Despite having released only two games, the two entries in the beautiful Metroidvania series Ori, Austrian developer Moon Studios is rightly considered among the top studios founded in the 2000s. While the series that put them on the map is not continuing anytime soon, fans of the developer still have something to look forward to, as Moon Studios is working on No Rest for the Wicked, an action role-playing now available in early access. The game is powered by some amazing visuals and solid core gameplay that have the potential to be among the best released in recent times.
No Rest for the Wicked's premise isn't particularly original. Traveling as a chosen Cerim warrior to the Sacra island, players will have to purge the Pestilence that has transformed many of the locals into monsters. Things, however, become more complicated quickly enough as the Cerim gets embroiled in the political conflicts of the land, becoming a person of interest for a religious cult that seems intent on becoming the true political force on the island. Despite its predictability, the story is rather engaging, thanks to the amazing presentation that gives the game a rather peculiar vibe with its water painting aesthetics, disproportionate humans, and excellent voice acting. Unfortunately, the current Early Access version only features the first ten hours of the campaign, so it will be some time until we can see how this story will end.
The disproportionate humans can be a little off-putting at first, especially during character creation, but if you can look past this peculiar design choice, you will find how No Rest for the Wicked has some rather unique features for an action role-playing game. While the top-down view may suggest an experience inspired by the Diablo series, the new game from Moon Studios plays nothing like the Blizzard franchise, being more akin to From Software's Souls series. The game's weighty stamina-based combat system makes every enemy encounter tense, as the player is often one misstep away from death. However, the difficulty level is generally not that high, especially for experienced Soulslike players. For example, I had no trouble defeating most of the bosses on the first couple of tries, though some may have more trouble due to their weapon type of choice. Light weapons, such as the one-handed sword, are much easier to use, while heavier weapons are a little trickier due to the high stamina consumption and low speed of their attacks.
The potential for varied and effective builds in No Rest for The Wicked, however, is evident even in the game's current version, thanks to a decent weapon variety and customization possibilities granted by runes, which bestow each weapon special attacks and properties that can make life a little easier. Players, however, shouldn't rely on a single weapon, as No Rest for the Wicked twists the typical death mechanics of the Soulslike genre, reducing the durability of equipment instead of taking away experience points upon defeat. In the game's current state, recovering durability is fairly easy and cheap, so there's a good chance these mechanics will be tweaked as development continues. The RNG mechanics, on the other hand, seem to be a deliberate design choice, so I feel players should prepare for any eventuality, such as using the only weapons their stats allow them to wield at a certain point, at least until Moon Studios allows players to respec the Cerim.
While combat plays a huge part in the experience, No Rest for the Wicked isn't just about defeating a variety of nicely designed mobs and bosses. Exploration also plays an important role in the experience, thanks to the intricate level design featuring a lot of optional areas containing loot and additional content. Unfortunately, inventory management is really poor due to low capacity and abundance of items, although Moon Studios is already addressing this issue, so it likely won't be a problem in future versions of the game. As things stand, however, the wonky inventory management feels like a major oversight in light of the huge amount of loot to be found and the importance of cooking, crafting, and another big part of the experience: town building.
A few hours into the No Rest for the Wicked campaign, players can start rebuilding the town of Sacrament, using the materials gathered on the field to refurbish and decorate various establishments, giving them the chance to really influence the game's world. It is also possible to purchase a house and decorate it in several different ways, providing an extremely enthralling diversion from all the monster slaying and giving a decent purpose to all the loot-collecting players do while on the field.
Having been released as an early access title, it is undeniable that Moon Studios still has a lot of work to do on No Rest for the Wicked to improve gameplay and performance. The core gameplay, however, is very solid and engaging, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it will be refined in the coming months.
Early Access code provided by the publisher.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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