When it comes to coverage of multiple games from a single publisher at an event like PAX East, there tend to be three options. One is to do a profile on all the games you’ve checked out, the second is to do individual articles for each game and the third is to focus on one game if it was easily the most interesting title there. And while Daedalic had stacked booth at PAX East, I only had time to check out two titles:The Lord of the Rings: Gollum,a third-person stealth-action game focusing on one the most legendary characters from one of the most legendary fantasy series ever, and Wild Woods, a co-op game with cute cats.
In the end, I had chosen to focus on one game and it was a rather easy choice. After all, only one of the two games clearly had the clout to…oh, okay, you’ve probably already seen the headline and header image and thus know where this joke is going, so I’ll drop the act. But seriously, I enjoyed Wild Woods the most. Don’t get me wrong, Gollum looks like it’ll be fun as well, but aside from some technical hiccups in getting the game running that ate into time spent with it, a lot of it still felt like a standard third-person action game in the same mold as something like the Uncharted or Tomb Raider games. Again, that’s not stopping it from being fun, and Gollum’s detour into Mordor here actually looks like it makes for quite the interesting story, and has subtle touches that actually manage to manage to emphasize Gollum’s creepiness, but discussing what makes it all unique is tricky.
That’s not the case with Octofox Games' upcoming title Wild Woods, though, which immediately stood out. Which was no surprise, given that it’s a couch co-op action game with roguelike elements that sees you on a huge escort mission with an emphasis on day/night cycles. Oh, and you all play as cute cats, as previously mentioned. So with a combination like that, Wild Woods stands out as a unique game. But is it fun as well? Unsurprisingly, the answer is a resounding “Heck yes.”
The setup is simple: You and your friends play as a quartet of battle-ready cats, tasked with protecting a traveling wagon as it heads through a dangerous forest filled with the likes of bandits. Combat is simple, relying on just an attack button and a dodge button. It’s nice, quick and gets the job done. Where things get meatier, though, is in the build-up to the combat. As the wagon travels along the path through the woods, payload-style, the players have to chop up various items in their path like logs, bushes and trees in order to get resources. Once on the ground, you have to pick them up and throw them into the appropriate part of the wagon, either by yourself or by throwing goods to friends, all before they disappear as the wagon keeps moving along. While you can collect berries that provide a sack of healing boosts to access, and money found in treasure chests or from battles that be used for upgrades at any shops you choose to visit, the most valuable resource of all is none other than firewood.
See, bandit attacks only begin at night. And while your opponents have no problem with seeing in the dark, your band of feline heroes is going to be reliant on the light provided by a flame coming from the wagon, one fueled by firewood, and one that also diminishes over time. So not only do you have to use the daytime to keep an eye out for and collect firewood, but you also have to stoke the fire during battle to keep the area of visibility increased, spending firewood in the process. In other words, collecting firewood and knowing when to use it can mean the difference between life and death, and proper teamwork ensures that you can all properly manage resource management and combat at the same time.
The demo ended with an impressive boss battle that felt like a good introduction to some of the greater challenges as they spawned in additional enemies. Not only did Wild Woods turn out to be a fun action game, but its challenge level felt perfect for younger gamers as well alongside its cozy, cartoonist style, as evidenced by the kids that were at the event playing the game as well. It seems like a clever gem that could be a rare roguelike for all ages, and we can’t wait to see more it when it comes out later this year.
