Review | Wren’s Resurgence - Welcome To Glitchroidvania

I normally like to start a review with a broad overview of a game, but with Wren’s Resurgence, I can’t do that in good faith. Wren’s Resurgence is not worth your time or money. It is the buggiest game I’ve encountered since starting my career as a video games journalist. Usually, I expect bugs that don’t detract from the experience all that much, or to be able to remedy them by just restarting the game. Bugs go hand in hand with game and software development and in some cases become beloved, such as combos being an accident in Street Fighter II or speedrunners discovering how to sequence break a game. However, Wren’s Resurgence is so fundamentally flawed that when I encountered some bugs — such as an old cutscene loading which not only cut off access to the next area, it tried to load two zones at once — I thought I was having a fever dream.

Even still, partly out of duty, and partly out of curiosity, I found there is something to Wren’s Resurgence. While the bugs are frustrating and need to be resolved before anyone should consider purchasing it, there is an almost old school element to some of what happens in this game. The harsh environment it puts you in, confusing story, and directionless gameplay reminds me of some NES-era games, which may have an appeal to some.

Wren’s Resurgence is a 2D metroidvania with light platforming elements. It would be best summarised as a roguelike, though there is a quicksave you’re able to continue from. Equipped with various weapons, a parry, and a dodge roll, you’ll guide Wren through a demonic world in order to save her sister. 

Wren’s Resurgence allows you to choose where to go and when to go there with very little direction. There are difficulty modifiers to change how many hits enemies take, how much money you earn, and whether quicksaves and direct hints are active. I definitely recommend turning the difficulty down and hints on, as I have a feeling you’ll need it. Even early in the game, it seems the developer Soliloquy Games wants to impress the “Search” part of the “Search Action” genre upon you — as in the need to explore — when you’re given a hint to go to the Under Village, which you initially can’t access until after a cutscene.

Gameplay is, at best, perfunctory, with enemies ready to strike you at any given opportunity. As you find and upgrade a number of weapons, you’ll have a much better chance of being able to survive the yokai-infested lands you traverse. Many times, I found myself one hit away from death, as entering a new zone means you will have to find a new healing grove or to travel back to the old one. Just when you think gameplay is fair, you may be randomly killed or have to restart due to bugs. I don’t know whether braziers are supposed to cause burn damage or not, but I died a frustrating amount of times to seemingly random burn damage. Memorisation and nerves of steel are key to Wren’s Resurgence. The problem is the gameplay feels a bit undercooked at times, like when the dodge roll seems to activate at inopportune times, seconds after you’ve pressed the button.  Finding the bow definitely reduced my frustration with the game in general.

While your overall goal is to find your kidnapped sister Swan, the gameplay loop tasks you with exploring every inch of maps like the Ancient Forest, Abandoned City, and Golden Shrine. You can find weapons, shops, secrets, powerups, and diary entries from your sister. You’ll also find friendly spirits, such as a fox spirit who allies herself with you, giving you direction and selling you upgrades so that her people may be freed.

The anachronistic and confusing world Wren finds herself in would leave you to believe this is Japan, but at what period I could not tell you. There are modern buildings, but the main character Wren and her sister Swan are dressed somewhere between ninjas and zombie apocalypse survivors. People seem to live in storage containers when not slaving away for the demonic yokai. Though you won’t find many friendly faces, not every yokai wants, well, whatever the majority of the yokai want. 

I would have liked to have found out for myself what their goal was, but I could not figure out how to get past the Golden Shrine area. While the map showed various doors and items, I could not determine how to proceed any further, even with the hints and direction given. This combined with the very specific methods I had to employ in order not to encounter bugs and find unlocks in their overly-prescribed order felt more like having to go through an excruciating checklist of trying every weapon/skill/etc. everywhere, hoping something would happen.

While some sprites in the game are fairly standard video game enemy fare, I did find myself entranced by some of the finer details in Wren’s Resurgence: the wisps of smoke after Wren jumps, the silky-smooth looking water, and the detailed walk animation of chained spirits forced to walk on a giant hamster wheel, for example. I’m not the biggest horror fan, but I recognised many of the yokai that opposed me. Some sound effects are a bit too loud, like burning yokai who sound suspiciously like a lit fireplace. Wanting to see more of this strange world gave me motivation to restart the game after game-freezing bugs or discovering a better way to approach a section or enemies.

Wren’s Resurgence is frustrating. On one hand, the severity and frequency of bugs is inexcusable. On the other, this could be a great game with some more time in development. I think with more time to iron out bugs and some more guidance for the player that Wren’s Resurgence would be a really interesting game to delve into.