Warlender is an action game that was first introduced to me at gamescom. An interesting concept, mixing genres, taking in battles that involve up to 100 players. But the Toylogic title, published by PLAION, was not playable at the show. I had discovered it thanks to a video of about ten minutes of gameplay before asking questions. So when the opportunity was given to me last Thursday to play it, I didn't hesitate! Please note that the screenshots do not represent the final product.
The beginning was a bit laborious. It must be said that it is not easy to bring together forty people, with journalists from all walks of life. Some had not updated their games. Others couldn't throw it. Then it was the lobby that started crashing because we had been waiting too long. Finally, a good quarter of an hour later, everything was back to normal, and we were able to play!
The advantage is that it allowed me to discover the "loadout" options, this set of playable characters during a game. Each is created with a number of capped CPs, defined according to the chosen title. These points represent the budget to be used for choosing abilities and equipment. Inevitably, you will tell me, why not take the best title and collect ultra powerful characters with the maximum, ie 800 CP? It's smart, but no, you need a balanced team. Because the power of the usable characters is limited by the progress of the game. At first, only low-level ones are accepted. Until it's time to bring out the monsters!
The army is organized into five sub-groups of four players, which are assigned objectives by the player designated as commander. I was careful not to volunteer and, fortunately, the system did not select me. Some groups are assigned to the attack, others to the defense. Then, concretely, once in play, I'm not sure if the commander has an additional role to play.
The class balance is correct. The warrior clearly has good survivability, but his damage has nothing to do with the mage. He is an enforcer. He absolutely must be killed first. One of his attacks, a large area on the ground, is capable of wiping out all players with a single blow. Priest is a good hybrid, with slightly higher damage than warrior (I think, TBC), and survivability between mage and warrior. Its strength is its ability to heal and revive allies. The mage has unquestionably the greatest range, so much so that it is sometimes difficult to locate him when he bombards from the heights of his fortress. The other two classes are not left out, however. They have ranged weapons with decent range and an insane rate of fire (worthy of a submachine gun). Something to touch someone on the walkway by standing just below.
Death comes quickly. I can't count the number of times I've tripped over an enemy sword and found myself in a mage's hellfire. Hit points aren't enough to survive for long, unless you have a butt healer. And even. The advantage is that the respawn is not limited. The delay before returning to combat does not increase either. It remains at 10 seconds. Even at the thirtieth death. The only enforced latency comes from the travel time from the spawn point. Knowing that in a very classic way, these points evolve as control is taken (or lost). Thus, on the second part, a small commando from our blue team bypassed the enemies, to take a tower very close to the enemy castle. We were all able to teleport close to the walls and attempt a breakthrough which unfortunately ended in failure as the reds reacted quickly and all came back in defence. On the other hand, at other times, when I was supposed to be in attack, I found myself blocked in a scuffle in defense, without the possibility of crossing the enemy line to resume the offensive. In other words, the commander's orders were not always followed very well.
Weapons of war are particularly deadly. But also very fragile. As a result, it's a big investment in terms of time that can quickly become useless. It was very annoying to have bothered to protect a ram all the way to the door, so that it fell to pieces before even delivering the first blow. Exactly the same thing happened to us soon after with a catapult. Recovered. Fixed. Broken after its first shot. I did not manage to test the playability of this side.
The already chaotic combat becomes an unspeakable battlefield in the late game, when cataclysms unleash. Meteorites fall from the sky. The walls are crumbling. The ground shakes. Without forgetting of course all the attacks of the players who try to kill each other in the middle of the nature which rebels.
Promising, Warlander is shaping up to be a wild PvP title. I saw the three classes as a disadvantage. In the end, I understand the response of the developer who told me that it was not planned to add a fourth. At best, it would rather be a new spell to an existing class. It is true that this trinity works well and allows teams to constantly have more or less equivalent power. Without that it taints the strategy of the fights. Then, we have to see in the longer term if the content will be enough provided to retain a sufficient population to ensure balanced and fast matches. A final word on the economic model: the game will be released in free-to-play with a classic Battle Pass, with free and paid tiers.
You can follow the game right now on its Steam page:
