REVIEW: The Waste Land

From an artistic standpoint, The Waste Land isn’t pretty. I don’t mean that the 8-bit sprite work on the characters, environments, animations and effects weren’t fantastic – because they were. What I mean is that this is a very gritty world, and Fledermaus didn’t shy away from the gruesome at almost every opportunity. Combat itself is pretty tame – just hitting an enemy until it dies – however, almost every enemy in the game dies in an incredibly morbid way. These death animations are greatly detailed with copious amounts of blood and viscera being the norm. This often errs on the side of the disturbing, with mutant wolves vomiting up blood, turtle monsters bleeding heavily from cracks in their shells and zombies’ stomachs bursting with putrid juices. That latter example, in particular, actually made me feel uncomfortable and a little sick the first time I saw it. It really is a brutal world that Fledermaus has crafted, and, while some may be turned away by the graphic imagery, it really does drive home how dire the circumstances for the in-game world are.

Unfortunately, while the art was top-notch, the sound direction left much to be desired. While there were plenty of different tracks for the many vistas players will visit, they are of varying quality. While I greatly enjoyed the eastern lands’ urgent themes and the southwestern island’s Japanese-inspired feel, I couldn’t get out of the swamps soon enough. It was a chaotic and annoying track that made traversing the already bothersome landscape that much worse. Additionally, while I didn’t usually have a problem with the game’s combat sound effects, it got just a little annoying hearing Zyron’s footsteps everywhere he went. I can’t tell you how tired I got of constantly hearing the “stomp stomp” noise. In a game where you spend the vast majority of the walking from place to place, it would be nice to not have to listen to that, well, every step of the way.

I think the biggest problem I had with The Waste Land, though, was its complete and utter lack of conveyance. I know that most Metroidvania titles generally don’t offer much in the way of guidance, but this game takes that to an extreme. The main feature of most titles in the genre is that they tend to give you different items periodically to slowly open up more of the map to you. The Waste Land, on the other hand, gives you the Double Jump ability as the very first item. After that point, almost the entire game is open to you. While that would normally be fine, with nothing to impede my progress and tell me where I shouldn’t be yet, I was forced to simply wander aimlessly and hope I would stumble upon something to advance the plot. This can be incredibly frustrating when, given the sheer size of the game’s map, you discover you aren’t equipped for a certain puzzle or fight, and must trek back in hopes of finding what you’re missing elsewhere. I don’t know if there’s a way to fast travel, but, if there is, I never found it.

In fact, it wasn’t until fairly late in the game that I finally discovered that my primary goal was not only to defeat the four giant monsters found around the world to open the way to the final boss, but also to acquire a special sword and bow to have a chance at victory in the final battle. This seems like a pretty important plot point that should have been given to me sooner; not something I just happened to stumble upon in my wanderings. Caletti said that he wanted to instill feelings of despair in this game. Nothing did that more than forcing me to walk around a hostile wilderness with no clear goal. Perhaps in that regard, he accomplished precisely what he set out to do. Of course, this is really only an issue once, as, after you’ve been through the game, you’ll remember where the important things are, making subsequent playthroughs much less painful.

If you’re looking for a game that you can really get lost in (in more ways than one), you won’t go wrong with The Waste Land. However, even on the game’s easy setting, I feel that it may be too demanding for casual players. The game was truly made by a hardcore developer for hardcore fans; fans who are looking for something to really sink their teeth into, and want a game that will challenge their reflexes, patience and problem-solving skills. The dark, violent themes coupled with the sometimes frustrating amount of traveling players are required to do can, at times, make it hard to find the drive to push forward. However, those who stick with it are ultimately going to find a satisfying experience once all is said and done. There doesn’t appear to be anything in the post-game department, but you’ll very likely want to play through it again once you’ve learned the landscape. So, at $10, you’re definitely getting your money’s worth. For the 15 hours or so that it took to complete, it was a taxing experience, but one that I ultimately did not regret undertaking.