Finally playing Wayfinder was one of the things I was most looking forward to coming to PAX East. It’s been on my radar for a while. Everything about it drew my interest, from the art style, which reminded me of Wildstar, to the exciting combination of MMO elements with things we usually see in games like Overwatch, League of Legends, and Master X Master. However, the big question has been what it’s like to play, and is it fun? I had two opportunities while at PAX East to sort through all of that (in addition to an interview with the team), so let’s dive in.
My first opportunity to play was during a scheduled demo, where my partner and I immediately went to the gloom to explore some of Wayfinder’s “dungeon” content, which they call Lost Zones. I’ve also been interested in seeing how utilizing the mutagens with the Lost Zones changes things up and adds more complexity, so I used those at every opportunity. I was pleased to find that these Lost Zones aren’t the same every time with the same layout. Even picking the same location multiple times yielded a variety of configurations and what was there to find, in addition to the augments from the different mutagens adding another level of variety.
As for the mutagens themselves, those were quite interesting. I could put just one or two in, which would mix to make a completely new variation. This adds to the amount of variety being offered and lets the players tailor their experience to how they want to play. I also really liked the varied effects; they didn’t always result in everything hitting harder or having more health. One mutagen combo I had a lot of fun with caused enemies sometimes to spawn other enemies when they were killed. These things looked like giant ticks which would attack your face if you weren’t careful. This led to much hilarity as we dodged around to try and dislodge them. Another mutagen spawned a guy who let us choose between different chests to open. That one was interesting, but it felt like I needed a more in-depth understanding of the various items in game and what is and isn’t valuable to really appreciate.
As far as playing with a mouse and keyboard, everything worked as expected and was intuitive. They haven’t reinvented the wheel on this one, which is good. The one issue I ran into was that I kept trying to dodge using shift, but the keybinding for that is ctrl. Honestly, ctrl is a bit easier for me to hit without having to move a finger, but I picked up the habit of shift for dodging/sprinting somewhere, and it’s stuck for some reason. That is more of a "me" issue than anything else.
My second opportunity to play Wayfinder was during a social hour they hosted after the show floor closed one night. I, of course, jumped right on this and wasted no time getting more time in game. This time, I wanted to try out how the controls felt using the PS5 controller, and honestly, I loved that control scheme even more. Everything felt natural, and I was off to the races immediately. I prefer using a controller for any vaguely action game because I have some nerve damage in one hand and arm, making using a controller easier for me. For most people, either option will likely work fine.
Initially, we planned to spend more time in the Lost Zones and see what else was there. Unfortunately, not long after we loaded in my game crashed, and there didn’t seem to be any way to rejoin an already in-progress Lost Zone. So, my partner stayed there, and I went and explored the world a bit. Only certain areas were available in this demo, but I still had a lot of fun wandering around. I even had the typical experience of not realizing I had wandered into a hostile area until suddenly, a bunch of things attacked me all at once. There were also random events that spawned as well. I’m assuming there are plenty of balance passes that need to be done, but everything I ran into was doable on my own. After a while, other players were roaming around as well, and we informally grouped up to go after various targets.
Meanwhile, my partner was happily churning through the Lost Zone alone. I don’t remember which mutagens I picked for that one, but he was a good sport, considering he originally wanted to try with no mutagens. He didn’t have any issue while he was running through there, so either it was undertuned, or the Lost Zones will dynamically scale depending on how many people are currently in them. Either way, implementing some way to rejoin your group in a Lost Zone is essential because no matter what you do with the game, people will have issues with disconnects from time to time. Things happen in an online environment that you don’t always have control over.
Aside from Wayfinder crashing on me once during the party, the rest of our night’s playtime was flawless. We spent a solid hour happily playing and exploring without realizing how much time had passed. In the end, the only reason we stopped playing was that we probably were monopolizing the two computers we had been using for a long while, and we wanted to get some dinner. Wayfinder was an absolute joy to play, and I can’t wait to have more time to delve into the systems and spend some time on heroes other than Wingrave.
