Review for RuneScape: Dragonwilds (First 4 Hours of Gameplay)

[wei]

After spending around 4 hours in Dragonwilds, here are some major issues I ran into — and honestly, they killed the fun pretty fast.



1. Dragon in the Tutorial Area
The dragon somehow always knows where you are, no matter what. Even if you’re indoors or hidden behind multiple walls, his attacks still hit you — through floors and walls — like they completely ignore terrain or line of sight. It feels broken and unfair. What makes it worse is that his attacks don’t seem to affect other mobs, so while you’re dodging dragon fire, you’ve still got goblins chasing you nonstop. It's chaotic in the worst way.

2. Ambush System
I get the idea — surprise enemy encounters can be exciting — but the execution is a mess. Ambushers teleport directly to you regardless of where you are. There’s no real way to prepare or escape. You're just instantly surrounded and overwhelmed. I’m all for a challenge, but when enemies phase through everything and appear out of nowhere, it stops being fun and starts feeling cheap.

3. Base Attack Mechanic
In theory, this sounds great — defending your home from raids. But in practice? It’s a nightmare. The enemy goblins teleport an entire army right next to your tiny 2x2 block home. You can’t build real defenses, there’s no room to fight, and the best strategy seems to be unequipping your gear and letting them kill you so they eventually leave. That shouldn't be a valid tactic. It’s just bad design.

If we could actually build functional defenses, traps, or walls that enemies respected, this could be an amazing mechanic. But right now, as a solo player, you just get punished for trying to base build.

Final Thoughts:
I wouldn’t recommend this game to anyone who enjoys base building or structured survival mechanics. Enemies ignore terrain, teleport into your base, and the dragon punishes you constantly even when you’re not engaging him (It was cool at first but got repetitive as he kept knowing where i was and attacked). It feels like the game is actively working against any effort to create a safe or stable home or a way to counter it unless you drag yourself to do stuff you don't want to do.

I don’t mind a tough game — I actually enjoy a good challenge — but these events aren’t challenging, they’re just badly designed. Every 10 minutes or so, you're hit with an event that feels more like a punishment than gameplay. Either a dragon shows up and spawn-kills you repeatedly, blanketing your base in toxic sludge that lingers for what feels like an entire in-game day, or a warband appears and floods the area with endless enemy waves until you inevitably die. It’s not a test of skill or strategy — it’s a test of how long you can tolerate mechanics that ignore player agency. There’s no real counterplay, no way to prepare, and no sense of fairness. It’s not hard — it’s just frustrating.

There’s potential here, but the balance and mechanics desperately need fixing.

[PocketYoda]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Tachyon:

Opprinnelig skrevet av PocketYoda:

Try it in your house constantly, watch your buildings crumble.

Nah, I ran from the house ASAP. Hiding in a wooden house from a dragon didn't seem a very good tactic. 😄 I wasn't expecting a dragon attack, tbh, as It's flown over me a few times on my wanders, but hadn't attacked me. I've played games with this kind of raid tactic before, and in those games your base doesn't get raided if you're not in it. I'm hoping this one is the same.

As you can see from the picture above i couldn't run from the house the poison is in the door..

[Crisius]

Opprinnelig skrevet av PocketYoda:

My review 3.5 hours..

No way is this game worth it.. Its buggy the whole game flickers when i run around. plants trees and everything.. On my Core i5 7500 32gb ram RX6700XT 12gb.

The game is pointless as there is zero story, the gameplay is really hard in 3.5 hours i died about 8-10 times, when you die you lose everything and cannot get your stuff you grinded for back without dying again..

Stamina is a bane, its gone after about 4 hits and then the enemies chain attack you to death, constantly out of stamina, if you block with a shield stamina gone..

Building is pointless as enemies just destroy it over and over, The dragon literally spewed poison onto my house killing me twice in a level 2 zone.. You do not get time to breath or craft anything as things attack you constantly, i ♥♥♥♥ you not chickens, rodents, cows all constantly attack you. If you die you lose everything and must run back again and again.

Food and Water is terrible its gone in less than 5 mins and you must eat constantly.. Each time you die the bars diminish/get smaller until you rest if you can even rest..

The games brightness is all messed up and the game looks like you've smeared oil all over your screen, blurry as which helps motion sickness.. On that topic there are zero options in the game to remove motion blur, depth of field and chromatic abomination.. the game is literally horrible for motion sickness.

I'd avoid and play Enshrouded or Valhiem..

Let's break this down.

First off, your computer is a potato. I can literally build that right now for less than a bum on the street makes in a day of begging. That's on you, not the game.

The "house" you show off in your screenshots in a later post is walls put up to block off a broken house in one of the villages. You've got gaps. I've had the dragon spit into my 4x5x3 and the spit shows up inside, none of the walls are damaged/destroyed. So you are clearly full of bologna.

You are in a brand new game. You are not the hulk. Your armor sucks, your weapons suck, you suck. I'm running the Ash Bow and Bone Dagger. I've died twice since getting the leather armor. It's not the game bro, it's you. You suck at managing your stamina.

Other than the dragon, I was running with 3 other people (hosting from my own system), we didn't have constant base raids or problems exploring.

To whoever reads this next, get it. It's worth it. Yes it has some similarities to Valheim. But Valheim had it's jank. Enshrouded had it's jank. And both have been polished really well. This is not a full release, they did an alpha test like 6 months ago, if I had to guess this is the very first beta release. It's not going to be gold out of the gate, so few ever are.

[PocketYoda]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Crisius:

Opprinnelig skrevet av PocketYoda:

My review 3.5 hours..

No way is this game worth it.. Its buggy the whole game flickers when i run around. plants trees and everything.. On my Core i5 7500 32gb ram RX6700XT 12gb.

The game is pointless as there is zero story, the gameplay is really hard in 3.5 hours i died about 8-10 times, when you die you lose everything and cannot get your stuff you grinded for back without dying again..

Stamina is a bane, its gone after about 4 hits and then the enemies chain attack you to death, constantly out of stamina, if you block with a shield stamina gone..

Building is pointless as enemies just destroy it over and over, The dragon literally spewed poison onto my house killing me twice in a level 2 zone.. You do not get time to breath or craft anything as things attack you constantly, i ♥♥♥♥ you not chickens, rodents, cows all constantly attack you. If you die you lose everything and must run back again and again.

Food and Water is terrible its gone in less than 5 mins and you must eat constantly.. Each time you die the bars diminish/get smaller until you rest if you can even rest..

The games brightness is all messed up and the game looks like you've smeared oil all over your screen, blurry as which helps motion sickness.. On that topic there are zero options in the game to remove motion blur, depth of field and chromatic abomination.. the game is literally horrible for motion sickness.

I'd avoid and play Enshrouded or Valhiem..

Let's break this down.

First off, your computer is a potato. I can literally build that right now for less than a bum on the street makes in a day of begging. That's on you, not the game.

The "house" you show off in your screenshots in a later post is walls put up to block off a broken house in one of the villages. You've got gaps. I've had the dragon spit into my 4x5x3 and the spit shows up inside, none of the walls are damaged/destroyed. So you are clearly full of bologna.

You are in a brand new game. You are not the hulk. Your armor sucks, your weapons suck, you suck. I'm running the Ash Bow and Bone Dagger. I've died twice since getting the leather armor. It's not the game bro, it's you. You suck at managing your stamina.

Other than the dragon, I was running with 3 other people (hosting from my own system), we didn't have constant base raids or problems exploring.

To whoever reads this next, get it. It's worth it. Yes it has some similarities to Valheim. But Valheim had it's jank. Enshrouded had it's jank. And both have been polished really well. This is not a full release, they did an alpha test like 6 months ago, if I had to guess this is the very first beta release. It's not going to be gold out of the gate, so few ever are.

Plays with three others and says its not hard, priceless.. Try actually playing solo.

[Tachyon]

Opprinnelig skrevet av PocketYoda:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Tachyon:

Nah, I ran from the house ASAP. Hiding in a wooden house from a dragon didn't seem a very good tactic. 😄 I wasn't expecting a dragon attack, tbh, as It's flown over me a few times on my wanders, but hadn't attacked me. I've played games with this kind of raid tactic before, and in those games your base doesn't get raided if you're not in it. I'm hoping this one is the same.

As you can see from the picture above i couldn't run from the house the poison is in the door..

Well, not the wisest of places to build, was it! I'd have just run through it and kept on going. When I heard the dragon I was out of my house like a shot. The splashes of poison were dotted right across the ruined village, but it never got me... speed and mobility saved my ass.

[PocketYoda]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Tachyon:

Opprinnelig skrevet av PocketYoda:

As you can see from the picture above i couldn't run from the house the poison is in the door..

Well, not the wisest of places to build, was it! I'd have just run through it and kept on going. When I heard the dragon I was out of my house like a shot. The splashes of poison were dotted right across the ruined village, but it never got me... speed and mobility saved my ass.

I didn't expect the dragon to see me or kill my in a level 2 area.. The tutorial literally tells you to build in that ruined village to progress..

[Ivins]

The dragon is F#$%^ing annoying for sure, and the constant base raids. I come back for 5mins to store stuff and make food. Base raid. Kill those, Dragon attack. So annoying its never ending. Everything OP said I feel the same way. Take my points.

[PocketYoda]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Ivins:

The dragon is F#$%^ing annoying for sure, and the constant base raids. I come back for 5mins to store stuff and make food. Base raid. Kill those, Dragon attack. So annoying its never ending. Everything OP said I feel the same way. Take my points.

I literally went to close my window blind and came back dead to three goblins.. there isn't even a pause on this game.

[Barely Average@sptfy/yt/sc]

yea i agree with everything op said.

Id add not being a fan of doing mainquests to forcefully unlock certain things aswell. like honestly the building system is pretty neat i wouldnt mind just building stuff but in order to make improvements or even a simple chair i need planks. I HAVE NO CLUE HOW TO MAKE THEM. you would think something as basic as a plank would be explained.

also not a fan of mage and range not leveling up but they still have it in the game.

[Æsir]

Opprinnelig skrevet av PocketYoda:

Brightness, blurry and oily
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3464793977

Dragon destroying my home
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3464793928

Get used to this
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3464793851

You just sold me on the game! "Get ready for this" screenshots "You died."

Souls-like gamers ears piqued.

[PocketYoda]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Æsir:

Opprinnelig skrevet av PocketYoda:

Brightness, blurry and oily
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3464793977

Dragon destroying my home
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3464793928

Get used to this
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3464793851

You just sold me on the game! "Get ready for this" screenshots "You died."

Souls-like gamers ears piqued.

Its not very skills based its pretty much overwhelming you constantly.. But hey give it a try maybe you will love it.

[Warg]

guys hello! any idea why the pioneer stuff doesnt appear on my crafting table to craft them? is it a bug? can i refer somewhere so i can get to craft them?

[Rain62]

There needs to just be a designated area where the dragon is and you venture out to it when you are ready to challenge it. A slider server option for hunger/thirst rate and raids occurrence would be more ideal. But let's be honest if they did I'm sliding that crap straight to zero! lol. I probably won't play it anymore unless they change something. I didn't buy this to play an eating simulator game.

[Vesii]

I'm playing solo and it's straight up annoying to get toxic sludge in my house from the dragon am I suppose to haul ass everytime it has a tantrum?

[Hai Im Kush]

Opprinnelig skrevet av PocketYoda:

My review 3.5 hours..

No way is this game worth it.. Its buggy the whole game flickers when i run around. plants trees and everything.. On my Core i5 7500 32gb ram RX6700XT 12gb.

The game is pointless as there is zero story, the gameplay is really hard in 3.5 hours i died about 8-10 times, when you die you lose everything and cannot get your stuff you grinded for back without dying again..

Stamina is a bane, its gone after about 4 hits and then the enemies chain attack you to death, constantly out of stamina, if you block with a shield stamina gone..

Building is pointless as enemies just destroy it over and over, The dragon literally spewed poison onto my house killing me twice in a level 2 zone.. You do not get time to breath or craft anything as things attack you constantly, i ♥♥♥♥ you not chickens, rodents, cows all constantly attack you. If you die you lose everything and must run back again and again.

Food and Water is terrible its gone in less than 5 mins and you must eat constantly.. Each time you die the bars diminish/get smaller until you rest if you can even rest..

The games brightness is all messed up and the game looks like you've smeared oil all over your screen, blurry as which helps motion sickness.. On that topic there are zero options in the game to remove motion blur, depth of field and chromatic abomination.. the game is literally horrible for motion sickness.

I'd avoid and play Enshrouded or Valhiem..

Your i5 processor is bottlenecking your setup I'm amazed you can even play Enshrouded with something that's now 8 years old and the graphics card you have can barely and i mean barely handle raytracing. 🤣 That is why your getting graphical issues time to fork out for some upgrades...

[willy__007]

You definitly died to dark wizards south of varrock at a young age xD