➤ Durango: Wild Lands, the review 🎮

Durango: Wild Lands is a project that NEXON has been carrying out for some years now, even if the game was the protagonist of a global launch just a few days ago. The version we tried for this review can therefore boast a large number of updates, contents and refinements that the Korean development team has been able to implement over time, expanding the boundaries of the original experience to unexplored territories and further enriching the package of features and facets. What certainly hasn't changed is the title's ability to destabilize, proposing an introductory phase that turns out to be very different from the mechanics we will have to deal with for the most part.

In practice, it all begins in the carriage of a train: there are several characters seated and we are asked to choose one based on its physical characteristics. At that point we will be able to move from one carriage to another using an effective control system with an invisible and repositionable virtual analog stick, interact with some PGNs and take a minimum of confidence with strictly elements survival, such as the need to satisfy hunger and thirst. After that, literally all hell happens: the train is attacked by what appears to be a horde of Dinosaurs, we have to pick up an ax to try to save a little girl but it's all in vain, as a huge tyrannosaurus appears that rips through the walls of the train and causes a derailment.

Gameplay and structure

When our character wakes up, he has a bitter surprise: he is no longer in the world he knows, but in a sort of alternative dimension, a wild and hostile prehistoric land, populated by dinosaurs. He is collected and cared for by a girl who explains to him where he is and what he will have to do to survive, in this case follow his instructions and complete missions as more complex to level up, build weaponry and objects, as well as entire settlements from the social point of view of the clans and with declinations also aimed at PvP. The first impact with this phase, we said, is destabilizing and underlines how the concept of narration is approached in an at least bizarre way by Korean authors, but at the same time it confronts us with the best aspect of Durango: Wild Lands, that is the technical sector.

We have not seen what the game was like at the time of its release in Korea, but the spectacle that appears before our eyes today is certainly remarkable: the characters boast animations very fluid, the general level of detail is excellent, the visual rendering of the water is really good and, in general, there is the distinct feeling of being in front of a high budget production; something that in the mobile field does not happen often, in short. Of course, when moving into the innermost areas of the map the situation inevitably changes due to the repetition of certain assets and the appearance of somewhat generic structures, but it is enough to run into the first dinosaurs to notice how much care the developers have taken in the realization of the graphics and sound.

The latter is characterized by a discreetly epic soundtrack, with a cinematic cut, and by spoken dialogues in English with a sufficient level of acting. It is clearly a pity that theSpanish for the texts, since in the first hours it is a continuous show of information and exchanges that are a bit heavy. However, when you get acquainted with the interface, which is still a bit dispersed, and you start ringing the missions, things get going and you realize the potential of the game, especially if you have a passion for survival experiences. The tasks tend to repeat themselves, but the combat system boasts an unexpected depth and there are dozens and dozens of unlockable skills with which to enrich one's repertoire, in the context of a very substantial progression, which at least in the first hours does not set limits by way of of the format freemium.

Comment

Tested version iPhone (4.0.4) Digital Delivery App Store, Google Play Price Free Resources4Gaming.com

8.0

Readers (1)

Your vote

Durango: Wild Lands is a survival of great depth, which boasts a technical realization of excellent quality (although the graphics may fall into the generic during the exploratory phases), a very multifaceted crafting system and a progression that unravels within a wide and interesting route. The new NEXON production seems to lack nothing, although the narrative incipit leaves a little dumbfounded and the interface continues to be not very immediate even after a few hours, with the many dialogues weighed down also by the lack of a translation in Spanish. Certainly, however, the touch controls turn out to be excellent and the fights hide significant strategic elements: thanks to the many unlockable skills that add maneuvers and possibilities to the repertoire of our character.