When a developer like Moon Studios He has been cooking his next video game for four years, the wait could become eternal. However, the exercise of patience is already over, because No Rest for the Wicked It is now available in its Early Access phase and, after having completed the current adventure, I can affirm that we are facing one of the gems of 2024
The parents of Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps move to the action RPG with a great dose of medieval fantasy and to do so they take us to the year 841. King Harol has died, the crown is collected by his son, the arrogant Magnus, and the first problem he has to deal with as regent is pestilence, a kind of plague that has returned after a thousand years without humanity suffering from it.
Seline, the highest figure of the church, stands as the executing arm that will go to Sacra, an island where the pestilence has already caused havoc that adds to the local war between the government and a series of rebels. This is when our protagonist comes into play thanks to an unusual feature, since we will control a cerim. It is a legendary warrior race that can put an end to the pestilence, although the mission to free Sacra will not be easy due to political tensions.
Before diving into the terrain of sword blows and waterfalls of blood, it is essential to praise the brilliant visual section of No Rest for the Wicked. Moon Studios’ work is absolutely sensational, not only in terms of designs and art, but also in terms of animations. A good handful of cinematics await throughout the 8 hours it took me to explore the entire game and the truth is that there comes a point when you look forward to them.
Not only because they promote a powerful and interesting narrative component, nourished by characters with conflicting interests, but because the expressiveness of all of them is brutal. The company is once again betting on characters closer to the panels of a comic, but with a ability to transmit that they would like video games with astronomically higher budgets
What can we find in No Rest for the Wicked? A traditional Soulslike, with nuances, and that has not yet completed its path to reach version 1.0. Currently there is enough content for a fan of the genre to enjoy like a pig, but the roadmap set out by Moon Studios anticipates even more. A multiplayer mode, more areas to explore and greater support for the work based on player feedback await in the coming months.
As I say, that doesn’t mean that right now it’s not worth fighting, far from it. From an isometric perspective similar to that of Diablo, we can explore different areas with our cerim such as the Sacra beach where we were shipwrecked, the Wetlands, the sewers or the imposing city of Sacramenta. In all of them we will encounter creatures and beings to beat, whether in the form of enormous crabs, wolves, leeches, assassins or giants with devastating clubs.
Therefore, it is time to arm yourself with good equipment that is not conditioned by the class we choose because, precisely, there is no class to choose from. Our way of playing depends exclusively on the weapon to one or two hands that we hold and it is the one that determines how we should distribute the attribute points. Daggers, broadswords, bows or even blunt pieces of wood scale based on their own statistics such as Strength, Dexterity or Intelligence. To this we must add the use of Runes, special attacks that we can only resort to when we have sufficiently charged the inspiration bar.
Of course, bombs, flasks with frozen explosions, objects to increase the damage of steel or imbue it with electrical power are some of the other resources we can use to confront opponents. One of the big differences of No Rest for the Wicked regarding any FromSoftware title is that Enemies do not respawn once we have destroyed them, but his death is definitive. It doesn’t matter that we use the cerim whisper, the equivalent of bonfires, since the executions are permanent, plus there are no souls or any similar element that we can lose.
We level up directly by killing rivals, so, what is the penalty? Durability. Weapons, helmets, breastplates, pants, mittens and everything we carry suffers from continued use, so death accelerates this process. It will be necessary to go to the blacksmith in Sacramenta with some regularity to ask for a good repair in exchange for copper coins, but it is far from being a problem that completely determines the game.
Having money in your pocket is important for transactions in the city and for much more, since the buying and selling of items is constant. We can embed power-up gems into weapons, enchant them to gain unique attributes in exchange for blocking the ability to embed said gems, or, especially, get furniture. He did not imagine that in No Rest for the Wicked The carpentry section was promoted, but it has much more crumb than it seems.
Sacramenta is huge, so big that exploring it on foot between the different points of interest can be tedious. This is why we can order the construction of elevators or the repair of bridges to shorten roads, although everything has a cost. The first is temporary, since each task will take several hours to be executed, and the second is having to deliver the necessary material. We can always carry a pick, a shovel, an ax or a fishing rod with us to cut down trees, catch good fish or extract minerals such as copper. All of this has a direct purpose to improve the capital’s infrastructureas well as direct use in the improvements of our equipment.
On the other hand, it is also possible to get our own house – after paying a large amount of money – and thus begin to have a home as God intended where we can place the furniture we want. The objective of supporting the reconstruction of Sacramenta runs along the same lines as great level design. No Rest for the Wicked
And it is necessary to know the scenario well, because little by little we will make our way and shorten the pace with the classic shortcuts of all Soulslike. The opponents are stationed in specific places and the normal thing is for the confrontations to be 1 vs 1, disappearing… momentarily. The reappearance of enemies occurs over time, as there is a day-night cycle in the title that once again turns defeated areas into a challenge. Because? Because, although that point on the map will not be as infested as before, it will change the position of the rivals and in this way it will surprise us on a second or third visit.
Furthermore, you must have the errands, hunting missions or challenges that we can accept in Sacramenta, which invite us to return to these areas. Some of them are daily or weekly, so Moon Studios’ insistence to motivate us to return to the game will be constant. Yes, I have managed to reach the current limits of No Rest for the Wickedwhich is a really tough roguelike mode and the truth is that the endgame would give me a few more hours.
For now there are only four main bosses to eliminate and it will not cost too much to end their miserable lives, although they are greater challenges than what we are used to in the work. They are usually giant beings, with a very large attack range and, once dead, we can take their essence to Sacramenta to increase inventory space, which becomes a constant need.
In case it is not clear, there are plenty of reasons why No Rest for the Wicked entertain you for a short time. It is a long-term investment that, as long as it maintains the initial line, we are talking about a title that will border on excellence. Even in its current state I have hardly encountered any errors and the performance is more than satisfactory, although the initial requirements are somewhat demanding for the average equipment used on Steam. The addition of being able to play in company will be one of the biggest boosts and will surely transform a large part of one of the most interesting experiences so far this year.
Ficha de No Rest for the Wicked
- Platforms: PC (Early Access). PS5 and Xbox Series, coming soon
- Multiplayer: Yes (in a future update)
- Developer: Moon Studios
- Company: Private Division
- Launch: 18 April 2024
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