Our author Schuhmann has spent some hours in Wolcen and he realizes: The game shows how hungry players are for more games like Diablo. If Wolcen has such success on Steam, what kind of hell will break loose when Lost Ark or Diablo 4 are released?
Wolcen is a good game. It doesn’t even cost the full price, but only around 35€. I have no qualms with it at all. But is Wolcen a game that should be ranked 7th in the Top 10 on Steam and suddenly becomes the hottest new game of 2020? No, probably not.
Wolcen is a good indie game that practically replicates the Diablo formula 1:1. The skill system is a bit smarter, the graphics are nice, and it has a decent story, but anyone who has spent 5 minutes with Diablo 3 will feel right at home, as there will be hardly any surprises.
GameStar gave Wolcen a rating of 84%, before they then issued deductions, and that is a rating that positions Wolcen well: a very good game, not an outstanding one. A game that fans of the genre should get without hesitation. It lacks innovations and special unique features at the highest level.
When reading Steam reviews and deducting the current brass on the game due to the rush and the problems, it sounds something like this: Yes, it is really good. It is developing well. I like the indie team. Path of Exile is too complex for me, Diablo 3 is exhausted – Wolcen comes just right while I’m waiting for something “bigger”.
Hack’n Slay is the big blind spot in gaming of the last years
But why is Wolcen such a hit? The appetite for “more like Diablo 3” has been huge for 5 or 6 years:
- Even now, people are flocking to Blizzard when a new season starts in Diablo 3, even though nothing has happened in the game for years
- The reporting on Lost Ark, the other hope, is being closely followed by thousands
- Path of Exile has built and sustained a studio solely with disappointed Diablo 3 fans
The genre “Hack’n Slay” or “Action-RPG” or “Diablo-like” or whatever one wants to call it, is one of the most poorly processed fields in gaming over the last 7 or 8 years.
This is because Diablo 3 made the people hungry, but could not satisfy the appetite. Blizzard gave up on Diablo 3 early due to the initial shitstorm and only allowed one major expansion with Reaper of Souls. Afterwards, the field was wide open.
Because without the real money auction house Blizzard had no idea how to finance the further development of Diablo 3 properly.
The Diablo team, it is said, could not even understand why Blizzard did not continue with Diablo 3, but that was just how it was.
Path of Exile could only attract the “hardcore” players. Genre fans have been waiting in vain for further games that would continue Diablo since then:
- Lost Ark is currently stuck in Japan
- Project TL hasn’t even been released in Korea yet
- Diablo 4 itself is likely to be released only at the end of 2021 or 2022
- not even the mobile replacement Diablo Immortal is granted to us by Activision Blizzard – initial tests are supposed to start “mid-2020”
- what has so far been offered as a replacement, like Pagan Online, has largely fizzled out
Into this gap comes Wolcen now, a solid title that was completely unprepared for the enormous rush and for which the indie developer team is paddling just to stay afloat.
Wolcen is a great success and a well-deserved one. The game shows what potential the genre has and what hype can break out when Lost Ark or Diablo 4 appears:
- Lost Ark expands the well-known Diablo formula with new ideas from the MMORPG area – for example, you can sail
- Diablo 4 is a huge brand from a large company and will come with much more hype and budget and will be released on all platforms
When Diablo 4 comes, it will not only be for PC, but also for PlayStation and Xbox. If Diablo 4 is good, we might expect a hellish level hype. And yes, even the people who are currently condemning Blizzard for the many blunders and mishaps will get it when the time comes and the hellfire and loot are invitingly bubbling.
