One More Gate: At Wakfu Legend, we tried Ankama Studio's new roguelike card game
One More Gate
Ankama Studio continues to expand the world of Wakfu, which started with the previous Dofus, through a new interpretation of this particular fantasy, declined according to the rules of a deck builder card game with roguelite elements, as we see in this One More Gate trial. : A Wakfu Legend. The setting and story draw on the team's fantasy world which, in the meantime, has also become an animated series. The game in question is most inspired by this, with its minimalist and square style, but capable of giving a remarkable identity to characters, creatures and scenarios.The protagonist of the story is the young fighter Orobo, in charge to reassemble the broken runes of a portal that he destroyed by passing through. Our hero finds himself having to start from a quiet suburban village and cross various environments, fighting a large number of enemies in turn-based card-based battles.
The hybridization between the card game, the roguelike and the turn-based RPG is now quite well known and One More Gate: A Wakfu Legend limits itself to perfecting the characteristics of this particular mixture with some new additions, however able to offer several interesting ideas. The paradigm remains above all Slay the Spire, which can also be guessed by simply looking at the framing and the development of the levels, not to mention the basic structure. However, Ankama's game still manages to emerge with its own personality, above all thanks to some variations capable of significantly modifying the rigorous mechanism of this mixed genre, enriching it with apparently marginal elements that manage to make a difference. The trial version that we have experienced in these days seemed very promising, although it is still an early access, let's see why.
Cards and turns
One More Gate: A Wakfu Legend, a fight in progress The main element of the gameplay is the combat, which takes place strictly in turns and is (like all the rest of the game) framed in 2D, with Orobo on the left and enemies arranged on the right of the screen. From a deck of up to 14 cards, a hand consisting of 6 elements visible at the bottom is extracted at each turn, while above the enemies it is possible to see what their next move is, which allows us to study our moves in a strategic way. The cards are generally divided into attack, defense and modifiers: the first are distinguished by different power, for the fact of hitting the single enemy or the entire group and for any additional effects applied, such as poisoning or stun. Defense cards create a barrier that allows you to absorb damage points before taking them directly on the protagonist's energy, while modifiers have various effects, from temporarily boosting other cards to reducing their energy cost per turn, for example. >A first element of distinction compared to other classics of the genre such as Slay the Spire is given by the bar at the top, which marks the progression of the battle: there are 6 squares, with the last three being released one after the more as the first three rounds progress, until the complete sequence can be accessed.
One More Gate: At Wakfu Legend, the boxes placed at the top play a fundamental role in the flow of the fight These boxes concern the energy available to the player, which is filled according to the quantity required by each card played , generally depending on the power of this. Once all six squares have been unlocked, if we manage to concatenate the moves in order to fill them all precisely (therefore without exceeding energy consumption or, on the contrary, leaving out of the slots) we can access the "perfect", which allows you to unleash a particularly powerful move, which is also capable of subverting the tide of battle. This already represents a distinctive element of a certain importance, also because part of the whole combat strategy is played on this special shot, so much so that once executed you must start from the initial phase with the three final boxes to unlock.
Level design and progression
The shop of techniques (or cards) in the initial village of One More Gate: A Wakfu Legend The structure of the levels and the progression of the protagonist follow the classic logic of roguelite, with the need to face the dungeons (4 in total are visible, barring any subsequent additions) with only one life. Once the hit points reach zero, Orobo faints and finds himself inexorably at the starting village, where he can buy new cards and upgrades or organize the deck in order to have the best deck possible within the limit of 14 transportable cards. However, progress is not entirely lost, as the protagonist progresses in level with the accumulated experience points by increasing his hit points and taking his deck of attempted cards with him. The progression mechanism is therefore the standard and well-established one of roguelite, which in this case also particularly pushes the return to immediate action, given the general speed of the game, the dynamism of the interface and card management.The levels they are dungeons composed of a series of "rooms" (actually they are mostly open scenarios) connected to each other and usually containing a fight with standard enemies or bosses. There is a minimum freedom of choice in exploration given the possibility of selecting the road in front of the various crossroads, with hermetic symbols to herald what could be hidden in the next room. This also provides an additional element of strategy, as we can partially plan our path based on the situation we are in and the resources we may find along the way, examining the ramifications of the road. By winning the fights we can get various types of runes to equip in four different slots to get bonuses, which are however lost once defeat is reached.
A lively world but to be filled
One More Gate: A Wakfu Legend, some examples of cards available in the game It is clear how Ankama has experienced from its designer and graphic designers, with experience that also ranges in the field of animation and media other than video games. This is evident from the graphic style adopted in One More Gate: A Wakfu Legend, which could easily pass for a Cartoon Network-style cartoon for the cleanliness and consistency that distinguishes the trait in any element of the game, from the characters to the scenarios. The atmosphere is all there, but the impression persists that the world of Wakfu is here rather empty, with an even excessive repetition of assets. It is true that the gameplay set on the constant loop and the random generation of the levels necessarily require the repetition of the same graphic elements, but a greater variety even with regard to the enemies would be welcome.The characterization is really excellent, both in terms of graphics and audio accompaniment, but there is a need for more variation and richness, even in purely quantitative terms, because the world of One More Gate: A Wakfu Legend appears in this way too bare , although obviously it is still a preliminary version and therefore probably destined to be further enriched in the coming months. The cleanliness and the graphic simplicity are, on the other hand, particularly pleasant as regards the interface and the representation of the cards, elements of great importance in a game of this type, which emerge with great clarity and provide the necessary information at a first glance.
Waiting to see how it is destined to mature in the coming months, One More Gate: A Wakfu Legend already appears well structured as a classic roguelite deck builder, able to also offer some distinctive elements. The game mechanics are now well established and also in this case works well, but also the original grafts are convincing, such as the integration of the progress bar for the calculation of the actions to be performed and the additional mechanics of the "perfect". The dynamism and the general lightness inexorably push to continue playing, just a pity that the graphic elements and the enemies tend to repeat themselves in a somewhat excessive way, as well as the amount of cards and effects are still a bit limited, but we are waiting to see the evolutions of the game.
