Today I want to share with you my review of One More Level’s, Warlocks, a multiplayer wizard action/RPG brawler set in a multidimensional world, where the evil shadows are invading human realms.I first discovered the game last year on Kickstarter and was really impressed with what I saw so decided Confident Gamers would back the game. Now months later the game is finally available to play. Well honestly it’s been out for a while but I have been slow in playing due to a lack of a decent game controller I had not progressed very far in the game. So now I am here sharing with you my thoughts and opinions on Warlocks.About the game and it’s development:Warlocks began as an idea of combining ‘Risk of Rain’ gameplay with fantasy characters such as wizards and warlocks. The first version of ‘Risk of Death” got a very warm reception from internet gamers. Dushan, the initial creator was contacted by Wojtek who is a 2D artist and after reaching out to Max, the programmer, they all decided to begin working on ‘Warlocks’. During Digital Dragons 2014 they had shown an early alpha version of Warlocks which caught our attention. We decided to join our forces with Dushan, Max and Wojtek and make sure that Warlocks will be a success.Some of the games promoted key features include:
- Slay – Epic bosses – at the end of each world you’ll face off with powerful bosses in extremely intense battles. Defeat them to rescue other Warlocks overtaken by the Shadow virus and gain new allies in your quest.
- Destroy – Hordes of enemies – that have their own unique skill sets and attack patterns you’ll have to learn in order to defeat them.
- Explore – Multiple dimensions – during your challenging journey to the Shadow World you will visit beautiful sceneries of various worlds such as: 1940’s Wall Street, ruined cathedrals, foggy swamplands and much more. All hand-painted with gorgeous pixel art.
- Learn – Different play-styles – by unlocking new Warlocks as you progress through the story. There are ten completely unique Warlocks total in the game, each with four (or more) distinctive abilities that complement each other.
- Collect – Procedurally generated loot – dropped by the enemies you slay. You will be able to choose from huge variety of weapons and magic items that combined with different skill builds will allow you to enjoy different play-style each time you play.
- Co-op – Team up with your friends in an online or local (yes, the game supports up to 4 gamepads!) co-op and hack through your opponents in an even more fun way!
- Versus – Challenge your best friends in a classic DeathMatch, or team up in pairs and battle each other in a 2vs2 mode, or organize a small one-on-one tournament – the choice is yours. And if you still want more there will be other game modes for you to enjoy.
Game MechanicsCharacter selection – At the start of the game you given the option of choosing between several different characters, each one with their own abilities and benefits.Event Scenes – In between each stage you get a quick storyline cutscene that helps carry you through the experience and understand why you are fighting.Saving – There is no saving in the middle of a stage. If you are defeated before the end of the stage you will start that stage all over again. Of course each stage gets harder with more waves and harder enemies in each wave.Controls – the game can be played using the key board or a game controller. What does take some getting used to at first is jumping. The four main buttons are used up to allow for your attacks. So jumping is actually performed using the direction thumb stick, just press upwards at an angle towards the direction you want to jump. Your instincts are to want to push A to jump so just adjusting to that takes a few rounds but after awhile you get used to it.Leveling Up – As you advance through the game defeating more waves of enemies your experiences levels up. Each time you gain a new level you can increase the game of on of the four main attacks. For each character the attacks that are available are extremely different and some cause more damage the others. The good thing is that if you decide to switch characters during your game any attack positions you leveled up remained leveled up, you don’t have to start from scratch with that new character. I found this very helpful because it allowed me to try out reach character and their various skills and attacks without feeling like I was at an extreme disadvantage against the waves of enemies.Coins/Items/Weapons Shop – As you defeat enemies you will more then likely be rewarded with a supply of coins. Occasionally I don’t get anything but it is so rare that I really don’t care. There are also various items that are dropped during game play as you defeat different enemies. You can walk over to them and a button prompt will tell you how to pick it up. Occasionally you are offered a wondering traveling sales man where you can chose to sell the items you picked up and/or purchase additional items. Some items can be used during game play to increase your power etc.Review: Over all I really enjoyed the game and look forward to the continued progress as the prepare the next update and full release. You can check out more details on their steam page here.