Wolfstride

This slickly-presented indie RPG (role-playing game) tries to be many things at once, and it fails as often as it succeeds. Visually, Wolfstride is consistently appealing. Despite being almost entirely grayscale, the character portraits, animated mechs, and pixel art are all distinct and present an outstanding visual look. The music and sound design are also charming, creating a western-movie atmosphere for Rain City. Where things begin to fall apart is the writing, particularly the dialogue. Wolfstride feels like its trying to be edgy, wholesome, and profound at the same time and the dialogue just can't keep up with those demands. Profanity is constant, but doesn't feel particularly impactful or world-building. It's just there to be part of the aesthetic, but it doesn't really add to anything. Despite all of the juvenile humor, Wolfstride also tries to have profound monologues and ominous narration. Unfortunately these often felt overwrought and cheesy, and towards the end of the game, these moments went on for far too long. None of this is helped by the inconsistent voice acting, which was especially distracting with some of the NPCs (non-player characters). That said, there's still good to be found in the writing, because some characters are charming, and you get to spend a lot of time helping them with their problems. The best moments tend to be when the game takes a step back and just has you hang out with the rest of the Cowboy crew.

The other key element is the mech combat, and there's fun to be found there. You're given a number of customization options fairly early on, and you can tinker with your build to help play the way you want to. Between positioning, skill selection, and mech customization, there's just enough strategy to each match that players will feel consistently engaged trying to find the best way to solve the combat puzzle that the other mechs provide. This diminishes a bit towards the end, where the upgrade options are less plentiful, but your mech remains very powerful. There are strings of fights here where the same strategy will carry you through without needing to change anything up. Ultimately, taking control of the Cowboy remains pretty fun, and its used sparingly enough that it stays exciting for most of the run of the game. Wolfstride has issues, but there's a level of heart put into everything about the game that's hard to ignore. If you can look past the repitition and the questionable writing, there's a lot of charm to be found in Wolfstride.