I was a bit skeptical when diving into Eldegarde because of how it was sold to me—being described as World of Warcraft meets ARC Raiders. It was a questionable proposal since I scarcely have time for World of Warcraft these days, and scarcely have interest in ARC Raiders. I kid, of course, I know quite a lot of people enjoy ARC Raiders, but personally, I’m not a huge fan of games where the player has to make the majority of the fun.
I had hoped that Eldegarde’s conceit of an MMORPG-styled Extraction Game would bridge the gap and pull me towards it, but unfortunately, it did not—falling prey to my aforementioned issue. It has some interesting ideas, but not enough gameplay to sustain a whole game—or at least my attention for a long time.
As far as I could tell, there is not much of a traditional story in Eldegarde, at least not in the form of a straightforward narrative, which makes sense for a game of this type. If the goal is to drop players into a world and let them start having adventures immediately, those experiences become the stories players later share with one another.
In theory, this approach works reasonably well. A basic quest system, combined with the visual design of Eldegarde’s five distinct zones, provides light touches of in-game worldbuilding. Interestingly, I did not initially notice the absence of a more deliberate narrative structure. The longer I played, the less it mattered. That is not meant as a criticism. Without a story demanding attention, I was free to focus entirely on gameplay.
Gameplay is easily Eldegarde’s strongest feature. Players create a House, choose a character class, ranging from familiar RPG archetypes such as Warrior, Ranger, Rogue and Wizard, and then enter a zone to battle enemies and collect loot. Each run is governed by a time limit, and players must reach an extraction point carrying as much loot as possible before death intervenes, either through enemy encounters or clashes with other players.
And that’s about all there is to it. At first, it was kind of fun reliving those classic days of MMORPGs—reminding me a lot more of Guild Wars than World of Warcraft—but after a few hours, my interest began to wane, and I was desperately looking for a game with more of a point. My fundamental issue with Eldegarde comes from the fact that its two gameplay inspirations don’t really gel.
To start, characters don’t really have much depth. Naturally, I chose a Rogue—since there was no option for a Warlock—and was presented with a character with four basic abilities: a stealth move, poison stab, a grappling hook attack and a big running slash. Fighting any enemy lacked any kind of depth, since attacking is active and just getting into a good slash rhythm while popping special abilities could easily handle small mobs, especially since attacks interrupt enemies.
“Eldegarde isn’t terrible, but it definitely could be something better if it leaned more into either one of its inspirations.”
However, since this is an Extraction-style game, players only gain experience once they leave the battle zone, which can make progress feel unbearably slow. It lacks the good sense of grinding and progress that usually comes with RPGs, especially MMORPGs. And it’s not like levelling up is particularly rewarding either, since the Skill Tree isn’t all that deep. Its all the slog of grinding in an RPG without the incremental reward to make it satisfying.
Not only that, but getting loot isn’t all that rewarding either, since other players can swoop in and steal it before you have a chance to gather anything. Also, it does that terrible thing Diablo 3 did, where armour and weapon drops aren’t class specific, so you’re constantly picking up stuff you can’t use, for the sake of bringing it to the shop so you can sell it for a pittance of gold so you can maybe buy some Common gear that’s a bit better than what you have.
Standard shops also rotate their inventory in a manner similar to live service games, meaning players cannot reliably count on finding the items they need. While there is a system for unlocking crafting, much of it is tied to collecting materials and engaging with otherwise lacklustre gameplay, which makes it feel like a weak alternative rather than a meaningful solution. There is some enjoyment to be found in Eldegarde, but it often resembles the passive satisfaction of spending long hours grinding crafting materials without much to elevate the experience beyond the basics.
From a technical standpoint, Eldegarde can also be unpredictable. The game can feel unstable at times, with movement and attack animations occasionally becoming stuck or enemies clipping into the environment. Because it is always online, lag spikes can interfere with the timing of attacks from both enemies and other players, further impacting consistency.
The inclusion of a premium currency and in-game store is also difficult to justify. For a title developed by a small studio to charge $24.99 upfront, then layer a premium currency system for special gear on top of that, feels excessive. The approach creates an imbalance between price and value, undermining the overall experience.
Visually, Eldegarde is fine. It’s not wholly unique, but it does evoke that kind of classic early-2000s RPG. It’s got some fun enemies and a few pretty decent locations—kind of like condensed versions of sprawling open-world maps. Audio isn’t too much to write home about, kind of like a generic fantasy RPG score, but it suits the atmosphere of the game pretty well.
Eldegarde isn’t terrible, but it definitely could be something better if it leaned more into either one of its inspirations. If it modelled its HUD or actually played like a proper recreation of World of Warcraft, it might’ve been a little more interesting. But as it stands, it’s a bog-standard Extraction game held up by one unique conceit, and one is not enough.
