[h1] Quite a shallow narrative experience, but it does have atmosphere due to its unusual graphics and wonderful soundtrack, but game play is repetitive and boring. [/h1]
Kai is an aspiring artist and loves to paint. He exhibits paintings in the hope of being discovered, and his dream is to become a full-time painter and make a decent living. Unfortunately, life doesn’t always hand us our dreams on a plate, and life just gets in the way.
Wandering Duelist is a narrative-based fetch quest game, that teaches us that disappointment and choices, make us who we are today.
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[h1]🤔Overall Impressions🤔[/h1]
[quote][h2][b]Wandering Duelist is an odd game. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, and although I didn’t hate it, I didn’t really love it either.
The first thing that strikes you is the unusual view point. Flat Earthers won’t like this at all, as Kai circumvents the 360-degree circumference of the town in an unusual and original way. I really liked the presentation of this, and along with the memorable and relaxing soundtrack, it was quite a pleasant basis for the game.
Unfortunately, there is no controller support which hindered my enjoyment, and the quests are all very similar, and a bit boring, and the pay offs for completing these tasks is a small amount of dialogue and another task. It just wasn’t enough to keep my interest, which is a shame as the game does show promise and with a few alterations it could be improved. [/b][/h2][/quote]
[h2] 🎬Game Play Video🎬 [/h2]
https://youtu.be/_xkZmse4_dw
[h2]🕹️Gameplay🕹️[/h2]
The game is primarily a fetch quest experience, where a brief dialogue exchange with a character sends you on a journey to collect something and bring it back.
Whilst you are on this trek, you need to avoid the busy traffic, and some very weird enemies, like robots; children throwing snowballs; workmen carrying out hazardous tasks; people carrying electrical boxes that can somehow electrocute you if you bump into them; manhole covers being left open; people playing archery; and rabid dogs. The town is a bit of a health and safety nightmare!
A time limit and a varying number of lives is set for you to achieve these goals. Most tasks have multiple collections, and when one part is completed, time is added on to your clock. If you run out of time or if you lose your lives, the task needs to be started from the beginning again.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2904021249
Kai can sprint, but his stamina is limited, and once that runs out, he is forced to walk until his stamina bar starts to recover. This adds a bit of a tactical edge to the game, as roads tend to be the most dangerous places, with traffic whizzing by, so I tended to save my sprinting for crossing roads. There are some hazards on the pavements too though, so you do have to veer out into the road to avoid these. On a few occasions there seemed to be a lot of dangers coming my way at once, and almost unavoidable, but generally it is quite easy to avoid enemies and make the tasks on time. If you do get hit by an enemy, you are temporarily stunned and lose a bit of time before you can continue again.
Finding your way around the town is done by a very rudimentary trail that is highlighted when you press the space bar. Sometimes, it is obvious where you are meant to be going, but I did find on occasion that I was getting confused by the trail’s direction, and I followed the trail one way only to find the trail was then telling me to go the other way. I think a simple way point indicator on the top of the screen would have been so much better. There are shortcuts you can take, but these normally involve avoiding dangerous situations, and can be more hassle than they’re worth. I only missed a few checkpoints throughout the whole game, and that’s mainly because I hate using the keyboard as a controller, so it is quite easy.
[h2]📕Story📕[/h2]
The story is driven by a narrator initially, who introduces each scene briefly. I got the impression that they might not have been a professional, but it was fine, and perfectly acceptable.
Most of the story revolves around conversations between Kai and a handful of characters, as he meets them during his day job, and later as he helps organize a Xmas work outing.
Dialogues are not voice acted, and are kept quite brief. Exchanges are just about long enough to build the minimum repertoire needed to assemble some sort of relationship, but don’t expect anything too deep. It’s surprising how little dialogue is needed to start weaving the fabrics of a story, and there was a story brewing, but it really isn’t detailed enough to satisfy any narrative itch, and just played out as a fetch quest game, with a little character interaction.
I think if the story was fleshed out a bit, and relationships were constructed a bit more, then this could have been a lot more enjoyable. Some of it was quite interesting and events proved to be dramatic in places, just too shallow in their composition.
The narrator talks of choices and decisions that can have an effect on our lives, and the story does lead up to a decision we have to make, but that was the only decision made throughout the game, so by no means is it a “choices matter” game.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2904021299
[h1]📺Graphics and Sound🎵 [/h1]
The highlights of the game for me were the graphics and sound.
It was very unusual to play on a revolving globe where some of the scenery was warped by the curvature of the ground. It never really effected game play, but it had an original feel to it and made the town characterful and quirky.
Some of the visuals looked a bit small as the viewpoint often came from quite high in the sky, but this gave the opportunity to see the whole town, with its bustling streets and people going about their daily lives, and helped plan your route out to your destination.
I was impressed by the liveliness of the town and that helped immerse me in the story, even if it was brief.
The music was very catchy and had a Parisian vibe to it, playing at the start of each chapter, and throughout the game, and although it is a little repetitive, it is always pleasant to listen to.
[h1]🍳Conclusion🍳[/h1]
[quote][h2][b] [i]Wandering Duelist[/i] has a great atmosphere and shines when creating a believable town environment for you to wander around. The unusual viewpoints and bustling streets are very enjoyable to watch, and the music entertains and provides a chilled vibe.
Unfortunately, the story is just too shallow, and the character interactions do not mature enough to provide any meaningful connections. There were some nice story plots, but I just wish they would have been given time to blossom.
Coupled with no controller support, and repetitive game play, means it just about falls on the negative side for me, but there are promising signs here, so if you do like fetch quests it might be worth taking a look, but I wouldn’t recommend this for someone looking for a good narrative.
[/b][/h2][/quote]
[quote] Thanks to the Indie Game Collective for providing me with the key. [/quote]
