I like this game a lot, but I have to add that I would only recommend this if you already have played Enshrouded and are looking for another game like it.
Graphically this game is better than Enshrouded, but that's about the only thing it does better. In pretty much every other area they are either comparable, or Enshrouded is way better.
This is especially apparent in the building, which Enshrouded mogs every single other game in this whole genre. That, paired with the complete lack of NPC housing, makes Dragonwilds feel less rewarding to play for me. NPC housing is an important feature, even though it's something only now becoming popular in the genre. It always feels way more satisfying to fill the buildings, homes, and towns you build, with helpful NPC's, and has become an integral feature to this genre, IMO.
The progression is the real highlight for Dragonwilds. The slow build of levels and numbers, almost like an incremental game, and obtaining new skills is a lot of fun, and a good reason to play. However, it's lacking enough high level skills to feel like a 1.0 release, there's nothing in the back half of the skill lists that feels like a must-have or game changing, and much of the skills don't really assist how you play the game overall but just improves your ability to enhance that skill further. Which isn't very exciting.
Also mapping every single spell to a bloated menu on a single button is kind of insane. Do the devs not know about context sensitive buttons/menu? Y'know, make a Y hold pull up the menu, but a Y press be context-dependant. Standing on an unwatered plot with seeds? It waters. Standing on a harvestable plant? It harvests. Near a rock or tree, you do the explosion/multichop. Exploring does the gust-jump, and in dungeon it's weapon enchant. You could even customize it, really.
Speaking of, exploration is good, it's fun to do, but like skill progression, it just doesn't feel as rewarding as it should. You rarely find anything interesting, mostly just the same resources you're already finding in abundance, and maybe a new decorative item. It doesn't kill the experience, but does make it a little less satisfying to do.
I can say mostly my experience has been positive, but where I think the game kinda loses me is the single-button combat. Lack of complexity paired with a lack of enemy variety, it got really boring really quickly. It might work a bit better in multiplayer, but in solo the only thing it has going for it is the difficulty, and even then you're just left kiting things around rather than actually engaging with it. (Or just standing on something slightly tall, because the AI is bad and lacks any tools to pathfind to you or deal with that. :/)
Spellcasting, especially, is a slog. Spellcasting should be about positioning and choosing the right spells at the right time, but here you just get the cool 'actually a spell' button like once in your string of 5ish boring hits, which is often interrupted before you get to it, and you have to start the string over. There is technically a special attack button, which helps, and maybe at higher levels it does a lot of cool stuff, but as far as I've gotten it's very situational and just doesn't add enough for the variety. Again, in multiplayer hitting that big CC is probably super satisfying, but in single player you can't really capitalize on it. Water healing is too low to feel worth it, and damage on the fire AOE is only good if the enemy is specifically weak to it. Fun in a group, underwhelming playing alone.
While outside of the terrible AI and glitchy walls in dungeons I haven't encountered any bad bugs, there are some other things that just don't feel like 1.0 either, to me. The items desperately need a tag or something to let you know what crafting tables they're used in. Like, I knew the tar probably made adhesive, but why would I just assume it goes in a kiln to do so? If you're like me and prefer to figure things out on your own, any time you have to open google to figure out what to do, the game has failed at conveying something clearly, IMO, and that's happened to me a couple times here. I also get the sense the 'prayer skill' that's currently non-existent is going to be your primary way of healing when it finally arrives. If you don't want to waste food, you currently mostly just have to wait forever between fights.
All in all, kinda feels like the Dec update was meant to be their 1.0, but just didn't work out that way thanks to time of year and other releases they didn't want to compete with. You know the one I'm talking about. But even then this game feels balanced around MP, and I don't know if the single player experience will ever hit on the same level.
Don't get me wrong though, this is a good game even solo, and even right now. It's really pretty, I don't hate the building, I enjoy the progression and exploration, and the sound design for ambient noises, for whatever reason, is absolutely amazing. I just see the potential for the game to be way, way better, with some important changes, which kinda makes me want to wait to further play it. Give me NPC housing, more complex combat, better variety in spellcasting, and a bit better solo experience, and you have an A+ title instead of a B-.
As it stands, Enshrouded goes 1.0 one month after this game launched, and while I'm happy to play both, if you can only get one, and especially if you like building... 100% go for Enshrouded instead. It's already an incredible game worth the asking price, and I'm sure its 1.0 will be even better.
As for Dragonwilds, I genuinely think this game is going to feel more evenly cooked in 2027, maybe early 2028. The price they're asking for what they have now is completely fair if you need something to play, but if you might only go through the game only once, you may want to wait for a few more updates. Just my opinion.
