On April 18, early access started for No Rest for the Wicked, a new product from the creators of Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Only now is the Moon Studios team trying themselves in a new genre: instead of a colorful Metroidvania, they decided to do something completely unique—and for this, the developers needed the help of ordinary players to create something unique. This is our No Rest for the Wicked PC review.
Early access is simple: the creators release a decent chunk of the game to test something and find out the audience’s opinion – in fact, this is large-scale testing, but people themselves pay for access to it. Many hits in recent years have gone through this – Dead Cells, Hades, Baldur’s Gate 3, PUBG, Last Epoch, and others. Thanks to the mechanics, each of them became much better for release, and the same thing is observed here. As an example, I can give a small example – at the start of the game, when exiting the game through the character menu, the player went to the main menu, and from there, I needed to exit again to close the game. One of the users wrote this as a suggestion on Steam, and after several updates, this function became available, and the same will happen with the gameplay of the game because in this game, it is clear that the developers are ready to work with the players and this cannot but rejoice.
From Moon Studios, the award-winning creators of Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps, comes No Rest for the Wicked, a fast-paced, uncompromising RPG that redefines the genre. With No Rest for the Wicked, the situation turned out to be even more interesting since early access for Moon Studios seemed to become the next stage of development, at which the team literally modified its creation.
No Rest for the Wicked is absolutely not a Diablo-style RPG. With its heavy, brutal combat and labyrinthine world, it is much closer to a Souls-like game. Thanks to its isometric camera and rare equipment, it also differs from most other games in this genre, making it so promising and interesting.
What is No Rest for the Wicked
The game has no analogs – at least, for many hours of playing and discussing this game with friends, nothing came to mind. We have several games in one: ideologically, this is something close to Dark Souls – the pace of battles, the quick punishment for mistakes in the form of death, and the overall mood of the entire game. But at the same time, in this game there is a huge emphasis on armor with different rarities and unique skills, everything is something like in Diablo, but not in such colossal quantities where new things come across every half second.
Fundamentally, No Rest for the Wicked is Dark Souls with a top-down view, Diablo-inspired gear, and visual execution from Ori and the Will of the Wisps.
However, in addition to this, there are elements of the same Animal Crossing, when you need to collect resources to improve a large city and furnish your own home – and when improving the city you need to wait from 15 to 240 minutes, depending on the chosen upgrade. Yes, there is a slight smell from mobile games. No Rest for the Wicked also has small elements of some survival games in the spirit of Rust.
As a result, No Rest for the Wicked may seem a bit torn in different directions – and you would be right in your assumptions. The hardcore combat system does not fit well with the equipment because, during the passage, you can find yourself in a situation with an unsuccessful build and endless scolding from any local 1st-level enemy. However, this is where the “early access” tag comes to the rescue.
Many aspects of No Rest for the Wicked were heavily criticized by the community in the early days – for example, when you die, all your equipment loses durability, but this happened so quickly that if you died several times within a couple of minutes, you had to find a blacksmith fast. This did not add any special features but was purely annoying. In the first match, the mechanics were quickly adjusted so that the strength still reflected its name – objects stopped breaking as quickly.
Over the past few days, four patches have been released for No Rest for the Wicked. Still, they were so large-scale and “correct” that the audience quickly began to change their opinion about the game, adjusted the reviews on Steam to positive ones, and began to play more actively—and even recommend a new product. Patches and work with the community are bearing fruit.
Such a dramatic change of opinion is surprising to see and very gratifying. Moon Studios seemed to deliberately release a game with a maximum of unrelated mechanics to immediately get opinions on everything and quickly adjust the game in all directions.
But let’s figure out what’s happening on Sankra Island
The world of No Rest for the Wicked is far from what you’d expect from an RPG, although it does follow the typical introductory story style. The year is 841, and King Harold is dead. While the news of his death spreads throughout the kingdom, the crown passes to his arrogant, gunpowder-hungry son, Magnus. To make matters worse, the Pestilence has returned – a cursed plague that no one has heard of for a thousand years. A cursed plague is spreading across the earth, corrupting everything and everyone it touches. Matrigal Selina, a ruthless and ambitious figure in the church hierarchy, sees Mora as a chance to prove herself in the eyes of her god.
These forces converge on the remote island of Sacra, where rebel groups and the local government desperately fight for control amid an ancient civilization’s crumbling, ivy-covered ruins.
You’ll take on the role of Cerim, a holy warrior once part of a much larger race that appears to have been wiped out during a previous encounter with the plague. Initially, you answer a call for help from the island of Sancra. Still, things get much worse: an ancient plague is ravaging the land and the island’s inhabitants in the form of “The Plague,” turning them into terrible beasts and monsters.
Your quest as bim will take you all over the vast island of Sankra. Between fighting the Blight and helping the people in their plight, you’ll likely be thrown in all directions. However, you must also deal with the Risen and the Church, who want entirely different things. The rebels want freedom for the people, while the Church wants to cleanse the Plague at any cost. Neither of these visions is viable, and you will have to intervene to help find a balance between them.
One important thing to remember in No Rest for the Wicked is that you are not immortal, and your stamina doesn’t last forever, either. Unfortunately, this means you may have to treat the battle like in the same Elden ring, not just running into locations but based on the capabilities and limits of your character and weapons. Simple enemies can easily cut off huge chunks of your health, and stamina can become a part of your life because dodging, blocking, and even parrying are the keys to survival. Still, all this is achieved at the expense of stamina, and yes, climbing ledges or walls will bite you. You will need it, too.
Personally, in my playthrough, right at the beginning of the game, I was given a massive two-handed sword, which consumed my stamina in two hits and required time to prepare any blow. And because of this, in the beginning, to put it mildly, I had difficulties with any enemy, especially with the weight of the equipment, but about that later. And what’s most offensive is that my friend also almost immediately found fire staff and ran through the first locations and bosses quickly. So the passage can be radically different thanks to the system of random loot and the number of enemies in different places and even other races.
Each weapon usually already has a rune attached to it, and each rune brings its interesting twist to combat, but using them requires a Focus cost that accumulates as combat progresses. You are not limited to one rune per weapon and can add more if the weapon has free slots for them at the merchant. You can also mix up melee and magic attack types by switching between weapons on the fly.
Having touched a little on the topic of enemies, I think it’s worth raising the question – “how to survive?” – and there are some interesting ways to extend your life. Potions and lotions for both characters and weapons are one way to do this, but they are more geared towards the late game, and in the early games, you will have to run for food. Yes, there are no estus flasks like in Elden ring or endless potions from Diablo, here the developers made a funny and realistic touch. If you want to restore your health, run around the location and collect the same mushrooms and herbs, then look for a warm place with a fire and cook yourself a wonderful soup, or, of course, you can eat everything separately – but this will also restore less health. And what I want to say is that I haven’t eaten so much prepared food since my resource trips in Genshin Impact or long battles with dragons in Skyrim. And I like this solution from Moon Studios.
No Rest for the Wicked takes crafting to the next level because you must find or buy recipes and blueprints for anything you want to create. Although it is a fun base for crafting, the recipes and blueprints are hard to come by and expensive. Of course, there are a huge number of chests with different drawings scattered around the world, but over the entire time, I have gotten a few of them; most of these drawings come from side quests or for completing daily quests that are also in the game.
The ability to experiment with food ingredients would be a nice touch. It would allow you to discover cooking recipes, making the early game at least a little more forgiving. Unfortunately, cooking will always require a recipe, and without one, your huge stash of ingredients will just sit there until you eventually can’t use them.
Crafting in No Rest for the Wicked falls under the same problem if you don’t have the blueprint, however things get a little more complicated. As you explore the island of Sancra, you will eventually find the town of Sacrament, which is the main hub for everything from storing everything you find to shopping and crafting, and, of course, the main quests and those daily and weekly tasks.
Upon arrival, the city is in serious decline, and you’ll need to, like the long-loved Assassin’s Creed II, gather resources to rebuild the many relevant shops and their destroyed parts before you can take advantage of their services. For example, you will need to upgrade the Blacksmith’s forge before you can use an anvil and craft weapons or armor, and more advanced blueprints will require further upgrades and rarer resources.
But what is the icing on the cake in this game? The developers have allowed players to buy their own house and decorate it as they wish, whether it’s cute buildings from Animal Crossing or a building completely filled with chests and chests of drawers (yes, this is about me) for storing everything that is in the game, that might come in handy.
Of course, in the game, you can still use the No Rest for the Wicked shops, where you can buy equipment, runes that give abilities to your equipment or weapons, and much more to create your build.
However, as stated earlier, buying anything is damn expensive, and money doesn’t grow on trees, so there’s a lot of exploring and looting to be done. The currency in No Rest for the Wicked is classic, even for some reason, sometimes reminiscent of sleepless nights from World of Warcraft since it is also collected from small ones – 100 bronze coins are one silver, and 100 silver is one gold. The entire economy is built on this. Now comes the fun part: getting money is a remarkable challenge because you can only get gold through quests, selling items, or mining. To say that this was somehow a problematic activity for me is not because I am one of those players who, before moving to the next location, double-checks the first location and does not find everything available on it. Still, there is something to explore and replay here, but do not forget that in this game, each playthrough will be different for everyone, which is a very pleasant plus.
It’s Like Playing an Animated Graphic Novel
No Rest for the Wicked is presented top-down like many RPGs but offers a unique visual identity that elevates and sets this game apart from others. No Rest for the Wicked looks hand-drawn – there are moments that at first glance resemble pre-drawn 2D -background… until the camera starts moving, revealing its true three-dimensional nature, and to tell the truth – more than once I was very surprised when I ran past a seemingly distant cave and did not even think that there could be any passage there, and imagine my surprise when after 10 hours of exploring the starting location, you discover that all this time it was only half of the map?
The game uses an idea inspired by games like Animal Crossing, in which the entire 3D map is curved away from the player. Thanks to this, it becomes possible to see further into the distance. This required a complete overhaul of aspects such as clipping, lighting, geometry handling, and more. Additionally, lighting now occurs entirely in real-time without any baking – this works in tandem with the dynamic weather and lighting system to ensure the world is constantly changing around you.
The detail is remarkable: as the characters fight in the rain, streams of water can be seen coming from their clothing as they come to life. It looks like their clothes are wet, and the intensity of their movement throws out the collected droplets of water with force. This is directly related to the unified wind system that affects the fabric and trees around you. Everything in the game becomes dynamic, changing depending on the time of day and weather conditions. This looks especially cool around fabric items, including character outfits.
Here, you can see the developers’ huge step—the game looks as alive as the 2D Ori games but manages to do it all in full 3D on a larger scale while being significantly more interactive. Interestingly, since Wicked is in early access, the team is still working on additional effects that are not currently in the game.
Is No Rest for the Wicked worth playing?
If you’re a big fan of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, or Elden Ring, you’ll find yourself in No Rest for the Wicked. This is a hardcore game where you have to die a lot and learn from your mistakes. Death will not always be deserved, but we are used to it. Reading the movements of enemies is surprisingly difficult in some places, exploring the surprisingly multi-level world can be dangerous and inconvenient (falling off a cliff by accident is as easy as shelling pears), and any mistake can instantly send you to a checkpoint.
But in this game, I think everyone can find something that they like, be it decorating their home, improving merchants, maximizing and obtaining rare variations of buffs on equipment, or just completing daily and weekly quests, so I’ll tell you what to do here.
However, what you can’t take away from No Rest for the Wicked is the feeling of a unique and special game. She looks amazing – like a living watercolor painting, every moment. You can watch this beauty endlessly. The beauty of the production of the videos is also wonderful, and the plot is intriguing.
No Rest for the Wicked is only at the beginning of its journey. I think that in a few months, it will change beyond recognition, and many mechanics may disappear altogether. Those who want to help Moon Studios right now can already do so—or wait for the full release.
The developers are very active in communicating with fans on social networks, asking for opinions on everything. Judging by the first week of early access, No Rest for the Wicked is, in some sense, a “living thing” that will evolve and change, and that’s great.
No Rest for the Wicked is now available for PC via Steam. A PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S version will be released at a later date.
