Wolfsong

So I just finished this game and absolutely loved it! The characters were super endearing and the world is beautiful and fleshed out. I normal start getting bored with doing extra exploring and just start moving through the story as quick as possible but with this game i really enjoyed slowing down and going around the world and interacting with the npcs and finding treasure chest. Also I thought the combat system was fun and different enough to be unique. I kinda tend to be a hoarder and a tank and spank kinda guy when it comes to turn based games, but in this game i felt like the strongest way to fight was also the most fun, which isn't always the case imo. Use your strong expensive abilities and use mana regen abilities and items to keep going. I do agree with the other reviews however about the story ending abruptly. It wasnt even the length of the game that was the issue, it was more like It felt like you were just really getting into the meat of the story(which i was really enjoying) and the final scene kinda feels like the scene where you were supposed to be introduced to the final boss. and be like okay this is the guy im suppose to hate for the rest of the game, but its the final confrontation. Even still for $1.50 you get a bunch of game with endearing characters, a beautiful well built world, and fun engaging combat. super worth it if you are into these types of games at all.

No

Fun little old style rpg, in which you find the lore you should be familiar with if you played Lorestrome's flash games. It ties up the different story lines into an interesting new story.
The graphics are great (unless you dislike pixel art). There is no tutorial or menu to find out or edit the controls, but they are very easy to use, once you find which key (X) gives you access to your inventory, the other controls are the usual ones (arrows/space/enter).

This is quite a surprise to me. I know this game looked different but the sheer amount of effort put into this game is just DANG. This may have even dethroned Dreamscape as my most beloved RPGmaker title... EXCEPT for the fact the game's finale seems a little rushed. The final boss is a little on the difficult side, but the more innate issue is that (as far as I can tell) once you get into the final dungeon you can no longer walk out of it.

This is kind of annoying since there are lots of side dungeons that you have no real hope of beating until right before the final dungeon. The problem is that you have no control over your party layout until right before the final boss... which makes the entire thing feel just a tiny bit off.

Either way this game NEEDS more recognition. Either he custom made several dozen sprites for the game or he's using a set from the prebuilt assets that I'll be honest I've NEVER seen anyone use before. The way there are so many species interacting with each other in this is kind of super intriguing pulling you into it. Heck there is not even a single enemy recolor in the entire game, not including the slimes though! How many rpgs can you say that over?

I very much enjoy this game. The game comes up in full screen for me, and I have had no problems so far.

I can go anywhere on the map at any time, which I like. I also love the graphics and the way the battles are done.

Thanks, developers !!

"A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us." - John Steinbeck

Wolfsong is a one man made wonder of a JRPG and it is easily one of the most invested games in the genre coming from an indie developer. It has its brilliant sides, immersive environment design, creative concept and a solid baseline for an imaginative fantasy setting of its own. Sadly, it is incomplete though.

In the northern kingdom of Kamala, every young girl with the coming of age is presented with a choice. They are either expected to arrange a marriage and become a homemaker to bear children, become wives to warriors; or they are expected to become warriors themselves. Fjor, our blunt and daring heroine choses the latter. Thus, her training with the blade in this cold, unforgiving Nordic setting starts as the tradition dictates. As she approaches the end of her training, she is to be given a task by the council of seers and take a journey to accomplish said task. Only by then, she can return to Kamala and a blade of her own will and deed is to be forged for her, to state her a proper warrior. The declared quest for Fjor, comes direct and simple as it can be: find a settlement in need of a warrior and give them one. Yet, this simple quest will eventually be revealed to be more complex than young Fjor has ever expected it to be.

The world of Wolfsong holds spectacular promise with a full setting of its own, with its own concept of magic, ethics, unique bestiary, local tradition, history, lore and geography. We are presented with a huge open map quite early in the game, dotted with little points of interest and appointed dungeons on a free roaming transportation possibility. As the main story progresses, we are presented with many grand details, decent character progression, hints of quests and story revelations. Yet, as we live through the story within its 10-12 hour span and come to an end, that end comes abruptly. As I finished the last boss, I was actually expecting it to be the middle of the story, not an actual end game. There are tons of mysteries still to be revealed, plot hooks to revisit, incomplete character and story development... even the main story comes to a hold as the game ends, not a resolution. I suspect that the story was planned to be longer and way more elaborate, yet for one reason or the other, it was rushed to an end as a necessity.

Tile sets used in game are easily one of the best that I've encountered in RPGMaker games. Small details and careful mapping manages to craft an atmosphere and present the most generic map to be interesting/beautiful. Character art and story art are a bit amateurish, yet they are intriguingly original. You do not come across the millionth text-book stereotype for concept art. Narrative is way better than expected, with decent backstories and unique personalities for NPCs; and the original soundtrack by Mandi Nittinger is very well done. In shorter words: all display is done right here.

As for the gameplay, it is a linear JRPG, much like classic Zelda games in NES or Nintendo back in the day. You walk through a pre-determined story path, get into turn based combat to grind for exp and some loot to call it a day. Characters' special attacks are various, and they present a simple yet effective combat strategy in different party combinations. Sadly, you are not capable of arranging your party formation. The game will determine the party formation depending on the main story progression for you. There are some story independent dungeons scattered around the map with some unique loot, so it might be a good idea to visit those dungeons before the end game. Equipment is a problem though, with no indicator given when to stumble upon what quality of loot; leaving your party mostly ill-equipped if you are not visiting shops all around the world regularly. Still, combat being quite simple and straightforward, you never actually have a hard time.

When I pick myself an RPGMaker game to pass sometime with, I do not expect much. It is a genre that you can come across anything; from self-indulgent amateur crap to carefully developed small wonder. This is one of those small wonders with real promise. It has the undertone of creativity and some solid labor put into it. In its current state, it is a sweet time kill, yet nothing that memorable. With some updates and further work, it might turn into something really spectacular. I will leave whether to take that chance or not, to you. Good day, and good gaming!

Please also check out Lady Storyteller's Curator page here - follow for regular updates on reviews for other games!

I have to choose thumbs down for now.

I can not get this to run in full screen mode, alt+enter puts it in full screen but the screen is black with what looks like a small version of the game running in the top left corner.

I'm running Win7 Pro with an nVidia TitanX970.

I've posted in the forums but it seems the dev is unresponsive.

I will change my recommendation if the dev fills me in on how to get it to run normally.

Wolfsong is a semi openworld JRPG. You have access to the world map and an aircraft very early in the game, but the main story is linear and you can't skip or break the story progression. The world map has optional dungeons that have varying enemy difficulties and some unique loot. It would have been awesome to allow the player to customise the party according to the dungeons inhabitants, but you are stuck with certain party members. The main downside to the openworld style is the progression of equipment. For most RPGs you'll travel along a set path of towns and it is customary for each to have the next tier of equipment. When you can go anywhere from the start it is a bit more difficult and equipment will became available in shops as the story progresses. There is no indication on when the new items appear though. It would be nice if the equipment being sold was linked to the players level or an event that triggers new stock and you get notified about it. The maps are enjoyable to explore and loot and most enemies can be defeated in less than 5 rounds.

The combat in turn based RPGs is the thing that keeps my interest. I've enjoyed countless hours of grinding in the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy series, but I expect a bit more complexity from modern RPGs. Wolfsong starts slow with you being able to one shot the enemies throughout the first two areas with the standard attack. I only used the Fierce Strike skill to one shot the first boss. I dislike the convention of introducing lazy combat strategies in RPGs and think it would be much better to teach the player to exploit enemy weaknesses from the very start of the game. When enemies did start to have weaknesses and strengths it seemed my current party was unable to exploit them. There were weak to fire enemies before I had any fire spells and then weak to ice enemies when the party no longer had a blue mage. I found this frustrating and ended up avoiding enemies and rushing the maps to progress the story. It would be great to be able to choose the best party members for a certain area.

I bought this game on the strength of the tilesets and mapping I'd seen in screenshots and LPs. This game has some of the nicest tiles I've ever seen in a JRPG. They create memorable areas like the Ardan ruins, while at the same time making usually boring areas like caves look beautiful. The mapping style is great as well with a focus on smaller more interesting maps than large ones that are mostly empty. It was fun to explore these maps and having the option to avoid most encounters was appreciated. The only gripe I had with the art style was the quality of the portraits and the story boards. While they have a certain charm and character the varying quality of this artwork jars with the awesome tilesets and mapping.

Having grown up playing the early JRPGs I only expect the story to provide a context and framework for the gameplay. Wolfsong has a pretty straightforward story that progresses nicely and has a well developed world lore. As a player that enjoys these types of RPGs for the combat and loot I found some of the set pieces a bit long and skipped some of the character development conversations. I have little interest in character development unless it impacts the actual gameplay. These conversations could lead to discovering new skills or areas of the game instead of forcing a story onto the player. There were a few instances where I had had enough story and there were another ten dialogue boxes to read through. The game ends quite abruptly though which is a shame because a vast majority of the world map is empty and there could have easily been a few more towns and dungeons. This would have allowed more equipment upgrades and the character development could have been spread a bit more thinly.

Overall, Wolfsong is up there with other modern JRPGs made by indie teams and provides around 10 hours of enjoyment. The game is not perfect and a few small changes could have improved the game immensely. Having a clear progression of purchasable equipment and being able to change your party members would have taken this from decent to awesome. The tilesets and mapping carry it and kept me playing despite having aspects that have made me quit other titles. I have to recommend the game though because it is the best RPGMaker game I've played on Steam.

I have completed the game once and ground my party members to level 11 before entering Rosewood. Despite this the final boss still took 10+ rounds to beat because the members that are not in the main party were still at level 5 (Edit: I checked and you can grind some enemies in the final dungeon before the boss, but it is really inefficient).

EDITed completely after finishing game.

This is a lineair RPG with turn based combat, and lots of written dialogue, without dialogue options.

Pro's:
- It looks, feels and plays as the console (Super NES, Nintendo, Sega) RPG games of 15-20 years ago. Original Zelda style.
- It does not involve much planning, strategy, it is really straightforward, and so is rather relaxing (I played part of it while being drunk :P)
- It looks kinda cute, and it's simplicity is refreshing.
- They tried their best to create some lore and story.

Con's:
- MAJOR CON (reason why I downvoted): It is really really short. Just when you think the world opens up and you gathered stuff and companions you suddenly are told you face the endboss :( Seeing the whole map (most of it not used), and the way things are designed I get the feeling they decided to release it half finished, or they plan on releasing DLC.
- The art is often a bit too clumsy, and even amateuristic.
- Story and lore feel like coming from nowhere at times (maybe I am missing on a known universe), and the end feel very abrubt and sudden.

It was good fun while it lasted, as I am a sucker for the Zelda style genre, but even now with discount at 7 euro, I find it dissapointedly short and unfinished. If it would have twice the current content I would surely recommend it.

Full playthrough took me maybe 8 hours (I had to start over for technical reasons), and if you rush and skip it can be done in 6 I guess.

If you buy it, Alt+Enter will make it fullscreen (no tutorial on interface and controls whatsoever)

Entertaining so far thanks to a surprisingly well-told story, interesting characters/world/lore and charming custom made assets. Been a while since I enjoyed an RPG Maker game so much, well done!