Ankama returns to solo gaming with a roguelike in the Krosmoz universe: One More Gate. You play as Oropo, antagonist of season 3 of wakfu, as lost as we are regarding its history. But what gives the demo of this new creation of the studio?
This One More Gate test was carried out with a demo version provided by the publisher.
Ankama presents a single-player roguelike: One More Gate
One More Gate was first presented at Krosmonote 2021, under the name “A Wakfu legend”. If the short teaser was mainly retained, the interview with the developers revealed a lot of additional information on the side of the game systems or even the playable characters. Echo, leader of the Brotherhood of the Forgotten, then had the right to her own appearance alongside Oropo.
A first demo is now available for the Steam Neo Fest. Usually on the time of E3, the latter allows the highlighting of demos and upcoming games. We also learn according to the Ankama article that a more complete early-access would arrive by the end of summer 2022. In the near future, another version will also be playable at Japan Expo Paris 2022. Please note that the game will not be available on the Ankama Launcher and Steam for the moment. only temporarily, until June 20.
A bit of fresh wind in the Krosmoz
One More Gate is a roguelike, more precisely a roguelite. You will die and lose some items with each attempt. However, the challenge is on the “not all”, since by keeping your levels and skills, you continue to evolve with each course of a series of rooms. This is the main quality of a roguelite, where a classic roguelike only leaves you with knowledge as your only weapon, like spelunky. Boosts are obtained here also via a central village, serving as a hub between each attempt.
The combat system continues the momentum round by round from Ankama. Your character alternates his actions with enemies in a fairly standard format. However, we feel a desire to make the whole thing more nervous than a Krosmaga or one waven. One More Gate here inherits a system of cards to be drawn each turn. Your actions are limited and follow a cycle, allowing you to gradually act more and more. At the end of it, you cause a “perfect” and unlock an ultimate bonus spell. The goal is to optimize your actions to manage to inflict enough damage to monsters while avoiding taking too much. Indeed, your vitality does not reset between each fight and requires you to be vigilant in all situations.
Your progress will be made through confrontations and preparation rooms: shops, gifts from the gods, gifts… The solo adventure allows a much better balance of the fluidity of the fights and series with a good adaptation, something to please the refractory of the two old games mentioned above. Allow about 90 minutes to reach the end of the demo, which is mainly focused on the presentation of the central systems and mechanics.
On the graphic side, One More Gate follows a 2D direction in 3D environments, with an effective artistic touch to separate itself from the existing. If the interfaces remain “forgettable”, the overall aesthetic is not and plays well with the redesign of old Krosmoz monsters while offering an alternative to Ankama’s other artistic directions. In full screen, rendering is surprisingly smooth except for the main character, with the strange race.
An unusual fact on the Ankama side, the game is intended for a console version, on Nintendo Switch, and thus integrates controller controls. A rather notable option since greatly exceeding the mouse option, lengthening the actions for lack of keyboard shortcuts. In short, it’s intuitive, it’s clear, it responds well.
During the demo, you quickly get a taste for the different ideas posed. Ankama and its teams perfectly master the turn-by-turn format, in particular the key theme of placement. From Wakfu Raiders to Waven to Dofus, this one still matters and exploiting it always rewards the player. In a line from left to right, some enemies are more deadly than others. Thus, you will have to choose the right moment to “upset” the order of actions. Even on a reduced bestiary, the evolution of the monsters is well balanced, disguising the demo as an elongated tutorial. The Gobballs are therefore very good first monsters without weighing down the experience, with 3 notable levels.
A base that is both rich and interesting
One More Gate must both integrate the roguelike genre while providing sufficient differentiation from the others. On this point, dying is not frustrating; on the contrary. The changes over the runs are felt and are comfortable from the second. The principle of the runes is quite balanced, and corresponds well to the standard of the genre. A principle as simple as collecting passives in combat but well executed and having a real impact on your path.
We will especially note the good ideas such as deckbuilding or the store along the way, diversifying the possible routes. It seems that theorycraft will still be an important part of an Ankama game, since the cards to be drawn each turn are limited. You will have to choose between the risk of specializing even if it means being blocked without the right runes or keeping a generalist deck at the cost of its effectiveness. Note that this aspect may become more complex with future new cards, the demo set being only an extract of the possibilities offered by the game design.
For lore lovers, the demo only reveals a tiny hint of the story. No siblings or Lady Echo here, Oropo is alone in his village, with a mysterious merchant Eli(a?)otrope. An interesting exploration of this point lies in the statues and gifts of the Gods, with an impact in the balanced gameplay, while being justified on the lore side. A delicate reminder that history takes place in the Krosmoz.
On the balancing side, it is quite hard to project yourself with little content to judge. The cost of upgrades in the shop is difficult to estimate for example. There is only one level, and it shows. We become too strong too quickly, especially since no boss puts a real power limit on monsters. The poison mechanic may seem strong but could very well be ineffective against new families (Bworks or Chafers, according to the Krosmonote announcements).
Finally, demo format obliges, defects litter the experience without harming it. Indeed, the latter are rather located on the interface side, with a lack of clarity of certain mechanics or adaptation to the controls used. The deckbuilding interface remains unintuitive, even unusable with a controller. Still on maneuverability, a Dash when moving quickly comes up as missing. Oropo, especially with the mouse, reaches a top speed too quickly. His movements ultimately make the non-combat experience less fluid than in turn-based mode (all things considered).
The preview of One More Gate in summary
One More Gate is a interesting project. Full of good ideas, the game presents an innovative gameplay for the Krosmoz and a pleasant DA without going into revolution. It shows a very competent game design and lays a solid structure for its evolution which will be very rapid in 2022. A pleasant surprise that Ankama or roguelike fans were perhaps not expecting.
Also accessible via the Ankama Launcher