Wren’s Resurgence - Promising but Flawed Action Platformer

• DEVELOPER: Soliloquy Games
• PUBLISHER: Soliloquy Games
• PLATFORMS: PC
• GENRE: Action / Platformer
• RELEASE DATE: January 23, 2025
• STARTING PRICE: 14,95 €
• REVIEWED VERSION: PC

Wren’s Resurgence is a 2D action platformer where you play as Wren, a nimble warrior on a mission to rescue her sister Swan from the Yokai-infested lands. The game combines fast-paced combat, platforming, and exploration, with a focus on Japanese folklore and mythology. While the game has some strong points, such as its visuals and story, it’s held back by clunky mechanics, repetitive enemies, and technical issues.

Wren’s journey to save her sister Swan is filled with emotional weight and intrigue. Along the way, she encounters various characters, some of whom offer help, while others may have hidden motives. The game’s world is inspired by Japanese folklore, with Yokai enemies and lush, Japanese-inspired landscapes that add a lot of atmosphere. The narrative is engaging, and the concept of documenting Yokai in Wren’s journal is a nice touch that adds depth to the lore.

Good plot and atmosphere, but problematic gameplay

Despite the game having a decent plot and setting, other aspects fall short. The animations feel clunky, and the cutscenes drag on for too long. While you can skip them, even skipping takes an unnecessarily long time. Additionally, the text loads slowly, and you can’t skip lines you’ve already read. It’s frustrating to stare at the screen for five seconds, waiting for the text to load, when you could have finished reading it much faster.

The gameplay is a mix of combat, platforming, and exploration, but it’s where Wren’s Resurgence struggles the most. The combat is fast-paced but feels clunky and unpolished. Wren can wield a katana and unlock additional weapons, but the hit detection is inconsistent. Attacks would pass through enemies without dealing damage, which is frustrating. The parry system is also awkward and hard to time, making defensive maneuvers feel unreliable. Although the combat is quite simple and straightforward, it’s just not fun.

Wren’s movement is nimble, with abilities like double jumps, dashes, and wall climbs. However, the controls can feel imprecise, especially during platforming sections. So many times, I tried to climb a wall only to fall down for no apparent reason, even though Wren should have easily made it. It seems platforming requires pixel-perfect precision, which can be frustrating and inconsistent.

Poor level design and repetitive gameplay

My biggest issue, though, is the lackluster level design. Almost all areas feel the same, lots of buildings, endless climbing, pointless platforming, and repetitive enemy encounters. While you can collect shards to unlock occasional upgrades or trade with kitsune, it doesn’t feel rewarding. The gameplay often boils down to running around aimlessly without a clear sense of purpose or progression.

Additionally, each area is filled with collectibles that don’t add much value, and they’re scattered across the map. The map system itself is problematic: the local view works well, showing your exact location and movement, but the global map is broken, it’s stuck on the first main area and doesn’t update. Saving and resting points are a nice touch, but backtracking isn’t necessary unless you’re hunting for hidden items. Unfortunately, these items are visually hard to spot, with no clear indicators, and the fixed, zoomed-in camera makes exploration frustrating by limiting your field of view.

The game features 36 Yokai enemies inspired by Japanese folklore, but the variety within individual levels is lacking. As mentioned earlier, many levels only include two or three enemy types, making combat feel repetitive. Additionally, the balance is off, some enemies are overly strong, while most are too weak. Boss fights are decent, but even these encounters are undermined by the game’s clunky mechanics.

Ending thoughts

Wren can upgrade her gear and unlock new powers using currency earned from defeating enemies. However, the opportunities to spend currency are limited, and the upgrades don’t feel impactful enough to significantly change the gameplay. The Omamori charm, which provides protection and lore about Yokai, is a nice idea but doesn’t add much to the overall experience.

Visually, Wren’s Resurgence is a mixed bag. The Japanese-inspired landscapes are lush and beautifully designed, creating a strong sense of atmosphere. The character and enemy designs are also well-done, with the Yokai looking menacing and true to their folklore origins. However, the lighting in some levels, like the Sewer level, is poorly implemented, making it hard to see and navigate. The UI is functional but lacks polish. It feels generic and could benefit from a more stylized design to match the game’s aesthetic.

If you’re a fan of action platformers and Japanese folklore, Wren’s Resurgence might still be worth checking out for its story and atmosphere. However, for most players, the frustrating combat and technical problems make it hard to recommend in its current state. With some updates and refinements, this could be a much better game, but as it stands, it’s a promising yet flawed experience.

Review copy provided by the publisher

2.6