The Wild Eternal Reviews

[i]I'll update/revise this review if things change as I play on, but for now [Apr 12 2019][/i]: This is almost certainly the most uneventful game I've ever played. [E] There's no direction or clear path, and meandering around to stumble onto things is not fun; there's just not enough going on here to hold my interest. I've spent about 2 hours trying to figure out why "a charge of finding imbues my compass." I can't seem to find wherever it is it wants me to go or why I should care when I get there. I like walking simulators. I like games that are subdued. I like well-crafted environments. I like games that encourage reflection. I like games that encourage exploration. [h1]At present, I do not like this game.[/h1] Most recently, I triggered an achievement I almost certainly didn't earn, suggesting that some wires have gotten crossed here. *sigh* I will probably keep playing, but I expect less and less of this game as time goes on. --------------------------------------------------- EDIT [Apr 13 2019] [h1]Oh fffs...[/h1] the compass is bugged, as is [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/554810/discussions/4/1743353798886891299/]documented in a discussion board[/url]. So [i]the one mechanic in the game that gives you any specific directions about where to go is broken[/i], and the dev is aware of this and hasn't patched it. --------------------------------------------------- EDIT [Apr 14 2019] Well, yesterday I stumbled onto the ending after around 7 hours of gameplay, and nothing seemed to be resolved. I'll be leaving the review as negative. This game just doesn't rub me the right way. Here and there I'll continue to load up the game to run around aimlessly, since an insanely high stepcount is required to unlock the last remaining achievement. I expect it will feel a lot like normal gameplay. --------------------------------------------------- EDIT [Apr 16 2019] Took me around 4 extra hours of gameplay to rack up the stepcount to get the last achievement. Uninstalled and forgotten.

okay, this game is absolutely beautiful in every way- atmosphere, music, gameplay, story- it pretty much has it all. there is no combat at all which made it feel even more like a beautiful journey rather than a game. you spend a lot of time walking around which could be annoying to some people but remember- this is more of an experience than something you just play. reading the journals and the text found throughout makes it that much more immersive and i'd strongly recommend it. however- personally i think the ending of the game completely fell flat and that it brought this gorgeous, immersive and even powerful experience to an absoulte dead hault. it kind of feels like the ending insults all of the wonderful build up to it and i am slightly broken hearted after finishing it.

This game seems like a really relaxing and chill game. It runs smooth, even on my toaster of a gaming laptop. In a few month ill get a new PC and can hopefully run this on highest graphics. It would be nice with just a little hint about where to go. (just a tiiiiny hint). Eventually I found everything but to me it would still be nice. I'll recommend this game if you want to get a way from the "hardcore" games where you have to focus all the time. But beware of the wilderness in this game though ;)

I like walking simulators. I like foxes. They're serious trends in my gaming history. So that means I should like The Wild Eternal, which is a walking simulator with a spirit fox for a guide. But alas, this game is not good. Despite having all the right ingredients, the formula they cooked up is severely lacking. They forgot the basics. Start with salt. The game begins mysteriously...and remains mostly mysterious throughout. This isn't some puzzle you're trying to unravel - it's obtuse musings on the nature of life, reality, and existence, when all you want is a proper backstory for your character. And of course there isn't an actual new story going on here, it's just the discovery of what happened previously. The gameplay is mostly just walking, but it's somehow worse than usual. I think the primary culprit is a heavy fog that cuts down the draw distance to almost nothing (was that a technical decision)? It makes navigating anywhere a pain. It's not like there's a map or minimap you can reference to help out. There are some elements that mix things up - you can collect upgrades, you can get attacked - but I found those more annoying and frustrating than anything else. Some of the upgrades are things they should've included from the very beginning, like a compass. The art style is nice; when it works it works very well, and there are some beautiful vistas if you can rise above the fog (so I guess it wasn't technical, which makes it that much worse). Individually, the different aspects of The Wild Eternal are poorly designed, for the most part. And when they're brought together the result is a slow, plodding journey you'll be rushing to finish.

Beautiful graphics and colors in the environment of the Himalayas. Challenging puzzles that keep me engaged. A choose-your-path adventure that allows me to explore the beautiful world. A deep and thoughtful storyline. Overall, I highly recommend this game.

Sometimes I wish there were a sideways thumb for 'ehhhh'... I'm so on the fence about whether to recommend this. Because for those who enjoy "walking simulators," there's quite a lot to like. Pretty scenery, nice music, interesting conversations dancing around Buddhist and Daoist ideas, locations to explore with logbooks. Not to mention the highly unique premise of the entire game. But the issue is in the execution. As obviously a bit of a low budget game, it doesn't have a huge amount of landscape or texture variety. This is a problem, because the individual areas to explore are often quite large - particularly the first area. So after awhile, exploration starts getting to be something of a drag. There's no map, and waypoints are nearly useless until close to the very end of the game. So you'll do a LOT of aimless wandering in search of content through areas that can look pretty samey. In particular, you could be looking for a LONG time to find the entrance to the final area. The game basically gives no clues whatsoever as to its location. Plus, the final area is just dull to explore, and it's capped off with - as others have mentioned - an utter anticlimax of an ending. And to be clear: I knew from the tone of the game this was not going to have some spectacular shebang for the finale. But even *expecting* this to be a "it's not about the destination" game, it still really let me down. Like, it's not even an ending, per se. It doesn't end; it just *stops*. Was that the point? Were they going even further down the "expectation-subverting finale" rabbit hole that Gone Home and Firewatch dug, by having an outright anti-ending with no resolution whatsoever to go along with the general detached Zen-ness of it all? I just don't know. Since I have to click a button, I'll go ahead and give it a thumb's up since I like supporting smaller devs doing artsy games. But I'm still not sure if I actually recommend it.

I really wanted to like this but it has too many flaws... The core gameplay is basically run around to find collectibles, which in itself would be fine, but exploration is terribly unfun as you don't move fast and have a super limited sprinting meter that recharges outrageously slowly. But this [i]could[/i] be fine, right? Yeah, except knowing where to go is also quite hard; there's a ton of fog everywhere (kinda the point, I know) and little way to orient yourself except randomly stumbling upon a path that takes you a little bit above the fog cover, try to guess if something in the distance is meant to be a landmark, and then trying to walk in that direction. If the payoff for going through this was good I'd be fine with it, but the dialogue with the fox is extremely cryptic and not interesting. The writing definitely does not feel refined, there are grammar/spelling mistakes, and the voice grunts are so irritating I muted them after 20 minutes. This is a beautiful world in search of something interesting to fill it, but mechanically and narratively, as far as I could tell in a little over an hour that I convinced myself to keep pushing through it, hoping that the first stage was just an introduction. After reaching the 2nd level I saw it was just gonna be more of the same and I just gave up. Can't recommend.

The Wild Eternal encapsulates a life-to-death experience into the imprisoned reaches of a mythological dimension full of optional sacred spies to glimpse and fulfill. A short journey that leaves words of wisdom to be remembered and others to be questioned.

I remember finding out about this game a few months ago when the developers made a thread on reddit to show it off. I instantly fell in love with the setting, art style and exploration in the trailer, but I couldn't spare the money at the time to get it (bills and stuff). Anyways, I picked this up during the Summer Sale and was excited to finally get a crack at it. It was actually hard to decide whether to recommend this or not, because there were things I did enjoy about the game (and it kinda makes me dislike the binary rating system Steam has). Overall, though, I found myself frustrated too many times and ultimately let down at the end. If none of what I'm about to say applies to you, then go ahead and buy the game. I'm not at all saying it's a bad game (although this review will probably focus on the negatives), but I feel like it could have been much better, and for $15 I just felt four hours of sometimes-good-sometimes-bad play time wasn't worth it. Pros: -Colorful art style -Relaxing soundtrack -Thoughtful dialog (although sometimes it can drag on) -Intriguing premise -Unique setting (incorporites some Indian culture, which is rare in gaming) Cons: -The game can feel sooooo sloooow at times when you want to run and your stamina is empty -While the premise is interesting, the ending is a huge letdown -The world can feel empty at times -The blessing system feels tacked on and adds no real value, making exploration feel forced just to get upgrades When I started playing the game, I was drawn in immediately by the premise and the interesting and kind of funny fox that talks to you (I love his "voice acting", btw). You trudge along as a tired, weak old woman who can't see very well and has no idea where to go. Once the world opened up a bit more, though, the tired, weak old woman started to get a bit annoying because it could take forever to get somewhere. You have limited stamina, and while you can eat fruit to help it regenerate faster, much of the game just felt like a stamina-management simulator. And when you run out of stamina, be prepared for the slowest walk ever. Now, this wouldn't be a problem if you were walking down a corridor in a linear game and the whole point was to take in the surroundings, but a huge part of this game is traversing the world and finding what you can, whether it's items, NPC's, books, or wayshrines. You can even upgrade your stamina bar later in the game, but that just means it takes even longer for it to refill. I honestly would have enjoyed the game a lot more if could just run from the start and play at your own pace. That leads me to another problem--the game also would have been better if you just had all blessings available at the start. There's no real feeling of accomplishment or value by upgrading them, it just feels "gamey." If you compare it to a Zelda game, for example, most of the upgrades have a real purpose. They make you feel stronger, they help progress the story, and they ultimately power you up enough to beat the final boss. Getting a new item/ability in Zelda feels amazing, like you truly achieved something. Almost all of the blessings in this game felt like a way to ease some of the annoyances I had. Good, now I can run longer without having to stop and trudge along or search for fruit. Good, now I can walk on water so I won't drown. Good, now I won't die from sliding down a mountain. Only maybe 1 or 2 are necessary, the rest are just like, "why couldn't I do that in the first place?" Another (minor) problem I had was that the world felt kind of empty at times. The fox (I can't remember how to spell his name, something like Dhiyonisis) was an interesting and colorful character, but he was really the only one. You can unlock blessings to read books and wayshrines, and to talk to random spirits, but they don't fill out the world enough. If there were more fleshed out characters like the fox, it would have given the game much more character and made the journey feel less empty. This wasn't a huge problem, but I did notice it more than a couple times. Before I get to the ending, I do want to touch on the things I enjoyed about the game. As I said, it's not a bad game at all, and it did do some things well. The art style is colorful and pretty, and the relaxing soundtrack fits it perfectly. I also liked the design of the areas; even though they were empty, they had a "somebody once lived here" feeling to them which was cool. I especially liked the dialog between the old woman and the fox, with his vague but wise comments and her reactions to him. Another thing I liked was the squint mechanic, especially at the start. In the first area (before I found a compass), I was feeling lost and directionless. Then I remembered I could squint, so I found a high place, looked off into the distance and saw a couple important looking places that rose up above the fog. After that, I was able to figure out where to go next without any trouble. It felt rewarding because I was able to overcome the old woman's weak vision by using a natural mechanic to my advantage. OK, so now on to the ending (minor spoilers ahead). Honestly, I feel like I would have recommended this game, even with the complaints I had above, if it had a decent ending. Sadly, it didn't. In fact, it didn't really have much of an ending at all. It just...ended. The game (mostly through the fox) unravels an interesting premise, and I was excited to see how it would turn out. Would the old woman get her wish? Would the fox turn into something (or someone)? What would the Avatar of Death (who looked really cool) end up doing to you? But nothing really happens. Game over, credits roll. Look, I'm one of those "the journey is more important than the destination" people when it comes to storytelling, so I can usually shrug off endings that other people have problems with (like the endings of Lost or The Dark Tower series). But this ending was basically "all that stuff you learned about along the way? Not gonna happen, now close your eyes so we can roll the credits." I don't know what happened with the writing, but man, that was a letdown. Anything would have been better than that. With all that said, I will still gladly check out the next game this team makes. There were some stumbles in The Wild Eternal, but I think they have their heads in the right places, and they did give a unique experience that was occasionally beautiful and occasionally thought-provoking. I just wish they wouldn't have added in "gamey" collectables/upgrades that really only helped ease frustration, had a good ending, and filled out the world a bit more with unique characters. But if none of the complaints I had with this game apply to you, then feel free to check it out.

There I am, bored on a Friday night, browsing through my product queue on a whim. Suddenly, I stumble across The Wild Eternal, a game that seems to be exactly up my alley - it appears to be all about exploring an interesting world, and it instantly catches my eye. One impulse buy and half an hour or so of extremely-slow-internet download time later, and I'm ready to start the game. I make myself a cup of tea, grab a quick snack, and get ready to dive in. The tea remained practically untouched for the rest of the night. Within the first fifteen minutes of getting into the game, and being somewhat coldly greeted by my new guide, the Avatar of Dreams, I was transported into a far-away world - a world of vibrantly-colored, beautifully stylized, and strangely ethereal landscapes, with the slightest sense of danger lingering behind every hill and around every tree hiding within the fog. I found myself searching for many things: Aum's Tears, which would allow me to open portals to new locales; magical Shrines, which could offer me blessings to make me more powerful over the course of the game, and the Tributes I needed to offer in exchange; and even just new, cryptic conversations with the strange fox-shaped demigod that the Avatar of Death coerced me into helping. The visual style of the game is absolutely superb, and it creates the perfect atmosphere. It's stylized enough to not appear all that dangerous initially, but then one discovers the hidden threats lurking within the fog - everything ranging from falling to your death to drowning in deep rivers to being stalked, chased and devoured by any number of dangerous beasts. The music perfectly complements the sense of mystery, which at first seems mostly innocent, but grows increasingly suspenseful and mysterious the further you descend into the depths of the fog-covered wildernesses. If even [i]one sentence[/i] of what I've so far described in this review sounds appealing, or gives you the slightest shiver down your spine as you think about it, this is [i]absolutely[/i] the game for you. I went into this game barely knowing what to expect beyond "explore the foggy wilderness with your talking fox-buddy", and came out [i]itching[/i] to explore more of this surreal world and learn more about its inhabitants and history. [b][i]Now,[/i][/b] if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my third consecutive playthrough in the last three days.