Wizordum: Come Geteth Some

Hail, adventurer! Sit by the fire and rest while I spin a tale of wizards, goblins, fireballs, and the classic boomer shooter.

Written by Tink Edwards 

Hail, adventurer! Please, come, sit by the fire, and rest your weary bones. From the looks of your tattered cloak, I’d say you’ve been in a scrape with a goblin or two, yes? Here, have some ale. And this chicken! Eat the whole thing, bones and all! My, you’re the hungry one… You’ve already finished!

This introduction is getting weird and awkward, friend. And it didn’t work quite the way I wanted it to. So, while you sit there and let your chicken bones digest, let me regale you with the tale of my time with a video game. A video game called Wizordum!

A Tale of the Boomer Shooter

First! An unprompted precursory history of shooters! Since id Software’s release of Wolfenstein 3D in 1992, the first-person shooter genre has been a force in the gaming world. Since then, id consistently moved the needle forward, making landmark game after landmark game, namely Doom and Quake.

Thanks to id’s influence and innovation, by the end of the 1990s, first-person shooters were everywhere and were among the best-selling games in the world. Valve’s Half-life became a commercial and cultural hit. Activision’s Call of Duty franchise was (and is) a yearly juggernaut in the sales department. Online competitive play boosted the popularity of FPS games into the stratosphere. With each new generation of FPS games came new modes of play — new weapons, new abilities, and fancier graphical output. But the foundation of what made the genre great remained intact. And there was a growing sense of nostalgia for the simpler, more exciting early days of first-person shooters.

Enter the “boomer shooter” – a hot subsection of the FPS genre that’s blown up over the past few years. Boomer shooter games typically look and play like something from the mid-90s, albeit with higher fidelity and, usually, some much-needed quality-of-life improvements. Recent examples include the fantastically creepy Cultic and the aptly named Turbo Overkill. These games harken back to an era of gaming that wasn’t dependent on online play or ultra-realistic action and graphics. The slower-paced gameplay from modern shooters is tossed to the side in favor of quickly running through levels, blasting hordes of enemies in an arcade-like way.

Many of these throwback games have been released to great success, and I must admit they often charm me. While I love the occasional modern shooter, like Counter-Strike 2, I often find myself replaying those classic games from my childhood. And when a new boomer shooter pops up on my radar, I give it a go. So when I heard about Wizordum — a shooter set in a fantasy world, not unlike the games Heretic and Hexen — I was intrigued.

What is Wizordum?

Wizordum is developed by independent studio Emberheart Games and published by Apogee Entertainment. If you played shooters in the 90s, you most likely know Apogee Software – they published legendary games like Commander Keen and Wolfenstein 3D and developed Duke Nukem 3D under their 3D Realms branding. All of these games used the incredibly popular and successful “play-before-you-pay” Shareware model of release. You would receive the first episode of a game for free to play as much as you’d like. And if you wanted to play the full game, you’d buy it from Apogee, and they’d send you the remaining content.

The Apogee of today is a different beast than its 90s namesake. Still, Wizordum, which is in early access, uses a similar content delivery model, allowing you to play the first level for free via a demo download or the entire first episode of the game upon purchase. The rest of the content will be added as development progresses. There’s still plenty to chew on with just a single portion of the game available to play, though.

Looking Fantastic

When you load up Wizordum, the first thing you’re likely to notice is the vibrance. You appear in the outskirts of a castle town, and unlike the grim, darkened world found in the likes of Cultic or Hexen, Wizordum provides bright blue skies, lush green foliage, and lots of sparkling toys and treasures scattered throughout the massive opening level. There’s a fair amount of environmental interactivity as well, with breakable barrels and pots that sometimes contain items, berries on bushes that can be eaten to regain a small amount of health, and lootable corpses of fallen wizards who failed in their quest to rid the land of the bad guys.

Venture inside one of the many buildings to find fun little maze-like cobblestone halls. You’ll also find flagons of mead and whole roasted chickens that restore energy when consumed. Just like the one you ate in the dumb intro I wrote! In true classic fps fashion, you can push on certain walls to find hidden passageways that often lead to treasure chests, useful items (like the Cloak of Invisibility, which does exactly what you think it does), and keys that naturally get you through locked doors. You can also pull out a map and search for secrets you might’ve missed.

Choose Your Weapon

The enemy variety is great, and the combat difficulty ramps up as you navigate the world. The first critters you’ll run up on are standard melee goblins. As the level goes on, you’ll encounter ranged goblins who use fireball attacks, beefy goblins that are way harder to kill, your standard RPG sewer rats, and more. Much more! I don’t want to spoil too much, but let’s just say I hope you like undead enemies. I know I do. 

The rich and bright world of Wizordum also has its fair share of grime. Attacking enemies creates a lot of gore, with blood splatters painting the walls and a growing number of mutilated corpses covering the ground. Whacking an enemy with your starter weapon (a satisfyingly sturdy mace) leaves a trace of blood on the weapon. And the more enemies you smack, the more red and bloodsoaked the mace becomes. Wizordum isn’t a game for the squeamish, though it is possible to turn some of the gore effects down if it’s a bit too much for you.

Tolkien’s Doom

The gameplay loop is a tried-and-true “run around, kill enemies, collect keys, find secrets, get the new weapons and power-ups, kill more enemies” method of play, very similar to the original Doom. The one drawback to the Doom-like gameplay is that the level layout is more similar to Wolfenstein 3D. There’s only one plane of play that I’ve seen. The vast majority of enemies meet you at your level. You can’t jump, and there are no stairs or ladders to climb. There’s the occasional puzzle that allows you to move vertically, but that’s about it.

You’d think that would limit the level variety and map design, and maybe it does, but freezing enemies and shattering them with your mace is such a blast that I didn't care that there was only one floor to explore at any given time. Once you complete a level, you’ll get an old-school rundown of your stats for it. Did you kill every enemy? Did you find every secret? How fast did you do it? You’re encouraged to replay and master levels. It’s the perfect speedrunning game. In fact, players are attempting runs and uploading their fastest times. 

The World of Wizordum

The game's feel is greatly enhanced by its excellent fantastical soundtrack and top-notch world design. It feels like a proper fantasy adventure as you traverse castles and sewers, dark town streets, hedge mazes, and more, all to some appropriately atmospheric tunes. At the end of our dark fantasy journey through episode 1, there’s a boss encounter, and then you’re done.

Ah! But not really! Wizordum also comes with a Build Engine-esque level designer, and the community has already created some entertaining maps. I expect many more to come in the months leading up to the final game’s release. 

Final Thoughts

As it is, Wizordum is a fantastic value at $15 with the promise of at least two more full episodes, each of which will contain a load of new monsters, weapons, and secrets. The development team at Emberheart also plans to add even more game customization and modding options, allowing players to create and play an endless variety of content using the Wizordum engine. If the custom WAD experience from Doom is any indication, a heap of downloadable content will be available in no time. The future is bright for Wizordum!

Thank you for listening to my jubilant praise of Wizordum, traveler. I hope you leave here with a learned mind, a warm body, and a full belly. Now, I must retire to my chambers to cringe myself to sleep for writing the bookends to this article. Good day. Oh, also, Wizordum is available on Steam in early access for $14.99. There’s a demo, too.