Moon Studios is best known for its Ori series, a pair of beautiful and challenging 2D Metroidvanias. With No Rest for the Wicked ($39.99), the indie developer pivots to another beloved and difficult genre: the soulslike. An isometric take on the action-RPG formula, No Rest for the Wicked marries the team’s lovely presentation with brutal combat and dense exploration. However, there are major annoyances, including visuals to design, that we hope Moon Studios addresses by the time this Early Access title (coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S) fully launches.
(Credit: Moon Studios/PCMag)
A Dim, Dark FantasyNo Rest for the Wicked and similar titles slowly unveil the breadth and depth of their lore over many hours, so the opening moments of our Early Access preview didn’t contain much story. You play as a holy warrior who fights against an evil plague on a cursed island. It’s the dark fantasy look found in the game’s main inspirations: Dark Souls and Diablo. It’s so familiar that the aesthetic is a bit generic—at least in the beginning. Compare that with fellow Souls homage, Another Crab’s Treasure, which puts a seafood spin on its influences.
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It also doesn’t help that No Rest for the Wicked puts the dark in dark fantasy. Like many modern, underlit blockbuster movies, the graphics are too dark to see the fine details. It makes the game feel oppressive, as flickering light sources become invaluable lifesavers. It also made me feel like I was missing out on the game’s otherwise great artwork. Whenever I could see what was going on, it displayed the same wonderful painterly style as Ori and the Will of the Wisps, but with a harsher, medieval atmosphere. After a tutorial set at sea, you find yourself shipwrecked on the island and capable of venturing in any direction. Granted, you’ll probably face a foe way too powerful to overcome until you level up later. Still, that exploration freedom is as satisfying here as in titles ranging from the original Legend of Zelda to Elden Ring.
You won’t wander much before organically finding the path forward. Even with the high overall difficulty, I made steady progress. The world design is built on a solid foundation, but there are substantial changes we’d like the devs to make before the game’s release.
(Credit: Moon Studios/PCMag)
GameplayNo Rest for the Wicked combines Dark Souls-style combat and Diablo’s top-down perspective. Those are two radically different takes on action-RPGs, yet Moon Studios harmoniously blends them. Wish you could see more of the surroundings as you dodge and parry in a Souls game? Enjoy the pulled-back camera. Do you find Diablo’s click-heavy loot-grinding too fast and mindless? Overall, the combat is slower but more methodical. However, I wish combat was a bit faster, as someone who prefers the Diablo end of that equation. Even after equipping relatively snappy double daggers, my character could only perform a paltry number of attacks or defensive rolls before needing a lengthy break. The best solution was to increase the character’s stamina upon leveling up. Meanwhile, special attacks had such long cooldowns I forgot I had them.Unlike FromSoftware’s games, No Rest for the Wicked doesn’t make you lose experience upon death. Instead, dying degrades your equipment’s durability. Repairs are easy enough. Just pay the blacksmith with in-game currency, which I never found myself lacking. But this creates an annoying negative feedback loop where failure makes it harder to succeed. More palatable is the cooking system that lets you combine plants and monster parts into healing items. The game limits how quickly you can heal during a battle, but you have many ways to regain that health since the island is rich in resourcesSoulslike titles are famous for their fearsome bosses. Although this early version of No Rest for the Wicked doesn’t have many iconic enemies, the few on display are impressive. Specifically, I like how many times I fought gross monster guys with too many limbs and creepy, erratic movement. “Warrick the Torn” nails the naming.
(Credit: Moon Studios/PCMag)
Can Your PC Run No Rest for the Wicked?No Rest for the Wicked’s recommended PC specs include an AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT or Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 GPU, AMD Ryzen 7 5800X or Intel Core i5-11700K CPU, 16GB of RAM, and 35GB of storage. The game supports Steam Cloud and gamepads.I played No Rest for the Wicked on a Steam Deck, but the game isn’t verified for Valve’s handheld PC. Although it was playable, I experienced performance issues throughout the test period. However, the game is still in Early Access, so technical issues like this are not surprising.
Why You Should Game on a PC
Verdict: Sleep No MoreNo Rest for the Wicked skillfully combines ideas from Dark Souls and Diablo. That said, it lacks the unique identity we expect from its creators. Its gameplay and performance could also use polish, but that’s to be expected from a Steam Early Access title. We currently don’t know when to expect the 1.0 release, but the team has shared a roadmap for future features, such as multiplayer and additional areas. There’s potential here, but we must wait for No Rest for the Wicked’s full release to see if the action-RPG lives up to it. For in-depth video game talk, visit PCMag’s Pop-Off YouTube channel.
Pros
Challenging combat
Dense world to explore
Inventive enemy design
The Bottom Line
No Rest for the Wicked puts an intriguing isometric spin on soulslike action, but the Early Access game doesn’t yet do much to stand out in the crowded genre.
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