Originally launched last August, Wayfinder was a live service game with seasonal updates, regular new characters and the vast array of microtransactions you would expect from a Free-to-Play game. Whilst fun, however, it suffered many of the trappings most new F2P games suffer, including concerns around its monetisation and the typical launch server issues. This was then all compounded when the developer and publisher parted ways and fans were left in limbo.
Well, those fans can rejoice, as Wayfinder is now back as a premium-priced co-op action RPG that has maintained the same satisfying loot and gameplay mechanics but done away with the aggressive monetisation and always online elements. The result is a game that people were clamouring for at the start, and it sort of gives you hope that other promising live service games – that failed to crack the tough F2P market – could be converted in a similar fashion. Whether they will or not remains to be seen but Wayfinder has at least laid out a blueprint for how to do it well.
Just like its original iteration, it’s still an action RPG at heart with a host of unique characters you can choose from, each of whom has a different role and skill set to master. They are all fun to play in their own ways and can be decked out with whatever weapons you want as well as given passive buffs, armour and all the typical accotriments.
While you can play solo, and it’s definitely fun to do so, the game really sings in multiplayer when you’re all playing your role and working together. This is perhaps unsurprising – given its original online F2P nature – but it’s nice to see that developers Airship Syndicate have been able to keep the core multiplayer experience so good despite the removal of every other online element (monetisation, struggling servers etc.)
As you would expect from any game with the term RPG in its description, there’s a huge volume of stuff to do, loads of fights to get stuck into, and plenty of unlocks hidden around the world. Overall it’s just a very satisfying experience, and its resurrection is a kind of boon for the game preservation cause too, because Wayfinder is no longer tied to expensive server costs and so can instead live on in your game library and be picked up and played as you want, when you want, for however long you want. You know, like how we would all like all games to be.
