The Wagadu Chronicles Reviews

This game encourages to actually role play your character instead of being a cookie cutter mmorpg experience. The vibe I'm getting is a cozy feeling where I can proceed at my own pace while immersing myself in the world around me. It is in a playable state, it's not finished of course and TwinDrums states this plainly. So I don't know what people were expecting if they believe a certain feature is unpolished or buggy. I'm looking forward to the future of this game.

This is a review of the first week of Early Access I have been playing basically all of the first week, and even though it is very much EA, it is still very well done. * The combat and controls feel comfortable and easy to pickup, Plenty of room to polish up of course but i can see it fleshing out nicely down the line. * The art-style and music is lovely. Always wanted to find a game with this aesthetic and they absolutely delivered. its simplistic but not so much so that it feels cheap, its plenty colorful day and night, and the music fits perfectly. I could, and HAVE listened to it for hours without being annoyed I think the only problems i have are all the usual EA problems that I see being solved pretty quickly. --Crafting, while i personally love it, is kind of frustrating. The grind is real, and without flavor text or rushing to craft travel tokens to explore every location, i have no idea where some of these things are found or how to make them. (The lack of flavor text is driving me crazy honestly. I tend to read EVERYTHING to get clues or context and there's almost nothing there TO read LOL) --More customization of character model during creation. (as in colors. I wanted to be able to customize my -wings as a lunarian and i was a little sad i couldnt douse myself in shades of purple) -- being unable to move the map around while viewing it. Id have preferred fog-of-war over areas i hadn't been to on a full sized map than having to inch around constantly opening and reopening the map to make sure i took that turn past that one tree to get where i was heading too, only to find out i over shot it and am way past where i need to be. AGAIN.

Great Idea, setting and art, horrible execution. I played way longer than I should. Disappointing, that a cash shop exists in game that is in a later alpha state. Many small bugs exist that should be able to be quickly fixed. Game feels like someone had a great idea but doesn't have the ability to make it come to fruition.

The Wagadu Chronicles is an MMORPG with a huge focus on role playing. What makes it especially appealing is that it's set in a fantasy world inspired by myths and legends from the African continent (the name itself is derived from the Wagadou Empire after all). This alone sets it apart from a gazillion other games set in medieval Europe-based settings. As said, the game focusses heavily on role playing and incorporates the DnD 5th Edition rules. Where most other games make you slash dozens of monsters right from the get-go, The Wagadou Chronicle makes you earn it. In fact, the first couple of hours you will be spending honing your crafting skills before you are at a point where you can get hold of a suitable weapon and armor (make sure to check out the market, though, to buy items from other players). And even then, combat isn't easy and very much alike those in a real DnD campaign. So, you're better off chatting up other players and organize a group for extended looting. The art style of the game can only be described as beautiful and the music is really well-composed and suited for the game. Be aware, though, that this game is still in Early Access and still needs some polish. This game offers you plenty of possibilities but, in its current state, does a poor job in explaining them to the player. But I am sure this will be improved with further iterations.

Not bad for a game in its first week of Early Access. I'm hoping the character creator gets significantly better though as it's abysmal for a game so heavy into RP.

It is nice to adventure into a world that we do not see often. I love that every one can be unique, especially the names. I like seeing other people and inquire about what their names mean and what their lineages are. After reading the lore book about this world it makes alot more sense why there doesn't appear to be straightforward male/female. The lore book answers alot of questions as to why the creators implemented the things they did. There are some qol things that can be remedied over time. I have played many games where sometimes the crafting/harvesting take a little longer and little kinks are here and there. But all games start off this way. The people that play will help shape the growth of this game, because they see the possibilities. I am excited to see where this goes. I am also glad it is one of those games I can just relax with - no speeding to get to end game/ no need to feel pressured to get the best of everything. Enjoy it.

This game just released in early access and is of course still rough around the edges. But you can already feel the passion in the work of the people who are behind it. The worldly setting is cozy, and the African flair is evident in the gorgeous soundtrack. There are craft trees, quest series, combat, and skill systems in place. I'm looking forward to seeing how the society and trading system evolve and how the team can implement their vision of the game in the future.

This game is billed as being a place to role play in an African setting loosely inspired by the ancient West African kingdom of Wagadou (c100-300 to mid 1200s). I'm left with the impression however, from over 20 hours in the game so far, that while Art and Culture are readily apparent - the actual 'Game' part of the game is sorely lacking. Generally, when one plays something labelled 'Massively Multiplayer', you expect a certain focus on social interaction - from local public chatting to guild and private chatting. In TWC so far I have discovered an anaemic local chat that you can only use when you are doing absolutely nothing else (here's looking at you locked coffee break crafting screen...), and that's it. No Society(guild) chat, no private chats, nada (to be fair there may be a party chat but I had no people about to test that). They do however have an email function, but yeah - this area needs a lot of work. TWC seems to have this thing about the 'Progress Bar'. Sometimes it tries to hide it as a 'Progress Circle' or a 'Progress Hexagon' - but what they are really saying is its time for you to wait. Wait while gathering, wait while fighting, wait while crafting. Of the 20+ hours I have spent in the game so far, over 50% of it was me waiting - literally sitting there with nothing to do while the Progress Bar went from 0 to 100. That to me sounds more like a trip to an Art Gallery, a movie, or some other form of passive entertainment. When playing an MMO I'd prefer for something more interactive - why can't I chat to others while I craft? or look at my inventory while mindlessly swinging my sledgehammer. As far as MMO game systems go, TWC is very bare bones at the moment - you can gather a resource, craft from a tiny set of preset recipes (and I stress tiny), play snipe the 'boar-maybe-warthog' while you run around the map just out of its reach, some fetch and craft quests (similar to kill 10 rats - minus the killing and the rats) and you can form a Society (3 plus person guild) and attempt to claim various campsites, which any one can use anyway, and you have to pay upkeep for (admittedly you can advance the individual buildings but until I see someone do that I cannot comment on that). They say they have been working on this for the last 4 years, I suspect a lot of that time was spent waiting for the Progress Bar to let them back into their screens so they could continue working...

Gathering is slow. Crafting is slow. Combat is slow. Healing after combat is slow. Quests are weird. Music started to be grating an hour in. The other gamesounds are immediately to be turned off once you reach a bigger village with animals. [Edit: And they already have 'micro' transactions of about 30 Eur of ingame Items, no cosmetics, in their store. I do not know if you can buy them several times, as I didn't want to waste money on it. Pay to skip.] Had a quest given by Guy A to deliver stuff to Guy B Also had a quest by Guy C to deliver stuff to Guy A. I could not deliver Guy Cs stuff to Guy A before delivering Guy As stuff to Guy B and telling Guy A about it. The game has some bear bone tutorial which is just tell don't show and then has an ancestor quest it doesn't tell you about which is the real tutorial. And even then it's "Craft this thing. Won't tell you how to. Enjoy." On the second Island you can't and can craft stuff you have the stuff for randomly whenever the ancestor quest decides to, which is good, in theory, but it is not good if they don't communicate it. For example the ancestor quest wanted me to craft a sickle. So I did. It being a quest I assumed I would turn in the sickle so I wanted to craft two sickles. Got the materials again, crafted the raw mats into processed mats aaand it was greyed out. Couldn't craft it. Looked at my inventory, still had the first one so I just shrugged it off. By now the quest wants me to craft a better weapon. After searching the entire Island for the next crafting station I took the boat to the next Island. I was confused which Island I was on. On the new Island I found the crafting stations I needed. Now I need to get good sandstone slabs, not common sandstone slabs. My mistake those are obviously way different. For that I need good sandstone. Every node I touch gives me common sandstone. Apparently I need to find a bigger deposit of sandstone to receive good sandstone. The game never told me that, some player on their discord did. The combat is neither fun nor tactical. At least in the early game I am at. Turns are slow. End of turn is slow. A single enemy takes 8 Turns to kill and takes me down to 1/3 HP. The reward for combat is laughable and not worth the time invested. Nearly died, spent 10 Minutes to kill one enemy. Got 3 currency and two bark. Nice. At this point I am wholeheartedly uninterested and bored. Let's hope I still get my refund.

It didn't take long for me to determine this game is not for me. I was excited to try out a non-Eurocentric MMO, but as it stands now, this game is a miss. Animations are terrible and repetitive. You can't even pick your character's name. You have to use one of theirs. Character customization is limited. All the characters look feminine. But don't worry there are plenty of micro transactions in the cash shop. For me, combat ended up being the deal breaker. I love turned based combat but it was really poorly implemented. It is slow and tedious. you have to click to move and then click again to attack. Most turn based games nowadays do this so much smoother and better. It's like a combat system developed back in the 90s. Harvesting is tedious and slow. It takes like 10-15 seconds to chop a tree or harvest some rock. You just have to sit and wait and wait and wait for the timer to expire. Then on to the next swing of your axe or pick. The only real pro that I experienced was the amazing art. The world is beautiful. Unfortunately the game, is a pass for me. I refunded it. It was just way too slow paced.