Fighting Back the Sand in Wildmender Release Date Trailer - Hardcore Gamer
18.08.2023 - 02:47
/ hardcoregamer.com
/ Hardcore
There used to be something but now there’s nothing, other than endless dunes covering the ruins of a lost civilization. The only signs of life are a few shrubs and a dying tree growing above a shallow spring, the last holdouts of nature in a land that’s actively hostile to survival. The desert is home to nothing but ghosts and tumbleweeds, and somehow against all hope a single person who just may be able to stave off the creeping sand’s near-inevitable erasure of everything that had been there before. While the tiny spring can barely be considered an oasis it still provides a place to work from, and with the help of a friendly guiding spirit the young adventurer can start on bringing a little bit of life back to the dying land.
Wildmender is an adventure game through a ruined world in desperate need of revival. Initially armed with nothing more than a water jug, the young traveler needs to gather, plant, explore, and occasionally fight his way towards a greener landscape, crafting and nurturing his way forward. Sticks become tools, tools let him harvest seeds, seeds grow plants that help spread soil, and it doesn’t take more than an in-game day to build enough of a base to work from. With the basics covered the protective circle around the oasis can come down, opening up the world outside for exploration. There’s a lot out there including ruined buildings housing lost chests, hostile wraiths guarding dangerous outposts, the ghosts of the land’s former residents, and each new discovery slowly builds towards being able to confront bigger challenges on the way towards world revival.
The demo for Wildmender is available on Steam and is a nice chunk of gaming, and there’s a playtest kicking off starting next weekend, Friday August 25 through Monday August 28 also available through the Steam page. I first saw Wildmender during PAX East but passed on playing it at the time, primarily because there was another playtest running back then, and I could tell just by looking that I’d rather sink real time into the game at home rather than rushing through it on the show floor. Sure enough I ended up with a good four-plus hours over a few days before deciding to hold off for final release, because it would be far too easy to get caught up in a cycle of terraforming the desert and exploring new areas for the tech and resources to build even better. Now Wildmender has a release date of September 28, still a ways off but close enough to look forward to. The release trailer below gives an idea of what to expect, but next weekend’s playtest is a great chance to play a nice chunk of gaming either alone or with friends, depending on how you like to revive a dying world.
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