Let everyone know what you’re currently playing. Lots of sales the past couple of weeks, the demo events are going and some pretty decent stuff has shown up, so talk about it here!

drop’s rec:

Waven - Steam, Ankama Launcher (Currently demo, end of Summer 2023 open beta with no wipe)

Those of you in Europe may have heard of Ankama, developers of both the game Dofus and the show made in France, or its sequel Wakfu. For anyone who hasn’t, Ankama creates mostly tactics-based games with absolutely stunning art. Worlds in the past were map-based (think original Zelda) and Waven doesn’t deviate from that path,instead of putting a limited number of enemies on the screen they allow a player to accept a quest from an NPC and get right into battle. Each island is stylized for various enemy types from the previous games, with a dungeon for all of them to get some superior gear (either from the fights themselves or loot boxes) and five difficulties to work through for each.

Trade skills have been done away with, at least for the demo, and the game feels much more streamlined. Those of you who are familiar might notice a distinct lack of lock (a feature that prevents enemies from being able to move too far after exiting a tile next to a player and vice versa) and other things that might annoy you, but I quite like how quick the game is now. I’m able to finish most battles in 5 minutes or less and every ability I have is meaningful to my build, all chosen by me. The standard element system is in place (earth, fire, wind, water) as well as death and prism (still not sure about death, prism can be used as any/any.) Spells generate spell points (used to cast even more spells), element points (used to summon companions to fight alongside you and each has their own special ability) and in some special cases class-specific actions can be performed or statistics are gained for a duration.

Admittedly at level 20 I had written the game off, there wasn’t enough content for me and it’s supposed to be where the demo ends but I was made aware of a bug: by swapping characters, you could start a battle with a low level character and swap to your level 20 to continue fighting again. Yes, my friend and I spent the past 4 days exploiting this (and I neglected to post news) and we don’t regret it for a single second as it has renewed my interest. Beyond choosing spells, companions, character stats and equipment you can also earn points to upgrade each of them with, which will undoubtedly extend the life of the game as people seek to fully develop their characters to the max.

If you’ve ever been interested in a tactics-based MMORPG, this would be one to jump in on. I don’t know how many more will ever be released, and it’s never been easier to learn. Demo ends tomorrow but by the end of Summer we’ll be playing again. If you see Drop the sram, tell him you use this community :)