With No Rest for the Wicked, the creators of the popular Ori series are trying their hand at an ARPG for the first time. Will this genre switch work out? Players can find out for themselves, as the ARPG has just launched on Steam.
Which game is it about? No Rest for the Wicked is the new ARPG from Moon Studios, known for their beautiful Ori games. This action RPG also promises to be a real eye-catcher with its hand-painted aesthetics.
When announced at the Game Awards in December 2023, No Rest for the Wicked initially looked like a new competitor to Diablo 4. It later became clear that it would probably lean more towards a Soulslike – but with coop and housing.
No Rest for the Wicked has been in Early Access on Steam since April 18, 2024. Now we will see if Moon Studios can keep their promise to change the ARPG genre.
34,000 players, but mixed reviews
How does No Rest for the Wicked start? The ARPG had a pretty strong launch on Steam. About an hour and a half after launch, it recorded a peak of 33,983 concurrent players (via SteamDB).
On Steam, it tops the bestseller list, ahead of Valve’s own perennial favorite Counter-Strike 2 and the currently booming Fallout 4.
What do the first players say? The reviews on Steam currently stand at 60% positive reviews, labeled as “Mixed” (as of 19:15). It should be noted that the game has just launched, and the number can fluctuate significantly as more players get a chance to form an opinion.
Common points of criticism so far mainly concern performance and the fact that, currently, you cannot remap the controls. Some Steam users joke: “No Rest for the GPU.”
On the positive side, the aesthetics and the engaging and satisfying combat system are being highlighted. We have collected some of the first voices for you:
- KAIOMON: ‘[…] I believe there lies a rough diamond of a game.[…]’
- Tenoshii: ‘[…] The game is really fun. It’s like the hand-crafted top-down ARPG with Soulslike combat that we didn’t know we needed.’
- ItsTayBTW: ‘The game doesn’t work since I first closed it. Terrible performance issues. The usual early access troubles.’
It seems that Moon Studios still has a lot to do. But that’s what Early Access is for. The developers want to take community feedback into account while working on No Rest for the Wicked.
If you want to get your own impression of No Rest for the Wicked, you can still take advantage of the introductory offer on Steam until May 2. The ARPG is reduced by 10% and costs €35.99 instead of €39.99. When No Rest for the Wicked leaves Early Access, it could become slightly more expensive, according to the Steam page.
If that doesn’t appeal to you, you can also try out the most anticipated game on Steam for free with a bit of luck: Hades 2 shows 3 hours of new gameplay, but the community is only interested in hot gods
