Survival meets adventure game.
Most people especially fans of the MMORPG genre will be familiar with the classic decades old MMO Runescape. And now Developer Jagex has decided to enter into the ever-popular survival game market with their latest release Runescape Dragonwilds. Like most survival games you find yourself on a mysterious lost Island in this case the Isle of Ashenfall , you meet an old man who gives you the task of exploring the island and slaying the evil and oppressive Dragons who have taken up residence throughout this new and dangerous land.
Grab your sword and a hammer and nails!
However, before you grab your stone club and head to the nearest dragons lair you must learn the basics of survival, the land is crawling with hostile creatures so building a shelter to wait out nighttime is imperative. This starts as nothing more than a wooden shack with a rickety door and a blanket. This will soon give way to a much grander home. When it comes to building in Dragonwilds the limit is only really your imagination (and of course in true survival game fashion lack of oak logs and bricks!).
You could create a humble cottage with a thatched roof or if you prefer you can build yourself a huge stone fortress and decorate it with the heads of the Dragons you have slain during the course of your quest. As someone with nearly ten thousand hours in the survival game Rust, I was blown away by the building aspect in Dragonwilds there is a huge amount of variety in types and sizes of walls, floors and roofing leading to some pretty interesting buildings. The great thing about Dragonwilds is you can build your base wherever you want so I chose a lovely spot by a lake in a glade in the starting area, but you could pick one in the swamp if you really wanted to.
Like the original Runescape , Dragonwilds features a comprehensive skill system unlike most RPG games where you have certain archetypes such as mage, warrior or thief in Dragonwilds you can level all skills at the same time. So, if you wanted you could play as a mage in heavy armour who also uses a heavy hitting two-handed maul as well as a staff for devastating ranged spells. Every time you use an ability you gain experience towards the relevant skill which maxes out at level 99. Along the way as your progress your skills you are rewarded with Rune abilities essentially spells, and these are fantastic. They vary from exploding trees into a shower of logs, casting a rain cloud that will water all your crops or boosting your jumps with a tornado so you can reach high spots. Experimenting with these spells is great fun even the ability to uproot and harvest your entire garden saving you time is brilliant and well thought out.
A wild and varied landscape to explore.
The different areas you explore as you reach deeper into the Island are home to ever more powerful creatures, to have any hope of surviving a new area you must farm recourses to create more powerful equipment to defeat these foes. The combat itself is very satisfying and varied enough to satisfy most people. If you prefer sniping with a bow, using dangerous spells with a staff or swift and deadly attacks with a dagger and sword you will find every approach can work. However, be warned It can be alarmingly easy to get overwhelmed by enemies so it’s important to manage your stamina and health as well as keeping an eye on your characters hunger, thirst and tiredness levels as these all affect how your character acts massively.
The gear you craft and find along the way is also interesting to look at and exciting to find and use. When you do craft or find an upgrade it has an immediate feeling of power which is satisfying as the creatures you face do sometimes have a harsh spike in difficulty which isn’t a bad thing as it just means you have to backtrack farm for recourses until you can go ahead and make a new more powerful weapon or better armour.
The isle of Ashenfall itself is beautiful, the areas vary from flower covered meadows and lush green forests, a craggy mountain top zone wreathed in a perpetual storm to even a grim and dark area that is inhabited by the restless dead. Every area has threats to watch out for but the great thing is even the low-level areas contain resources you need so you never feel like it’s a waste of time searching a place as you collect potatoes, runestones and different ores and wood that you need back at base for crafting.
There be dragons!
Every area has lots of hidden things and lore items to discover so you will find yourself constantly keep an eye out for suspicious ledges or buried chests. And on more than one occasion I was jump scared by a random dragon or zombified Ogre intend of bringing my adventure to an end. There are also lots of side quests to discover off the beaten track I feel Dragonwilds would really appeal to someone who the exploration aspect of an RPG game as there is always somewhere to go and see.
Dragonwilds is a multiplayer game up to a limit of 4 players however if like me you decide to play solo you will still have fun as I personally have loved my time exploring Ashenfall, I do imagine playing with friends would be so much better though. There were many times where I failed defeating a horrible zone boss where I just wished someone else could do this while I tended to my pumpkin patch back at base, that didn’t put me off eventually i did end up beating that stupid dragon and perhaps more impressive still my pumpkins successfully survived the case of crop blight they had been afflicted with and ended up as soup in my kitchen.
Dragonwilds has something for everyone.
After all this can I recommend Dragonwilds? the answer is a resounded yes, it is wonderful. The game looks and sounds fantastic every aspect from crafting, building, combat or spells is brilliantly done and incredibly fun. The only negative for me would be hard mode is HARD almost unfairly hard everything will either kill you in one-hit or leave you with so little health every encounter is a battle of life and death, but some people might actually enjoy this.
If you enjoy the building and crafting aspects of a survival game you will enjoy this game, if you enjoy the exploration and combat of an RPG game you will enjoy this in fact there really isn’t much to dislike. This is a game where there is always something to do, a simple trip back to your base to drop off items and you can easily find yourself spending hours tending to your garden,cooking new recipes or rearranging furniture and redesigning your house. If you enjoy either survival or multiplayer RPG games, I urge you to give the game a try and you can find it here. Now if you will excuse me, I have a crop of Corpseberries and melons that need urgently harvesting back at base!
