No Rest For The Wicked Preview (Moon Studios Next Game)
No Rest For The Wicked
(Moon Studios New Game)
No Rest For The Wicked is an ARPG from Moon Studios that was revealed in December 2023 and instantly shot up to the top of our most anticipated RPG’s of 2024 and here are five reasons why and one reason for concern.
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It’s Moon Studios!
Although Moon Studios have only made two games and even though both of them have been Metroidvania’s, they are still some of the best the genre has ever seen. Moon Studios have displayed their ability to make noise and disrupt the status quo. With their focus of platforming and movement in addition to their excellence in beautiful art, engaging stories and ability to focus on the macro.
Ori and The Blind Forest came out during a serious drought during the Xbox One generation and gave it some desperately needed life. As a debut in 2015 from a new studio, full of people working remotely from around the world, The Blind Forest surpassed all expectations and currently has a review average of 90 and sold extremely well. In 2020, the studio followed up with the sequel: Will of The Wisps that somehow, once again, surpassed expectations and has a review average of 92. In a few short months, Wisps had over 2.8 million players thanks to solid sales and Game Pass subscribers.
Seeing what this team is capable with more time and experience is exciting.
Long Development
No Rest For The Wicked has been in some type of development since 2015, which was the year Moon Studios shipped Ori and The Blind Forest. Moon Studios was founded in 2010 and in five years were able to deliver Ori and The Blind Forest. It will have been almost a decade from when the wheels began to turn for No Rest For The Wicked. Both Ori and The Blind Forest and Will of The Wisps sold quite well, which afforded Moon Studios the chance to develop a game of their dreams and take their time on it.
Being in development for this long means the team should have ample time to optimize, polish and make a game that is up to the standard that we have become familiar with from Moon Studios. Back in May 2022, Thomas Mahler said on Twitter “our new game is running nicely on the Steam Deck out of the box” This is because Moon Studios have always used a highly customized version of Unity, which they have dubbed “Moonity” Almost a year before it reveal announcement, No Rest For The Wicked being playable on Steam Deck is a extremely positive indication that the end product will be at the high bar that Moon has set.
Early Access
Both of the Ori games were released as complete products. With No Rest For The Wicked, Moon Studios have been very careful not to use the term “Live Service” as those two simple words have an extremely negative effect on publicity. However, Thomas Mahler did say on Twitter “ we intend to support for a long time to come”. In another post he also elaborated a little further by saying “This was the right time to build a game that people would lose themselves in. Creating a world they’d want to spend large amounts of time in that we can keep updated..so that players will often want to return to get a fresh experince”
Moon Studios have displayed their adept hand at creating immersive worlds, the downside was that the first two Ori games were a little on the short side and having a game that constantly makes you want to return could be a good thing. Moon does need to be careful though as creating consistent content is a double edge sword with a thin margin between more fun and feeling like work.
Confidence
On numerous occasions, Thomas Mahler, co founder of Moon Studios has used some bold words when describing No Rest For The Wicked. There was the time that he said “if Ori was our Mario, then No Rest For The Wicked is our Zelda” Thomas has also stated their intent is to revolutionize the genre “I love the challenge! Diablo, PoE, etc. We’re coming for you, may the best one win”.
While I do think No Rest For The Wicked will be amazing, I don’t think it will be the revolution they are expecting, but more of a big evolution with new features building on classic systems based on everything I have read an seen, but I would love to be proven wrong.
However, Mahler has also said ”Marketing No Rest For The Wicked will be quite the challenge as players will wonder how it’s different”. Knowing this, it's possible that I just don’t understand yet. This is why I am excited for Wicked Inside on March 1, which will be a deep dive into the game and hopefully a release date for Early Access.
Disruption
Moon Studios have said on numerous occasions from numerous people at the studio that No Rest For The Wicked will reinvent the ARPG. How exactly do they plan to do it? In a long post, the studio labeled the five major points of their design that will make the game stand out from the rest. Combat, exploration, multiplayer, town experience and retention.
Most of the famous games in the genre don’t venture far past point and click method or the button mashing method when it comes to combat Moon wants to make sure that “every weapon has its own animations, timing, weight and should affect the entire build”. Moon Studios have said that the combat will be visceral numerous times and have mentioned the souls games, so it would seem like patience, timing and skill will be at the forefront of the combat in No Rest For The Wicked.
Focusing on the strengths of the studio, Moon wanted to take their mastery of level design and create intricate worlds that you could play infinitely, but also weren’t created using procedural generation.
The other aspect that sounds fresh is the town experience and how Moon thinks “players should be just as invested in upgrading their town as they are in levelling up their character” Instead of having numerous towns littered across the world with NPC’s that aren’t memorable they want to create something players can get attached to. In the description on Steam it says “take respite in the town. Purchased property and make it your own. Fish on the shores, till and harvest the land for ingredients to create meals that replenish health and boost stats”
Reasons for concern
There are also some reasons that No Rest For The Wicked might fall short. One of the biggest absences is the lack of Gareth Coker. He was in charge of the composition of the first two Ori games and his score gave the game a soul and likely turned some run of the mill moments into unforgettable moments. His services are in much higher demand as he was in charge of Halo Infinite and most recently Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. I am hoping for the best, but as it stands, this is a big hole to fill.
Time Will Tell
At this point, what we have seen is the teaser trailer and it has accomplished its job of enticing. Currently, there is too much unknown. How will No Rest For The Wicked set it self apart from the rest? This remains unknown, but Moon Studios have done enough in their first two games that at worst, No Rest For The Wicked is a very solid game worthy of your time and at best, the game lives up to the bold proclamation for the studio and does reinvent the genre is a generational title. Only time will tell.