We've wrapped up our Grasslands Playtest for Rewilders, and it has been an amazing week for the team.
When we opened the registrations, we expected a small and focused group. Instead, we received far more applications than we ever imagined. Your enthusiasm pushed us to increase the number of participants so more people could join the adventure. We also added a short survey inside the game menu to gather structured feedback about combat, game feel, clarity and visuals.
Thanks to all of you, we now have hundreds of detailed responses that are already helping us refine the game. We cannot thank you enough for the time, curiosity and patience you invested in testing this early version of Rewilders.
Overall enjoyment scores were very positive, and a lot of comments stressed that the world, the atmosphere and the concept felt fresh and full of potential.
We also saw that a large number of players discovered the game through the art style and stayed because of the mix between the cozy presentation and the more demanding gameplay structure. This gives us confidence that we are moving in the right direction.
During the playtest, many of you shared questions or requests that appeared often. Here are some of the most repeated topics and what we can say about them:
Yes, traversal will grow as the game progresses. The Grasslands is only the first biome, so there are not many places yet where you can take full advantage of the movement tools. As we add more biomes and expand the level design, you will be able to use and combine the glider, the hookshot and the wallrun, along with other tools we have not shown yet.
We plan to improve the early moments of the game, especially the first boss encounter and the introduction to core mechanics like parrying. You can expect clearer guidance and a smoother start.
We will keep expanding the number of creatures so players can experiment with more synergies and see how each one becomes especially useful against specific enemy types. New creatures and new enemy variations will be introduced in the upcoming playtests, giving you more ways to build your own playstyle.
This early build was focused mainly on combat, but the final game will offer much more to discover. The Grasslands is only the first biome and is intentionally simple, but future versions will introduce more variety, optional routes and areas with their own identity.
Besides the Springs, upcoming builds will include special events that you can access through exploration. Moving around the world will not only open combat arenas, it will also lead you to useful elements for character progression and to optional content for players who enjoy collecting and uncovering secrets.
Your feedback highlighted several areas where we can deliver a better and smoother experience. These will be our main focus over the next weeks:
This has been the most common request. Many of you mentioned that combat felt slow, heavy or unresponsive at certain moments. We are already working on faster attacks, reducing the anticipation and recovery frames of the animations, more readable telegraphs, bigger combo windows and more fluid dodging. We are also reviewing visual effects, impact feedback and other small details that affect the overall smoothness of the experience.
Part of this feeling also comes from the fact that this build did not include some of the most interesting attacks and combos. Moves like the spring attack, the jump attack or the charged spin attack were not available because the skill tree was locked for this playtest. Once these abilities are unlocked in future builds, combat flow will feel faster, more dynamic and more complete.
We are reworking the general feel of movement. This includes increasing the base walking and running speed, improving acceleration and turning, and making transitions smoother. We are also adjusting camera behavior to reduce sudden shifts and to follow the character more naturally.
Some players experienced discomfort with the camera tilt while gliding. We will adjust camera transitions and reduce unnecessary movement during traversal. The goal is to make movement feel agile and responsive right from the start, even before unlocking traversal abilities, avoiding any kind of motion sickness.
We plan to improve the default layout for keyboard and mouse, since some inputs and finger combinations were not comfortable for some testers. We are reviewing how actions are assigned so everything feels more natural from the start. We will keep refining the control scheme to make it more intuitive for as many players as possible.
We are deeply grateful for the support, the thoughtful responses and the real excitement you showed for this project. Your feedback is helping us shape Rewilders into a richer, smoother and more enjoyable experience. This playtest was an important milestone for us, and it would not have been possible without your help.
We also want to share that a new playtest is coming soon. It will include many of the fixes and improvements mentioned in this summary, along with more content to explore and more abilities to try out. If you requested access but were not approved this time, please do not worry. Your chance is coming. We will be inviting a larger group of players for the next round so more of you can join, test the new features and see how the game is evolving.
We will keep sharing updates as development continues.
Thank you again for joining us on this journey, and see you soon in the next biome.
-Herobeat Studios' team