Space-faring ship warfare with friends is a great hook for a game. Even since videogames have been a thing, people have wanted to fly around outside of our Earthly orbit and take fiery, laser-powered shots at one another. What’s surprising is that it hasn’t been done on the carefully crafted scale that Wildgate does it at. Five ships with 1-4 person crews all spawn into a battlefield filled with hazards, loot-filled PvE opportunities, challenges, and a game-winning artifact to capture. Pilot, protect, and power up your ship’s arsenal all whilst the constant threat of opposing ships sits somewhere within the nearby space you occupy as they all try and reach the same goal: capture the artifact or take out all other ships to win the match. Wildgate, at its core, is a fun & super engaging team-based extraction shooter that facilitates some really epic moments with your buddies, but comes with a pretty steep learning curve to achieve success. After 7 hours in the skies around the Wildgate with various crews, I can say that I did come around to understanding and appreciating the mission Moonshot Games had with Wildgate, but there are some areas where I wish they’d tweak some decisions to better the gameplay experience for all skill levels.
