Wildgate was easily the most exciting thing featured in the Dreamhaven Showcase that just ended, and we're here to tell you all about it. We've been able to not only see a presentation and talk to the developers but also play it. It won't be long before you get to play it, too, as developer Moonshot Games is hosting a Community Preview playtest between April 14 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X. To register, head to the official website.
Since you might have forgotten, Dreamhaven was founded in September 2020 by former Blizzard founder Mike Morhaime and other Blizzard expatriates. It's a multi-team studio, but Wildgate appears to be their lineup's jewel, and the team behind it features people like Dustin Browder and Justin Lane, who worked on games like World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Hearthstone, and lots more.
In the presentation, they revealed that Moonshot came up with 30 different one-page pitches and distilled them down to the top five, before eventually choosing Wildgate, which they did partially based on the studio values. The first one is 'Force For Good', which was described as a 'super important one' by Jason. This is a sci-fi-based game, and there's some bleak sci-fi out there. With Wildgate, Moonshot wants players to think about positive, optimistic futures. This pillar also ties into how the studio wishes to build the community over time and establish a positive approach to the game and how it will be released.
The next pillar is 'Shared Creative Ownership'. Jason said this speaks to one of Moonshot's big cultural goals: everyone on the team can contribute different ideas to help shape the game and the universe. The objective is to be 'swimming in a sea of little inventions', working together as a team to come up with ideas instead of having them exclusively driven from the top down.
The third one is 'Awe and Wonder'. The developers believe that games can take you back to feeling like a kid again, to seeing the world with fresh eyes and a sense of wonder when people first have a sense of the things out there bigger than them. Sometimes, that can be a feeling of wonder and happiness, and sometimes, it can be a little bit terrifying. This mix is Moonshot's goal in terms of how they are developing Wildgate.
Lastly, 'Memorable Stories' speaks to the kind of experience that they want users to have in the game. Due to the studio's background, the developers think a lot about things like balance and a really balanced play experience. But the goal is also that everybody leaves with a story, that something unique happens to you and the people you're playing with that's very memorable and you're taking away with you as you move on.
The team then offered an overview of the lore they created for the game. There's a civilization that spans much of the galaxy called the Accord, and it's made up of all kinds of strange creatures working together. They have a shared government and they exchange technologies, working together to explore the galaxy. The example Dustin shared was Star Trek's Federation, except composed of the funny creatures you might find in a Star Wars cantina. Anyway, as the Accord finds new races, they incorporate them and invite them to join, again like the Federation. Most species are reasonably peaceful after reaching space travel, except for one that claims to be the 'Firstborn'. These creatures are around 50 million years into their evolution and they're very old. They think that they are the oldest civilization, having expanded and killed off all the others they encountered, but they're actually not, as the universe also featured species that have long since vanished: the so-called Builders, Artisans, and Primes. These ancient civilizations only left behind a few, albeit immensely powerful, artifacts.
The Firstborn attacked the Accord, beginning a hundred-year war. Wildgate isn't actually about this war; it takes place right after. However, Moonshot still wrote hundreds of pages of in-universe history so that the game's characters are grounded in a universe that feels real. Some of the characters fought in the war, while others were in an academy and were hoping to join the war when it finally ended.
Anyway, the Firstborn are eventually defeated by the Accord. This Federation-like union of civilizations is now ready to start exploring the galaxy once again, and they take a particular interest in the Typhon Reach, a mysterious area of space that is full of cosmic storms and quantum meteorites. The main reason is that this sector of space houses artifacts left by those truly ancient civilizations discussed before. These artifacts can be extremely powerful. For example, they could restore a planet decimated by the war, so they are obviously in great demand. That's where players come in. Wildgate is about Prospectors who are willing to risk it all to travel to the most dangerous place in the galaxy and retrieve artifacts for the Accord.
In practice, this is a PvP team-based multiplayer action/adventure game. Sessions are composed of 20 players where groups of four crew a total of five starships, exploring ruins, finding experimental technology and battling other players. The Typhon Reach map is created procedurally so that it will be completely fresh in all matches, ensuring Prospectors will always be faced with a new area of space to explore. The teams need to explore and figure out what's going on in this version of the Reach.
Each party has its own spaceship, all of which will appear at a random location. If you die, you'll respawn on your ship. There's no limit to respawns as long as your ship is intact; when it's destroyed, it is game over for your group. The way to win is to collect the artifact and take it to the titular Wildgate.
It takes a variable amount of time for that gate to open. Once it is, anybody can get the artifact, put it on their ship, and fly it out of the Reach. The other way you can win a match is to be the last ship standing. Lastly, the developers told us of another far rarer (estimated to occur possibly once every fifty games or so) way that a session can end: if the last two remaining ships are fighting and both are destroyed at roughly the same time, the Reach gets the win. Matches last twenty to forty minutes. To ensure an even playing field, players get a fresh ship with every new match.
Having played a couple of matches, I can tell you it's a blast of fun. The art style is definitely very reminiscent of Blizzard's work, but in terms of gameplay, it reminded me a lot of a sci-fi version of Rare's Sea of Thieves, which I told the developers during the Q&A. Wildgate is sandboxy enough that matches can develop very differently, though the basic loop is exploring the Reach, venturing into ruins populated by NPC monsters to gather upgrades to improve your ship as you continue to scout for the other Prospector teams and, of course, for the artifact and the Wildgate itself.
The shooting is arcade-like rather than realistic, fitting with the universe created by Moonshot, but it feels good. Arguably, the most fun part, though, was using Probes, little drones that you can take control of to explore other areas, discover points of interest, and, most critically, spy on enemy players. However, there's a lot more, like manning the turrets, putting out fires, and possibly boarding enemy ships to steal loot.
Currently, there are four main spaceships in the game, differing in shapes and sizes but also amount of health, speed, number of cannons, layouts, et cetera. The party leader will be the default Captain who chooses the spaceship. After choosing their Prospector, each of which comes with different passive abilities, players also customize the loadout with different weapons and gadgets. Personally, I loved the heal gun, which heals yourself and allies but also has a secondary fire that damages foes.
As hinted earlier, it's not just NPCs and enemy players that you have to take care of when navigating the Typhon Reach. There are also various environmental hazards that may influence whether you win or not. Ultimately, though, while the developers reckon this is not an extraction game, the truth is you can kind of play it as one. It is entirely possible that the four crews are too focused on fighting one another while the fifth sneaks in, finds the artifacts, and makes for the Wildgate without even having had to fight the others.
It's way too early to come up with a definitive evaluation, but the game definitely shows a lot of promise. I do feel there's more that could be done to improve the PvE encounters, perhaps with bosses and the like. It would be especially useful if PvE-only modes were eventually to be added. Still, the game already has a solid core that could entice a lot of players to quickly jump in with their friends and have fun. Wildgate is currently slated to launch later this year on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X with a premium business model.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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