Game Message April 19, 2024, 2:08 p.m
The release of No Rest for the Wicked on Steam Early Access could have gone better. The creators have already announced significant improvements.
Photo source: Moon Studios / Private Division.
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The new game from the creators of the Ori series was undoubtedly one of the most anticipated titles of April. However, the debut of No Rest for the Wicked was not entirely successful, despite the otherwise positive reactions of many people.
Take a look at the reviews on Steam clearly shows what the problem is. Currently, the game has 58% positive reviews, which is a significant improvement compared to the initial reception on this platform. Of course, it could have been much worse, but this is a fairly modest percentage of favorable reviews for one of April’s most anticipated hits.
Early access divided players
Since the title debuted in Early Access, we can guess that some players are dissatisfied with the shortcomings typical of Steam Early Access. And in fact, even many negative reviews express interest in No Rest for the Wicked – once the Moon Studios team sorts out some issues.
While no one has any major reservations about the visual aspect (on the contrary, many people praise the game’s style), players do not agree on the assessment of other elements. There are a lot of concerns about optimization: some users did not notice any problems, but even people with powerful hardware with cards like GeForce RTX 4080 and 13900K processors noticed drops below 30 frames (in 1440p resolution). There is even a meme circulating on the Internet describing the game’s performance: “No Rest for the GPU”.
The reason for optimization problems may be the fact that the Moon Studios team apparently made significant changes to the Unity Engine technology to adapt it to the needs of their new production.
The Digital Foundry editorial team is delighted with the tricks thanks to which the creators brought the world of No Rest for the Wicked to life (including sound, thanks to the support of Formosa Interactive studio; via service X). Apparently, the price for this could have been unfinished optimization for now.
“Git Gud” or poor design?
Players are less unanimous in their assessment of other elements. Some users complain that No Rest for the Wicked is already weeding out “casuals” who expect a simple hack’n’slash from people who are not afraid of soulslikes. However, some of the accusations are repeated and it is difficult to consider them as just unjustified complaints of discontented people (although, as always, there is no shortage of them).
The game currently does not allow you to change the controls (i.e. assign actions to other keys/pad buttons), and the combat system is a bit “wooden” (although it also has its fans). Many people also complain about the “readability” of the environment, which is important because the button responsible for climbing is also responsible for sprinting and dodging. As a result, some buyers become frustrated when they cannot perform the desired action.
There are also complaints about more specific ideas, such as the destruction of equipment after death and platforming elements – another element that probably does not work well with a rigid, isometric camera.
Fixes on the way
Thomas Mahler has already commented on these and other allegations in response to a warm post by Mike Ybarra (formerly working on the Diablo series; via service X). The creator assured that the optimization will be improved soon.
Moreover, on Steam a new Moon Studios entry has appeared. In it, the developer listed the most common problems with No Rest for the Wicked – including those that the team plans to fix in the near future. These include:
On a side note: there was also a minor confusion around the game due to accusations against Moon Studios of selling No Rest for the Wicked with the Russian language version included. However, either this was not reflected in the reviews or these types of reviews were already hidden by Steam.
