Wakfu Asia review: what an Asian thinks of a non-Asian MMORPG

Wakfu is a game made by a French company. And so as an MMORPG it’s very different from what we Asian gamers are used to. Although it has a fun and casual East meets West art style, it uses grid and turn-based combat, and is generally more slow paced and less bloodthirsty compared to the typical MMORPGs we cut our teeth on. But as an Asian gamer, I like it! Here’s why.

The World of Twelve

Wakfu is a continuation of Ankama’s older tactical MMORPG, Dofus. It’s a full expansion on the previous game, bringing gamers deeper into the universe known as the ‘World of Twelve’. The World of Twelve is a series of islands and archipelagos, and is home to four different nations as well as a dark force known as Ogrest.

Ogrest is pretty much the final boss, and the end-game content of Wakfu. However it remains to be seen whether players actually get there or not, since there are so many other things clamouring for their attention along the way.

Wakfu’s World of Twelve goes well beyond a typical MMORPG’s level of immersion and offers sixteen professions to sink your time in, on top of the average quests you can do for the citizens of each faction. Unlike other MMORPGs, you can take up all sixteen professions in Wakfu. The professions are split into two categories: gathering and crafting, and can be learned by talking to select NPCs.

Caring for the environment.

With Wakfu, you also have to take note of your environment on top of questing and crafting. This is nothing as simple as understanding how different weather patterns affect movement and combat. Wakfu pushes the concept of environmental friendliness right in your face.

Each non-quest-only mob you slay in Wakfu does not automatically respawn. If there’s a special boss mob that is an integral part to a particular quest, it’s safe. But if it’s a random bird that you may or may not have to kill for a sidequest, it doesn’t respawn. In theory, players can very well hunt all the mobs in the world to extinction, though I’m sure there are preventive measures put in place by the Ankama team.

In order to keep populations up, players have to plant seeds harvested from creatures they need more of. The harvest can be done even while the mob is still living. As incentive, the maintenance of a certain level of mobs (and plants and crops) in an area activates an area-wide buff for all players.