Wyldheart Preview: An Old-School RPG Experience Worth Playing

Wyldheart developer Wayfinder Studios is made up of former AAA developers who are looking to forge their own path.

Yes, I know that you've all heard that story before, but I can't help but feel that this is different. Not just because there's a lot of potential in Wyldheart, an upcoming ARPG looking to bring the tabletop RPG experience to a video game co-op experience, but also because they're making the game they want to make, not what they think the market wants.

Dennis Brännvall is Wayfinder's Creative Director and co-founder. If the name sounds familiar, it's because he has over a decade of experience in the industry, notably on games such as Star Wars Battlefront II and The Finals. Brännvall and his small team of no more than a dozen developers have been hard at work on Wyldheart for the past four years, and they're finally ready to show things off at PAX East 2026. Before that, I was lucky enough to spend an hour with the game, and I'm happy to report that it scratches all of my old-school RPG itches.

Wyldheart Is Looking to Target RPG Gamers Who Can't Invest 100s of Hours Into a Campaign

After the extensive work in the FPS genre, Brännvall asked his team what they would make if they weren't developing shooters. That led to the foundation of Wayfinder and a five-year plan to release Wyldheart. Here we are in year four of that plan, and it's time to show the world what they've been up to. The concept of delivering a tabletop RPG experience in video game form isn't necessarily new. Still, Brännvall felt like there was an opening in the market they could take advantage of.

We felt like if you want to play RPGs together with like small communities or your family or like your Discord small group, then it feels like you're either stuck between signing up for a really, really long sort of primarily single-player RPGs that can also be played in co-op. So then you're signing up for like 160 hours, and that can be tough for certain groups to get together on a weekly basis and continue playing it.

Brännvall also points out that while MMORPGs exist, they're also a massive timesink. "We were thinking, 'Hey, there's probably a gap here for small communities who want to play RPGs together. Something that's a little more bite-sized.'" Wyldheart is built to take advantage of this, utilizing multiple campaigns that can be completed in a dozen or so hours, allowing players to have a far more manageable schedule to enjoy themselves rather than making a massive time investment.

A True-Blue Tabletop RPG Experience

One thing that immediately resonated with me is how well Wyldheart captures the authentic old-school tabletop RPG experience.

Its gameplay is reminiscent of the PC RPGs you grew up with, along with the added benefits of some modern quality-of-life enhancements. It's the right balance between delivering an immersive environment and not constantly holding your hands. It's not as open as, say, Elden Ring, but I'd argue that's a good thing. I don't necessarily want a game that throws me out into an incredibly hostile open world and tells me "good luck." I want to explore a world filled with secrets that requires teamwork to solve puzzles and conquer enemies. That's what Wyldheart accomplishes.

During our opening dungeon, that's exactly what we were tasked with: carefully exploring the crawling caverns, dealing with enemies lurking behind every corner, and constantly searching for loot upgrades and essential items that would let us continue on our way. The nice thing here is that, again, there wasn't any hand-holding or obvious points of interest that solve puzzles for us, but the game does a great job of providing the necessary context to progress.

One boss enemy, for example, was resistant to basic damage. However, there were several barrels of torch fire I could not only interact with, but also throw. Hmm, wonder what that could mean? This is one of several examples of how Wyldheart captures that creativity and teamwork that make tabletop RPG experiences so great, and that's only the beginning. Best of all, everything is designed for your party to work together. You move as a group, deal with problems as a group, and succeed as a group.

Wyldheart Shows the Importance of Making the Game You Want

It's not necessarily the greatest time to be a video game developer.

The subject of layoffs has been looming over the industry for quite some time, and 2026 is off to a rough start. Epic Games recently laid off roughly 1,000 developers from its team. Highguard, which was the project from former Repspawn developers, failed to last two months before shutting down its servers. So what makes Wyldheart different? First, it's the smaller team size that allows Wayfinder Studios to be more agile.

If they want to make a change for the betterment of the game, they can just make it. No need to go through several rounds of approvals; it's all about learning from player feedback and using that small team size to properly adapt. In fact, it's something that Brännvall believes is working directly in their favor, allowing the team to follow their true passions. He speaks of his admiration for the original zones in World of Warcraft, such as Elwynn Forest and Westfall, something that makes my ears immediately perk up. He talks about drawing inspiration from Shadow Dark or Dragon Bane.

These are all things that will certainly resonate with the target audience, but it's a far cry from the buzzwords we see in, say, AAA gaming. It's a much-needed breath of fresh air that helps Wyldheart stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace, and the team's true belief really shines through. It's also resulted in attracting more AAA talent to the team at Wayfinder, such as Erin Bower, Wayfinder's Marketing Director, who brings over a decade of experience working with Rockstar, Square Enix, and Riot Games. I can hear Erin's enthusiasm for Wyldheart, something that is infectious throughout our hour-long play session. She, along with Brännvall, is the perfect guide to set me up on a journey I can't wait to experience again.

I'm always excited when a team of established game developers forges their own path away from AAA studios. We already saw what can happen last year in the case of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Am I saying that Wyldheart is definitely going to follow in those footsteps? Not necessarily; the game still has a while to go before even entering Early Access. Having said that, if you're looking for a co-op RPG experience that captures the magic of tabletop gaming, look no further.