Warden’s Will Impressions
Warden’s Will features intense combat and liberating flight.
Warden’s Will. Credit: Elyzio
Last month, Elyzio launched its debut title, Warden’s Will, a roguelite third-person movement shooter. I have yet to dive deeper into the game, as I decided it would be better played in co-op online, but I wanted to write some brief impressions.
Warden’s Will. Credit: Elyzio
Players choose between several Wardens—one to start—with unique movement and combat abilities, pick a starting weapon, and enter combat. The first level was massive and seemed empty, but waves of robotic enemies soon began to attack. I was a bit confused by my objective—loading three transmitters—because there was no minimap or compass, and I had no idea what the transmitters looked like. The world was so big that it took me quite a while to finally find one of the things.
The massive level felt empty until enemies started showing up, but even then, it felt barren in a way that reminded me of game design from the N64 era. I’m on the fence about the size. While it feels too big, it creates an opportunity to use the game’s best feature: flight.
Normal mobility involves running, double jumps, and dodging. Those are all fine but not particularly special. Flying, on the other hand, feels great. You start with the ability and quite a bit of rapidly recharging energy. Just hit the left shoulder button on the controller, and you zoom in whatever direction you’re looking at full speed. You move fast enough to make steering difficult, but the worlds are large enough to give you plenty of room to enjoy your airtime. The ability opens up the full potential of the game’s large levels and makes their vertical design more interesting since you can nearly instantly reach any height on the map.
Warden’s Will. Credit: Elyzio
Warden’s Will performed well on my Steam Deck at 720p once I lowered the graphics settings substantially to get an acceptable framerate. I don’t feel like it hurt the game’s cel-shaded look too much.
My initial feeling about the game was that I would rather start up Helldivers 2 again. The games are similar, but the latter is far more polished. It’s not totally fair to compare games from two teams with such a different level of resources, but I do feel that Warden’s Will could feel a lot better to play, and that would make up for a lot. I just wasn’t impressed by the feel of the movement and shooting. Still, Warden’s Will shows promise. Elyzio continues updating the game and adding content. This is one to watch.
Warden’s Will is available now for PC on Steam.
Played on: Steam Deck
