Wizordum Review Summary

Fun, addictive, enjoyable gameplay: The game is praised for its enjoyable and addictive gameplay, often described as smooth, fast-paced, and charming. Many reviewers found it to be a delightful and uncomplicated retro experience, easy to pick up and play, and providing hours of fun.

Excellent level design, secrets, editor: The game features well-designed, complex levels with many secrets that are rewarding to find. The inclusion of a level editor is a major strength, allowing players to create and share their own content, significantly increasing replayability.

Appealing retro aesthetic and graphics: The game's retro aesthetic, particularly its pixel art style, is highly appreciated. Reviewers highlight the vibrant colors, detailed environments, and overall visual appeal, noting that it effectively captures the nostalgia of 90s classics.

Blends retro with modern features: The game successfully blends retro shooter elements with modern quality-of-life features, reminiscent of classic titles like Heretic, Hexen, Doom, and Wolfenstein. Reviewers appreciate the game's ability to capture the essence of these classics while adding its own unique identity and improvements.

Excellent music and sound design: The game's music and sound design are consistently praised for enhancing the atmosphere and immersive experience. Reviewers describe the soundtrack as beautiful, epic, and fitting, often drawing comparisons to classic RPGs and film scores.

Numerous game-breaking bugs: Players report numerous bugs, including softlocks, getting stuck in levels, enemies disappearing, and save data loss. These issues disrupt gameplay and can force players to replay sections, leading to frustration. The save data loss is especially egregious, as it can wipe out hours of progress.

Lacks innovation; feels generic: Some reviewers felt the game lacked innovation and depth compared to other games in the genre, such as Wolfenstein 3D. They criticized the core gameplay loop as monotonous and the level design as inferior, making it a less enjoyable experience overall.

Lacks story; ammo scarcity: Some reviewers noted a lack of compelling story elements and a heavy emphasis on puzzle-solving, which may not appeal to all players. Additionally, ammunition can be scarce on higher difficulties, forcing players to rely on less desirable weapons.

Attacked through walls: The reviewer was attacked through walls multiple times. This point is included because it is a specific bug report, but it is also part of a cluster that contains emotional language without specific details, so the importance score is reduced.

Bugged achievements: Some achievements are currently bugged, preventing players from achieving 100% completion. This issue can be frustrating for completionists who enjoy unlocking all in-game content.

Retro FPS design and limitations: The game adopts a classic FPS design reminiscent of Wolfenstein 3D, featuring 2.5D graphics, single-floor levels, and restricted movement (four directions, no jumping). While some verticality exists in set pieces, the core gameplay remains grounded in this retro style.

Large levels with hidden secrets: Levels are expansive with hidden areas, encouraging exploration for secrets and loot. The game provides some guidance with key highlights, but players must still actively search for hidden items to increase their score.

Familiar weapon archetypes available: The game features a familiar arsenal of weapons, including a mace, spells, and guns, distributed between two playable characters. While the weapon types are common, they fit the fantasy setting.

Level editor with online sharing: The game includes a level editor with online sharing, allowing players to create, browse, and share custom levels. Reviewers found the user interface for browsing levels easy to use.

Varied enemy types and placement: The game features a variety of enemies, such as orcs, skeletons and giant rats, with well-done enemy placement that creates interesting fights. Enemy variety increases as the player progresses through the game.

Excellent optimization, smooth performance: The game demonstrates strong optimization, running smoothly on a variety of hardware, including the Steam Deck, older laptops, and Linux systems. Players report a polished experience with generally solid performance out of the box.

Minor clipping issue reported: One reviewer reported a minor graphical glitch where they clipped through a wall during Act 1. This appears to be an isolated incident and doesn't represent a widespread issue.

Made with Unity: The game was made with Unity engine.

Strongly recommended for genre fans: The game is highly recommended, especially for fans of retro FPS games like Doom, Heretic, and Wolfenstein. Reviewers praise its blend of classic gameplay with modern elements, solid fundamentals, enjoyable experience, and overall high quality, making it worth the price, even in early access.

Support the developer: Many reviewers suggest supporting the developer by purchasing the game now, especially during early access. This support is seen as a way to encourage further development and content additions, with some noting that the price may increase as the game evolves.

Anticipation for future content: A recurring sentiment is anticipation for future content, particularly new episodes and the full 1.0 release. Reviewers express excitement to see how the game evolves and are eager to experience more of what it has to offer.

Active developer communication: The developer's active presence on Discord is a positive aspect, allowing for direct communication with players. This can facilitate feedback, bug reporting, and community engagement, contributing to the game's ongoing development.

Revise level design: One reviewer suggests that Emberheart Games should revise the levels and reconsider their structure and size. This indicates a potential issue with level design that could impact the overall player experience.

Early access, active development: The game is in early access, with limited content and features, but the developer is actively working on it, responsive to feedback, and plans to add more content like a spell system and another playable character. The base price is expected to increase as new content is added.

16:10 resolution and cloud saves: The game includes support for 16:10 resolutions, preventing black bars, and also implements cloud save support. These features improve the user experience by offering more display options and save game convenience.

Tonal mismatch: visuals vs. story: The game features a tonal mismatch between its bright, colorful visuals and its dark, depressing story snippets. This contrast may be jarring or unappealing to some players.

Blue orb grenade through doors: The blue orb grenade has the ability to be thrown through doors. This could be a useful tactic for clearing rooms or surprising enemies.

Varied level settings in Chapter 2: Chapter 2 introduces more varied and unique level settings, including a battleship, swamp, and dungeon. This adds visual diversity and potentially new gameplay challenges.