In what is probably going to end up being an increasing trend, I went into the demo for Islands of Wakfu without any foreknowledge of the game. I’m still not sure whether this makes for a better review, but it certainly makes for an interesting first play through, since everything is is new and interesting right from the get-go.

Islands of Wakfu has a very bright, colorful, almost spritely art style, and a score that is very pleasant and very peaceful (I’m actually listening to it on the game’s website right now). By the end of the opening scenes, I was the only living creature in the living room not lulled into a peaceful daze. The story of the game seems to be a somewhat typical “you’re too young to save the world, but save the world you must” kind of affair. You can’t really get a sense of the greater events going on from the demo. That said, you can certainly get a good feel for the various mechanics of the game. This is a nice long demo, and it looks like just about all the game mechanics that can be on display are up for your perusal. If you play by yourself, you will control the swapping of the two protagonists: a young woman (Eliatrope?), Nora, and a young dragon, Efrim.

Nora has a basic light and heavy attack that you can string together to form combos and generally kick butt, though I found that spamming the light attack almost always got the job done. Efrim has a few different close range moves, and a ranged attack that puts him in twin-stick shooter mode.  It seems that more combat moves will open up as you progress through the game, but you’re not given a whole lot of time to explore your options in the demo, which is understandable. You can teleport as Nora by moving a small target around by way of the right stick, which is very neat, but hard to use when you’re in active combat, which is exactly how the game wants you to use it.

That sort of works as a segue into where things seemed to fall flat. As I mentioned, the art style is gorgeous, but animations don’t seem to string together correctly, or they seem stiff. Running in particular had an imprecise look and feel that drove me nuts the whole demo. There is also quite a bit of running back and forth to do fetch quests in very small areas. Combat just didn’t feel compelling to me. There is a moment in the demo where the developer shows you what combat is supposed to look like; the problem is that it’s pretty tough to actually accomplish the kind of fluidity shown in that scene. If you decide to try the demo, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about when you see it. I think there may be a good game in here, but the demo didn’t quite get me to the point of whipping out my wallet.

If you’re interested in burning some time, and want to try a beautiful game that may be a little rough about the edges, I recommend looking into Islands of Wakfu. Just make sure to try before you buy.

Played through the demo by swapping between protagonists. Still listening to that score…