Warlocks vs Shadows Preview – Multicaster Mayhem

Rarely have I seen a game go through such a drastic overhaul in the Early Access phase as Warlocks .

. While the program definitely sees games change a great deal, One More Level’s successfully Kickstarted project saw heroes go from broken to balanced, and even changed its name in the process. Warlocks is now known as Warlocks vs Shadows , a change the team discussed on their Steam page, explaining that the new title is less generic and catchier.

The titular Warlocks are far from boring, as each employs a thematic skillset. The ten currently available characters all have a quick, basic attack (most often a projectile), a way to escape or dodge, a move that generally helps fight crowds, and then an ultimate ability that complements the rest of their spells. In its current form, the game is easy to pick up, packaged in old-school pixel graphics with some really impressive backgrounds, and features entertaining RPG-action that works in both single and multiplayer.

There’s not that much to the game’s story, which loosely ties unlocking new characters to the plot and explains the invasion of Shadows. My favorite aspect so far is how beating bosses transitions into unlocking characters. It’s a clever integration of storytelling with gameplay. However, Warlocks vs. Shadows doesn’t get too much into its own lore, rather focusing on fast-paced, arcade combat.

I gravitated towards Jake the Pyromancer, a fire user with a pet phoenix. The little kid’s second ability, Fire Wall, keeps enemies at bay while he hilariously dances, performing a meteor ritual that calls a powerful fire shower from the sky. If the Shadows get close, he slides away on his phoenix as it if it were a flaming snowboard. In general, I’ve only found Shax, a caster who relies on a spirit mimicking his abilities, to be particularly underwhelming. Another hero who piqued my interest, Borubar, goes against warlock stereotypes by brandishing a mace and a shield.

As a side-note, I recall the Alpha version having a rich assortment of sound quotes for some characters, like Anya and Jake, but those seem mostly stripped now.

Borubar’s balance as a character was one of the more interesting arcs to follow in Warlocks vs. Shadows ’ stewardship on Steam. Initially, his basic attack, a seemingly powerful slam with the mace, didn’t have any pushback, leading to a quick decimation by any melee-oriented Shadows. Once pushback was added and I tried him out, he seemed to be game-breaking due to his second ability, block. Borubar can hold his shield indefinitely to prevent all damage from any attacks, even boss ones. When coupling that with equipment that reflects some damage back to enemies, his best tactic became squatting behind a measly shield to watch foes kill themselves over time. While this hasn’t changed, his block ability seems to have been toned down, as he now receives damage if the attacks hit from above, and traits that return a percentage of damage taken to enemies don’t work with this anymore (yet traits that return flat amounts still work with this).

For example, I found Legendary Hermes Boots, whose math works a little oddly. It said they burn attackers for 51 damage over 1.6 seconds, but I saw 41 damage every second lasting about six seconds, which actually turned out to be more damage than I could dish out by actively attacking.

Itemization is probably the clunkiest aspect of Warlocks , due to the way it’s currently implemented, which leads to lots of waiting when each player has to compare and equip new gear. Enemies drop items in typical loot-based RPG fashion: Drops mostly consist of mountains of low-quality items, with occasional goodies or shiny rares infused with power. There are still probably too many drops, and gray items seem like a plague, especially since the inventory system doesn’t handle a large number of equipment that well. It leads to lengthy shop visits whenever the merchant shows up at the end of some stages. The game compares item stats, but does so in an incomplete fashion, not showing differences for every trait that’s changing.

But some balance issues aside, it doesn’t feel like One More Level really intend for the game to be perfect in that way (especially not in an Early Access state). While friends can team up to take on shadows in co-op (online or local), they can contest magical prowess in Versus Mode – via either a traditional face-off or a crazy Test Your Luck Mode. I found the second one to be particularly compelling for its willingness to basically break the game with whatever random rules it enforces. In one game, I rolled invisibility, no display of HP bars (which doesn’t show important status effects, either), meteors falling and certain skills disabled. It’s chaotic, random, and entertaining.

However, it’s the player-versus-enemy mode that truly grabbed my attention, particularly because of the skill-leveling system and equipment that helps shape the character further. Leveling is fairly quick and lets you upgrade any of the four skills, which don’t just improve in damage, but often also decrease in cooldown, which is very important. Furthermore, after enhancing an ability four times, the next ability point turns into an enhanced, “epic” ability. This system kept me hooked along with the (if somewhat clunky) equipment system, because of Warlocks’ transparency with how its numbers work. It’s simple – cooldown reduction and attack speed are essentially one stat, serving as the optimal choice for ranged warlocks, but one can also opt for more damage and armor with a variety of grimoires, shields, robes, and so on. Although, I am puzzled by the existence of equippable gun bullets.

Optimizing characters is particularly important for Stage 3, the Swampland, because of a substantial spike in the difficulty curve. The Shadows there feel a little overpowered for a character that just entered the area, but a lot of credit goes to the designers for creating smarter, particularly vile monstrosities. The flying bug monster is more annoying than any before it, always trying to bombard you from above with poisonous slime; but especially nasty is a spear-wielding Shadow who keeps a safe distance, only to throw a spear that silences the heroes (which disables all skills.). The spear also slows you, and at that point the Shadow teleports to you to quickly whittle down your health.

Despite its shortcomings, Warlocks vs. Shadows is fairly straightforward in its accessibility, which goes a long way to becoming a fun, arcade experience. One More Level managed to create a satisfyingly deep RPG experience without bogging down eager groups of players with unnecessary talent trees or passive abilities. Rather, they bet on action coupled with a band of compelling characters each utilizing diverse movesets. If the Early Access state doesn’t bother you, this is a no-brainer to pick-up on Steamright now for $13.99.