Return of The Wayward Realms

 

A very long time ago on a blog far far away I remember bringing up the reveal of a promising little sandbox RPG developed by one of the key staff members who helped birth The Elder Scrolls franchise before it was roundly redesigned for Morrowind. Unlike many franchises that survive to the modern day, early Elder Scrolls is actually quite unique and special in it's own right, thus having that credit to your name still carries significant weight even amidst the modern scene of RPGs. The game was The Wayward Realms, and I've actually kept up with their happenings quite staunchly over the years. Peering into their lore books they released over the years, keeping up with their developer post videos that touch on the development process. Never has there really been anything substantive enough to warrant a follow-up blog, until recently with the surprising reveal that after all this time the game will be coming to public funding in the hopes of drumming up interest to sell to a publisher.

It is an update regarding the state of the game, albeit not the one I wanted to hear after all these years- however I'd be lying if I wasn't probably going to end up supporting it anyway because my nose tells me this is going to be worth my time. My nose has only guided me slightly astray once before on a title, and that was a Steam Early Access game so I wasn't investing all that much in anyway. The last game my nose guided my towards dropping a heavy price tag behind was the brilliant 'Warhammer Rogue Trader', so I'm thinking I have a sense for promising RPGs in development and this one is giving the right signals. I've also been literally keeping up with it for years, so I guess I can vouch for the legitimacy of the project in that esoteric manner too.

But what even is The Wayward Realms? Well, after all these years you'd think I had a grasp of that, but if you asked the team they'd probably say I'm way off! Why? Well because from everything that has been described of the game, from the vast open world teaming with interwoven factions propping up a breathing world that the player is placed into as an entrepreneur adventurer- I'd call this a Sandbox RPG. In the same sort of vein as Kenshi, albeit hopefully a bit more forgiven to the hands of a newcomer than that title which demands a straight essay to pick up! But the team seem much more taken with the label of 'Grand RPG', a first-of-its-kind title that, to be honest, they've failed to really describe to me. I just think they don't want to associate with other Sandbox RPGs because they have a bit of a reputation for being aimless. But who's to say, right?

What I can say is this- there seems to be oodles of creativity going in to making this more than your standard Fantasy game affair. Even races as universal as the Orcs stand out as unique in this title, sporting long gorilla like arms and stout bodies in a slight subversion on the trope that reminds me of the lanky cannibal wierdoes of Larian's Elves from the Divinity franchise. Some of the monster designs that we've caught glimpse of, usually as assets still being worked on or concept art- not yet actually placed within the game, are actually eye-popping for how abnormal they are. There's a vague sense of the Lovecraftian cosmic abomination to a few, and I wonder if those sensibilities are indicative of the tone this world is trying to set. Cosmic fantasy? I dig it!

A curious little nugget of the presentation that Once Lost Games have put up to try and sell the idea of The Wayward Realms is a 'restoration of RPG'- which again hooks into that bizarrely 'pick-me' twinge that this team has put off from the outset. Like calling your very Sandbox-RPG looking game a 'Grand RPG' because it's so "Not like all the other RPGs, dad! It's not a phase!". They claim to want to restore 'scope', 'choice', 'consequence' and 'roleplaying' to RPGs- which, again, reeks of being out of touch with the modern scene. Come to me in the mid 2010's with that pitch and I'd look around and agree with you. Since then? Pillars of Eternity, the Pathfinder games, Original Sin 2- hell, Baldur's Gate 3! All exemplars of those apparent virtues that they, by virtue of phrasing, imply is wanting from the RPG market. I really want this game to succeed by man, the marketing veers into the antagonistic in a manner that reminds me of the inexplicable failure of the incredible 'Tyranny'. I don't want to see injustice like that again.

However my gripes do wither in the face that the launching Kickstarter campaign aims to bring our way an early access release of The Wayward Realms, presumably to bring us into the development process of the RPG in a way that helped polish Baldur's Gate to it's mirror sheen quality last year. I am fascinated at the prospect of getting my hands on this title and perhaps learning what it is the team even means by the otherwise vapid phrase 'Grand RPG'- and it's always a very solid addition to a kickstarter campaign to provide solid playable demo content. (Provided that content is indeed, solid and playable.) Of course this is a very tricky part of any game's development process, and Early Access can either be a huge step forward in development or a giant pitfall depending on how and when a team approaches it, so I sympathise with the cautious manner in which the idea is introduced. They're not promising an early access build with the Kickstarter campaign, they are aiming to build one. That's the goal. And if that goal is reached- I, personally, would absolutely launch myself at the thing.

A lot of what drives the interest around this game is hope. The very typical hope from the developers that their project can come together and hit the sort of audience that appreciates it, but also the more fantastic hope from an audience that want the same somewhat unfocused mania of Daggerfall brought into a modern, more playable, age. Hope that this will satisfy the crowd like me who long for a solid fantasy sandbox to lose themselves in. Hope for the CRPG crowd that want a robust RPG backbone that can inspire builds and repeat playthroughs as different classes that feel and play with distinction. (As opposed to how Morrowind, Skyrim and Oblivion took it's roleplaying.) It's a lot of hope for an indie project to juggle, even one built off the backs of people who ostensibly boast game development seniority. I hope they don't buckle.

Coming this May The Wayward Realms will become a lot more realm in the mind of the market, and given how RPGs are coming back into vogue- one might even call this a renewed golden age for high quality RPGs- I suspect the title might pick up a bit of traction if it indeed is worth the build up. If all goes to play I wonder if we'll be treated to the same sort of back-and-forth relationship Larian maintained throughout their development stages, where changes and improvements are dished out here and there and fans like myself compile essays back with feedback. As far as unpaid QA work goes, I do like that sort back and forth, particularly the way it brings a community into the same step. (Actually, I like it a lot more than paid QA work at this point. Too stuffy.) Here's praying for The Wayward Realms.