Every time I think I've had enough of the Vampire Survivors formula, some new roguelike will pull me right back into wave after wave of chaos. Enter: Wanderburg, a bullet hell roguelike about piloting rickety castles turned war machines through medieval battlefields. Developer Randwerk of Abriss fame put out a demo in this week's Steam Next Fest, and I had to physically stop myself from playing it long enough to write this article.
The brilliance of Wanderburg, so far, is how temperamental it is. You are not a perfectly controlled instrument of war weaving effortlessly through crowds of enemies. You're a top-heavy tower of stone and wood screaming across grassy fields at Mach fuck. Learning to pilot your castle – how you turn, how your movements affect weapons aimed from the side or rear, and when to deploy the video game-mandated nitro boost – is a huge part of the battle, and it's immediately fun in a profoundly silly way. This is a rare instance of keyboard and mouse controls seriously elevating a game like this, because keeping track of your perspective and what left means adds to the lovable jank.
The tempo is broken up by high-value resources and targets scattered around the map, which is hemmed in by a deadly no man's land. Boss-level castles will invade after a certain amount of time passes, but plenty of other elite enemies will chase you down throughout each level, to say nothing of distinctly Vampire Survivors horde waves. Saving your big cooldowns and budgeting your (likely dwindling) health brings some real tension to all the madness.
Customizing and upgrading your castle is the backbone of Wanderburg. You can pick your basic frame, commander, and mounted units and weapons, all with unique advantages as well as upgrades chosen through a pick-one draft level-up system. As you pillage fields and blast rival castles in levels, you'll earn gold and obtain artifacts to upgrade your cannons, mortars, mines, and more, and strategically layer in transformative or multiplicative effects that take it all to the next level. Completing levels will unlock new customization options, and major progress points let you dramatically change the shape of your fortress.
Yep, that sure is a roguelike. And for as many times as I've heard a game sing this song, it still hits. Wanderburg is going straight on my Steam wishlist, and I'm going straight back to the demo as soon as I get off work.
