From the award-winning developers that brought you ‘Ori and the Blind Forest’ and ‘Ori and the Will of the Wisps’, Moon Studios GmbH is back with what is sure to be a hit, ‘No Rest For The Wicked’ published by ‘Private Division’. Before we dive into the pleasure and pain of my experience thus far, I’d like to note that this is an early-access title and has been constantly evolving in the best ways possible.

The year is 841 – King Harol has died, word spreads throughout the kingdom, and the crown has passed to his arrogant yet untested son Magnus. Making matters worse, the Pestilence, an unholy plague not seen for a thousand years, has returned. It sweeps across the land, corrupting everything and everyone it touches. Madrigal Seline, who seems consumed by ambition, sees the Pestilence as a chance to prove herself in the eyes of her god and further her position within the church. King Magnus’s forces and Madrigal Seline converge on the backwater Isola Sacra, where rebel groups and the provincial government fight for control amid the isle’s crumbling ruins.

Players take control of a Cerim – a member of a group of mystical holy warriors imbued with remarkable powers and sworn to defeat the Pestilence at any cost. This task will become increasingly challenging as you become entangled in the people’s plight and the vast political struggle of this downtrodden land. Chaos pulls you in every direction as you seek to cleanse the land of wickedness and shape the kingdom’s fate. I haven’t felt this invested in a game’s world in quite some time, some 20+ hours in, and I truly understand the people’s struggle for survival.

Talk about turning the ARPG genre on its head. This game will bring it to its knees and have it begging for mercy. The first thing I’ve always wanted to see gone in ARPGs was choosing between different character classes. I’ve always just wanted to build my character how I see fit and this delivers exactly that. Earning XP from defeating enemies and levelling up will net you 3 attribute points, which are then invested into one of the following traits – Health, Stamina, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith, Focus, and Equip Load. Depending on how you invest points will ultimately decide which weapons best suit your build. You will find that you can use almost all of them, provided you meet the required attributes. I love how this has been implemented, making each character feel more unique.

Before we head into the brutality of combat, it is important to highlight other factors that will help you survive. Building a heavy-hitting and agile character is not as simple as it looks. Every item, weapon, tool, and gear you carry adds weight to your character. The more weight carried, the less agile you are. This determines the type of dodge that you can perform. A light character will perform a dash manoeuvre, while a heavy character will perform a roll instead. Inserting the right gems into armour pieces can decrease weight, which can make all the difference. Because I like my builds to hit hard and be nice and agile I quickly changed my typical loot-goblin ways, clearing out the enemy’s presence and then backtracking, picking up the loot to take back to town.

Beware, you will die a great deal, hell I even died once from a lowly rat biting back very early on. Combat is very similar to the likes of Elden Ring and Dark Souls and just as brutal. Instead of dropping all of your hard-earned goodies and XP upon death, you’ll generally just lose a bit of your gear’s durability. Durability can be repaired either with the durability potion or at the blacksmith costing you a reasonable amount of coin. Early on even coming across a two-handed weapon-wielding enemy can feel like a boss fight. Making even just one mistake misjudging a parry will end in death. This mistake is very easy to make often because of the massive variety of weapons the enemy wields.

Going head-to-head against bosses in battle and surviving the onslaught brings the purest of joy. These fights are very challenging and will test every ounce of skill you have. Picking the right moment to attack is crucial if you’re going to succeed. One boss, in particular, gave me so much grief that even I was surprised at the profanity spewing out of my mouth. Having missed a parry timing by what felt like a pixel-sized window of opportunity, causing death after death.

Eventually taking this big badass down by switching up my strategy and opting to just chip away slowly during the small attack window. The weapon this boss dropped I found pretty interesting, it was really powerful but it also came with a cost. This rare one-handed sword dropped that did great damage as well as giving me a small percentage of health back per attack landed on the enemy. The cost though was that if I died while wielding it I lost all of the XP gained.

Combat feels solid and does a brilliant job of inciting a healthy dose of fear. Making you feel as if you are in the fight of your life and struggling for survival. This also helps to empathise with the people’s struggle to maintain order in Sacrament. My only issue with the combat system is the parry timing. With the enemy able to wield all manner of weaponry and the varied attack speeds, this also varies the parry timing. This varied parry timing could use some attention making the time to parry just before an attack hits you would solve this issue. At the moment it just feels a bit inconsistent and takes a little away from the flow of a fight.

I love how alive the game world feels, the returning fog of war bringing new opportunities to revisit locations and farm resources. What makes it feel most alive is the people of Sacrament. Initially, there is a great deal of fear and even hatred toward the Cerim. I’ve enjoyed seeing most of them change their view of the Cerim as I help out the town. The various biomes that you’ll explore are incredible works of art. At the time of writing this article, there have been 6 updates that have improved the visual quality and effects. This will be further improved with the implementation of DLSS. In its current state, the visuals are stunning and perform very well. Bosses look just as terrifying as they fight and the visual effects compliment their terror perfectly.

I have nothing but praise for the audio experience, it will be no surprise to see it take out many awards. The voice acting is superb and delivered so well that you can’t help but feel for every character. Jonathon Bradley, you sir have successfully scared the absolute crap out of me several times with your enemy creature work. My hat goes off to the entire cast, this game would not be the same without you. Every fight is complemented beautifully by the soundtrack, always keeping me on the edge of my seat.

If this is what the future of ARPGs looks like, the intent to reinvent the genre has finally been achieved. I am nothing but excited for the full release of this surefire hit. No Rest For The Wicked is the ARPG I have always wanted. Feel the struggle of the people of Isola Sacra, fight for your life and overcome the terrors that stand in your way. Sure, you will die a lot, but in the end, this title is worth every one of them. For those who love the challenge of games like Elden Ring and the loot variety of Diablo then this game is for you.

Written by: Gary Nielsen