Wizordum Review

A Spell Slinging, Retro Shooter

Wizordum is a retro-inspired old-school FPS by Emberheart Games, where players step into the robes of a surviving mage to defend the fantasy realm of Terrabruma from the forces of Chaos. 

Building upon foundational shooters from the 90’s, Wizordum blends the speed and secrets from classics like Wolfenstein 3D and Hexen with modern adventure and FPS design to deliver a nostalgic, yet new experience that will keep all players guessing.

2D Sprites and Stunning Lighting 

Wizordum’s retro-fantasy art style was brought to life through art and design inspiration by Denis Loubet (known for his work on Ultima, Wing Commander, and Tabula Rasa). 2D sprites are the centrepiece of Wizordum’s visuals, whilst 3D pixel-rooted landscapes form the backdrop. 

Enemies, items, and objects are all 2D sprites that remain facing the player, moving when you turn, turning when you move, always remaining parallel – an effect that will feel weird to those unaccustomed, but to an old-school retro audience, it is all too familiar.

These sprites and backgrounds are stunning and a big reason for players to begin having an interest in Wizordum. Already hooked by the sprites and enemy design, I was curious about the environments when I started playing, quickly discovering Emberheart Games’ great attention to detail. The graphic gore is a good example: flesh and blood sprays of enemies and ribs are left lying on the floor as flies begin to buzz. 

Monotonous gameplay loops are an issue for most retro 90’s shooters and Emberheart Games were clearly aware of this issue, using many tactics to try and reduce the effect. Visual variety is one tactic used throughout the runtime. Starting in castle grounds you progress to the castle itself, then a sewer, then a port, then a burning city, and so on, each area loosely connecting to the next with a narrative thread. Smaller touches such as the inside lighting are also far above expectations for an indie game of this style – torches/candelabra spill warm yellows that illuminate space restricted to their source, whilst windows leak sharper shafts of lighter yellows that don’t dare touch the others’ domains. 

The Great and Not So Great UI

I loved how both lore fragments and the map are actual pieces of parchment held in the player characters hands, able to be accessed whilst moving. Depending on where you find them, the parchment can be torn in half, smeared in blood, or be completely fine; narratively charming and great for immersion. 

Being able to move whilst reading also allows the system to keep pace with what is already a fast-paced game. Due to these polishes, I found myself engaging with this system way more than I usually would in other games. 

However the UI does have its issues. Due to how items are placed and the UI is incorporated upon picking them up, it can be extremely hard to tell what you are collecting. Items trigger a subtle flash when picked up and are detailed for a moment in small writing to the left of the screen. These additions may be sufficient in a slower-paced game but when I’m strafing past enemy shots and immediately zooming towards the next location, it’s not nearly enough. The impact this has is that I never really knew what I was picking up, making items feel less rewarding. 

Audio 

Composed and orchestrated by Apogee’s Tim Stoney as a long-form version of Wizordum’s Main Menu theme, the symphonic suite is dramatic and well-paced, although slightly forgettable and repetitive. 

Apart from some subtle slower symphonics and bird song, there is generally only one key theme used throughout, so, although perfectly suitable as backing for the spell-slinging action, it’s not one I was looking up on Spotify after. 

Progression

Wizordum is split into levels with a shop section between each one. Using currency collected you can purchase a wide variety of upgrades, both big and small. Upgrades range from extra inventory space and treasure revealing maps to secondary attacks for specific weapons. The shop works great as a way to get players thinking more about decisions rather than simply slinging spells at the closest enemy.

Combat – A Shooter With Spells

You’ll come across two important menus before you ever strike down your first goblin. The first is selecting a class: either Cleric or Sorceress. Both classes play fairly similarly due to the consistent weapon system, although each has their own movement speed, HP modifier, spells, ultimate, and signature weapon (either mace or wand). The Cleric is slightly more melee/tank focused and the Sorceress is slightly more mobility/crowd control focused, but both playstyles are available through either class. A nice choice was allowing players to switch classes every time they enter the main menu, with progress carrying over. 

After selecting a class, players pick between the four difficulty options: Novice, Journeyman, Master, and Nightmare. Multipliers such as enemy health, number of enemies, enemy speed… and so on, increase from Novice through to Nightmare and are clearly outlined during selection, (a quality of life feature that games in this genre are known to forget). I decided on Master and was quickly thrown into level one to get my first taste of combat. 

Combat is centred around dodging enemy attacks using your incredibly quick base movement speed to strafe left and right, then utilising your arsenal of weapons to defeat the enemies firing or slashing at you, a simple yet timeless premise. Due to its simplicity, I quickly realised that combat often boils down to positioning on the higher difficulties; if you position correctly and strafe adequately, you rarely get hit, but if you mess up, it’s easy to get mobbed. Ammo and health pickups are very reminiscent of 90’s shooters, pushing players to use all the tools at their disposal rather than favouring one option. Certain weapons also nail that punchy feel – my personal favourite being the spell striker, a one handed, magical blunderbuss. What more could you possibly need?

More Features That I Possibly Needed 

Class specific spells never serve a purpose besides combat; the same can be said for the scrolls as well. For a game that so actively tries to implement features to repel monotonous gameplay, I couldn’t help but question this decision: why design two new systems that achieve the same goal as the weapon system? One immediate issue with this was that I hardly interacted with the spell system at all, as most of the time shooting enemies with weapons or blowing them up with an AOE scroll was more than enough. This left spells feeling underwhelming and underutilised, made worse by their long recharge time that promised something greater than a short dash or knockback effect. 

The issue with class spells then got me thinking about other aspects of Wizordum – why give players all these various weapons to also limit them to combat? Without the ammo system I would never have wanted or needed to swap off the spell striker. When the sandbox offers spells, various weapons, and scrolls, why not use them to interact with the puzzles or the secrets or the environments? I understand Wolfenstein 3D and Hexen didn’t implement these as primary mechanics – but that was thirty three years ago. 

The lack of a jump button makes sense for a retro FPS audience, but why can’t I use the Sorceress’s blink or the Cleric’s repulsion to cross large gaps, the ice staff to put out flames, and the fire rings set braziers alight in puzzles? What makes me a wizard rather than just a man with a bunch of funky looking guns? Interactions such as these could’ve elevated the gameplay without losing any of that 90’s charm. 

Level design and Sublime Secrets

Without looking at player interactivity, Emberheart Games did nail the level design. Each level is packed with hidden treasures, puzzles, and traps that reward curiosity and exploration. There are great minor destructible environs such as barrels, bushes, and enemy bodies which complement the art work nicely as sprites transform, burst apart, and scatter to pieces when hit. I would’ve liked to see more environments that hinted at a wider narrative, like the crest of a water droplet hung behind a pond overrun by creeping vines, or the carving of an important robed figure, glowing with a light blue hue. But these were few and far between. 

Enemy-to-area variety is nicely done with each level introducing new enemies that coincide with the theme, e.g. zombies in a graveyard and toxic barrel-monsters in the sewers. Held up by the brilliant 2D sprites, these enemies help keep the gameplay varied as you are constantly learning how to defeat new enemy types.

Level design is very similar to games such as Dark Souls, a very common comparison nowadays but nevertheless very applicable when it comes to Wizordum. Hidden items are placed behind destructible barrels, collectables accessible later can be seen through a gap in an earlier wall, and even the classic FromSoftware “this door does not open from this side” makes an appearance. So, it is very comparable but for good reason as this design works super well with titles that place an emphasis on enemy variety and secrets.

Secrets are by far the standout in Wizordum and it feels like Emberheart Games were well aware of that with an average of SIXTEEN per mission. These aren’t your usual low effort, creatively bankrupt bobbleheads that developers chuck in at the last second. No, these secrets are endlessly entertaining from start to finish. I’d hate to spoil any of the amazing ones so I’ll give you two that are common: you may see an out of place portrait on the wall, the only one surviving in the castle you’ve spotted, and maybe the wall slides backwards on hidden hinges. Maybe there are skeleton heads around the room with eyes ablaze, but you spot some that have gone out, you interact, a pop up appears, “1/6”, and now you’re suddenly on the hunt for the other five skulls.

levels increase drastically in length after the opening two. To an extent where monotony is a real issue. Although enemy variety helps the combat, the effect on secrets is damning. Due to how long each area was I found myself seeking out hidden collectables less and less, as hunting them down would just result in more backtracking and more of the gameplay loop already overstaying its welcome. 

Now with the secrets being so well done, I bet you’re wondering what the puzzles are like. Yeah they’re good. Not as good as the secrets but I enjoyed them… not much to add. They get better as the game goes on, so if you’re unimpressed with the earlier ones, stick with it. 

Wizards But No Magic 

Wizordum does justice to the shooters of the 90’s, but little else. It felt like a lot of the systems were introduced with nice foundations but that’s just it – I was given old foundations when I wanted to see the newly built house. Maybe a 90’s shooter with modern paint was all that Emberheart Games were hoping to create but then why add such varied environments, weapons, spells, and scrolls? Why did I not just have a gun and grenades? ‘Missed potential’ rang in my ears each time I wasted a spell, ammo, or a scroll trying to interact with anything that wasn’t a goblin.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t shake the feeling that if Wizordum halved its runtime, adding interactive environments that complemented the various weapons and spells, there could’ve been something special here. But as it stands Wizordum provides little more than what a 90’s shooter could, thirty odd years ago.

Important Links

Tearing a Page from Heretic + Hexen – Retro FPS Wizordum Blasts onto Xbox! – https://www.thexboxhub.com/tearing-a-page-from-heretic-hexen-retro-fps-wizordum-blasts-onto-xbox/

Buy Wizordum on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/wizordum/9P0L34CRPR8X/0010