Excellent voice acting papers over some of this issue, but it can't fix bigger problems with the story. The first half of the game is intriguing and sets up an interesting adventure for players to engage with, including a lot of side quests, but as timeline-jumping enters the picture, the plot is spread too thin for its own good. Effectively doubling the cast halfway through the game doesn't leave enough room to fully develop the more interesting initial characters.
Tactical real-time with pause combat is a key combat element, and it provides interesting strategic choices despite clunky interface issues. Characters are given plenty of options to tackle different combat encounters, but managing equipment is awkward and confusing. Many encounters are challenging even on lower difficulties, but the clunky method of giving orders to your team can make tough fights frustrating as well. At least customizing and leveling-up characters provides meaningful choices that can impact combat, particularly with the formation mechanic that allows different party members to temporarily join together as one unit and gain new abilities. Unfortunately, The Waylanders features a lot of technical issues as well, particularly in the back half of the game. These can range from minor text issues to progression-breaking bugs, which can completely derail the player's experience. There's some real charm in the characters and particularly the setting, and the combat is occasionally enjoyable, but issues with the writing and technical problems make it hard to recommend.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about violence in video games. Is the impact of the violence in The Waylanders affected by unrealistic visuals? Is cartoonish violence featuring magic less impactful than more realistic modern violence?
How do characters deal with trauma in The Waylanders? How are the characters shown dealing with their issues? Are these resolutions healthy ways to handle grief?
Game Details
- Platform: Windows
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Gato Studio
- Release date: February 2, 2022
- Genre: Role-Playing
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy , Adventures , Fairy Tales
- ESRB rating: NR for No Descriptions
- Last updated: February 7, 2022
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