Graywalkers: Purgatory is a turn-based strategy RPG that is set in a post-apocalyptic world rife with the supernatural that has merged Heaven and Hell with the earth.
Dreamlords Digital Inc. list XCOM, and the original Fallout in their inspirations, and it does play much like those games. A strong emphasis on skill points, character abilities, and RNG rolls.
Currently there are only two of the three modes available. The Mission mode which is supposed to allow you to to have short stand-alone or miniature campaigns that function as a challenge mode, and some extra content.
The other mode available is the Preludes, which will feature short stories about each character you will pick up in the actual campaign mode, and get to have a bit of extra backstory.
I tried both modes, and the little gameplay that is available ultimately feels like a tech demo. At this time of playing, the mission mode had a weird bug where I couldn’t complete the first section. The save function also seems to be not working.
The Preludes had more roleplaying elements, and gave off the original Fallout vibe. You click to move your character to NPCs, interact with the environment, use skill checks in dialogue, and pick up side quests. This seems to be the best part of the game.
In combat areas the game changes, and switches to turn-based combat using an action point system. This very much captures the pen and paper tabletop RPG feel, that a lot of older western RPGs did well. The preview puts you in control of a bunch of armored gun-toting nuns called the Sisterhood of the Sword.
They are led by Aurice. While she can smite foes with her sword or gun, her primary strength is playing a sort of paladin/cleric type casting. Her other two sisters are focused on Melee and ranged firearm combat- one using a two handed sword, and the other carrying an M4.
Combat is quite fun and is probably the bread and butter of this game, which is very clearly in a work-in-progress state.
Graywalker’s also has an issue with its difficulty, it may be very generous the first time you play through since that entire run to the succubus boss I was only hit twice, balance is something I imagine them to work on as the game goes on, though in subsequent playthroughs the RNG seemed to be less favorable and combat management seemed to be more important.
The large selections of abilities that are either already in the game or “not available” yet is a good sign, and the ones available seem quite useful depending on how you plan on playing.
This combined with the previously mentioned roleplaying elements and skill checks in dialog are the high points. For the low points, everyone besides the main character seems uninteresting, and sort of throwaway with a lack of depth. That being said the story functions well enough to move the game forward to the next combat area and keep the pace going.
The graphics on this game are nothing to write home about, and there are some optimizations that will hopefully be made. Especially considering the fact there is no options menu in the current build.
The music is just godawful. It’s cheesy “90s metal” that is trying too hard to be cool demon slayin’ music. I really hope it’s a placeholder or we get the option to turn it off. Thankfully there is no voice acting, and the rest of the sound design does its job- though far from phenomenal.
All in all it’s showing a fair bit of promise, but I would not recommend most people to pick it up as is unless you are curious about the system. We will review it fully when it launches later this year.
Graywalkers: Purgatory is in Early Access (on Steam), and launches Q3 2020 on Windows PC (on Steam).
Graywalkers: Purgatory was previewed on Windows PC using a preview code provided by Dreamlords Digital Inc. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here.
