Wolcen: Lords Of Mayhem is the most recent exponent of the Diablo-style MMOARPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Action Role-playing Games) genre that has appeared today. It was developed by Wolcen Studio and its gameplay is similar to that of the aforementioned Blizzard videogame, or also the popular Path of Exile, where players will have to fight hordes of enemies in an aerial perspective with a combat and growth style that turns out to be a hybrid balance between the MMORPG genre and the Hack’n Slash.
This ARPG was funded by a successful crowdfunding campaign in Kickstarter, and after being a Beta version on Steam under the name Umbra for three years; a couple of months ago, this game was officially released under the name Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem.
Although the release of this videogame was full of technical problems that are still being solved, this ARPG currently has an incredible success on Steam and great popularity on streaming platforms like Twitch.
Wolcen’s success has also influenced the rise of gaming markets where players can purchase primary elements of the game with various payment methods. These markets are based on websites where players can get primordial affinity, cheap wolcen gold, or even buy legendary Wolcen items.
Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem has been characterized by introducing various characteristics and very rare mechanics within this genre, which have given it an air unique in its kind. That said, here are the features that most distinguish Wolcen from other Diablo-style ARPGs available today, and thus determine the reason for his enormous success.
The Gate of Fates
One of the most outstanding features in this type of videogame is the skill trees, and the one that Wolcen has is distinguished by its two very different paths. On the one hand, there is the evolution of our own powers, which will go up in level, and samples are unlocked by various enhancers.
On the other hand, there is The Gate of Fates, which is a succession of nodes with different percentages and improvements of our character’s characteristics. These are inserted in three rings that can be rotated, and each time the character levels up, more passive skills will be unlocked. Wolcen allows players to choose the skill path they want, without any limits, as this ARPG has no character classes.
The story and the way it is told
In terms of story and narrative, this ARPG performs quite well considering that this genre of videogames focuses more on action than story, but Wolcen manages to correctly narrate what he wants to convey.
Certainly, Lords of Mayhem has a fairly common story, where our protagonist is a kind of chosen one, there are different sides in constant conflict, the destruction of the world must be avoided, and various plot turns, which turn out to be quite interesting. But, what distinguishes this ARPG is how interesting its dialogues are and how it works in keeping the players attentive to what’s going on.
The possibility of activating a beastly form
One of the most important innovations that Wolcen has introduced in the ARPG genre with Diablo saga style, is the interesting possibility that our character acquires a powerful bestial form called Apocalypse. This videogame allows you to unlock four diabolic and angelic forms with their own characteristics, which can be executed each time you fill the yellow bar that is in the center of the main interface, and this bar is completed by eliminating enemies or collecting special orbs.
The growth of the characters
Wolcen has a very interesting character creation and evolution system where players can choose between three types: warrior, mage and archer. But, this game is distinguished by not having the typical limits in the growth of characters that can be found in other MMOARPG or MMORPG where warriors can only specialize in strength, mages in intelligence and archers in agility.
In Wolcen, players can follow the paths of Agility, Wisdom, Strengthening or Constitution, which influence different points of stats, but do not limit their distribution in our character. That said, the character type you select at the start of Wolcen will only define how you act with powers and items.
The graphic section of this game
One of the reasons why many players were instantly attracted to this videogame is its incredible graphics, which has been achieved through the implementation of CryEngine 3. Wolcen: Lords Of Mayhem stands out a lot for its detailed design, lighting effects, and even its graphic power in general, which is very rare in this type of videogame. But as expected, this game also requires a PC with relatively powerful graphics power.
However, Wolcen is still in a stage of errors and corrections (many say that its complex graphic engine has been one of the reasons), so some animations are not completely polished, and there are also certain areas with small optimization problems where there are low frames.
The offline mode
A rather unusual feature of Lords Of Mayhem is the possibility to play it in offline mode since most videogames of its kind only focus on the online one. It should also be mentioned that Wolcen’s online and offline modes are played with different characters. That said, Wolcen’s online mode offers a fairly fun cooperative experience, but without any major new features.
After completing the main campaign of this ARPG, players will unlock the Stromfall Champion mode, which consists of completing various missions with a high degree of difficulty, but which offer very high rewards.
In addition, Wolcen’s Endgame also allows us to upgrade the city, and with each upgrade made, a large number of improvements will be unlocked that will increase potential, aesthetic or even monetary capabilities.
Having said all this, those were some of the most distinctive features of Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem, which has done a good job including novelties that have undoubtedly left their mark on the genre of Diablo-based MMOARPGs. However, it should be noted that this game is still in the repair phase due to its many bugs, so you still can’t enjoy its gameplay properly. That said, it is also surprising how much support this game has received from its users, despite its current state.
