Wizordum Preview - A Nostalgic, Dungeon Delving FPS

I distinctly remember the beginning of my boomer shooter obsession. Since I was either not born yet or far too young to play most boomer shooters on launch, my yearning to play more retro shooters developed far later in life. One year during computer lab in middle school, I found an old web version of Hexen on an unblocked website.

Hexen was simple, yet addicting as I tried to navigate a web of maze-like levels in a high fantasy setting. Wizordum, which is clearly inspired by the likes of Heretic and Hexen, brings back memories of discovering this genre for the first time. Though it's in Early Access, Wizordum is sure to be one of 2024's most anticipated shooters.

Embarking on an Adventure in Wizordum

Wizordum truly captures the feeling of dungeon exploration. It's a boomer shooter first, and foremost, yes, but the level design is what kept me engrossed throughout the first episode of Early Access. Many retro shooters employ winding pathways and such, but level design still feels linear in nature.

Here, however, Wizordum really emphasizes exploration by adding entrances to separate areas within a given level. For example, in one of the later levels, you're fighting within a village besieged by goblins and other monsters. There are a lot of buildings, and as it so happens, you can enter many of them and find treasure, enemies, ammo, and other pickups.

Some of these separate entrances to new areas are non-essential, while others require you to flip a switch or something similar in order to finish the stage. Either way, you're incentivized to explore and are pushed forward by your own curiosity.

Along the way, you'll pick up a ton of treasure, which doesn't serve much of a purpose beyond getting a higher score. I usually don't care much for high scores, but you can actively track the amount of treasure you've picked up and there are also so many different secrets in these levels -- truly, a boomer shooter staple.

Despite my non-competitive nature, I'm addicted to finding treasure in Wizordum. With so many different areas to discover, it's just fun to see what you might find. Many secrets are cleverly hidden, so, uncharacteristically, I found myself poking and prodding at different parts of the level to discover more areas.

Slingin' Spells in Wizordum

While level design is my favorite aspect of Wizordum, the gunplay -- or rather, spellplay -- shows promise. You're equipped with a range of different spells, and while they function like most traditional FPS weapons, don't expect recoil or chunks to fly out of enemies from your projectiles.

This is to say, don't go into Wizordum expecting the chunky effects of a shotgun or the sheer power of a rocket launcher. Nonetheless, Wizordum's arsenal is satisfying to use in everyday combat, though I wished there was a bit more variety.

To explain just what we're working with here, we have a mace that can be charged with magic energy, fireballs, a bigger fireball, an ice staff, and a magical gun. The regular fireballs are nothing special but get the job done, killing most enemies in several hits. Likewise, the bigger fireball, pyroblast, behaves like an RPG projectile.

Things get a tad more interesting with the ice staff and magic gun. The former can freeze enemies indefinitely and you can then shatter goblins, undead, and other foes in an instant. It shoots fast and is super fun to shatter a bunch of enemies at the same time. The latter is a shotgun, so I guess there technically is a gun in Wizordum.

Again, I found a lot more enjoyment in the level design than I did in the gunplay, but there's nothing bad about it. Gameplay is rather easy, so enemies aren't particularly powerful and there could definitely be more variety. Most enemies are either melee or ranged goblins and skeletons, so I hope to see more innovative or compelling ideas in the future.

Wizordum's Nostalgic Art Design

I've been following Wizordum for quite a long while now, occasionally seeing new updates on this project on Twitter over the years. I was never fully sold on the art style of Wizordum, but after getting my hands on it, my perception changed quickly.

This is one incredible-looking game that bridges the divide between modern and retro. The colors used bring some of Wizordum's darker environments to life and create a wonderful contrast. The textures on both enemies, weapons, and environments are exceptionally well done and make for beautiful scenery.

Really, I'm just a sucker for the high fantasy vibe in anything I play, and Wizordum nails that. Accompanying the look and feel of Wizordum is a retro-inspired soundtrack with a medieval feel. The soundtrack doesn't match the intensity of, say, Prodeus or Turbo Overkill, but the more subdued score absolutely fits for Wizordum.

There's not much to complain about when it comes to the way Wizordum looks and sounds thus far, but I'm only hoping to see the developer take more risks. Create views that players can marvel at. Show us giant buildings off in the distance and take risks. Wizordum plays it safe, but if it matches the tone of the game, I hope to see more spectacle to it all.

Wizordum Preview | Final Thoughts

Of course, creating more impressive sights for the player is easier said than done. Wizordum comes with a level creator and there are some restrictions to what you can make, but I hope the tools of developer Emberheart Games are more robust than what players can get their own hands on.

I'm more picky about some parts of Wizordum because I want it to succeed so very badly, and I want to provide valuable development feedback while it's in Early Access. Either way, we're off to a fantastic start. This first episode is a very strong debut for Wizordum, so I can't wait to see how the next couple turns out in 2024.

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Wizordum was previewed on Steam Early Access on PC, using a copy provided by the publisher over the course of 8 hours of gameplay - all screenshots were taken during the process of the preview.