We've just wrapped up our Wetlands Playtest for Rewilders, and we are once again amazed by the energy and support from our community.
After the great response to the Grasslands Playtest, we were excited (and a bit nervous) to open a second round. This time we focused on a new biome with deeper mechanics and more progression systems in place. The response was overwhelming. Not only did hundreds of players join us again, but the level of detail in your feedback exceeded our expectations.
Every comment, every rating and every piece of advice has been reviewed, discussed and is being turned into clear actions for the team.
General Sentiment
Overall enjoyment scores were even higher than in the previous playtest.
The Wetlands Playtest confirmed what we hoped: Rewilders is starting to connect with players in the right way. Every response helps us improve, but the numbers speak clearly:
100% of players would keep playing
Visual style: 4.9 / 5
Exploration, combat feel, Hântu usage and overall experience showed strong improvements
This biome brought more clarity to what Rewilders can become, and the feedback makes it clear: you're connecting with the identity of the game. The atmosphere, the mix of calm exploration and intense combat, and the creature companions are all emerging as key pillars of the experience.
Questions & Comments We Heard Often
What’s new in Wetlands?
The Wetlands biome introduced a major visual change, a new enemy, a wider range of Hântu (creatures), and a much more complex play session with more opportunities to test strategies and synergy.
We also unlocked combat abilities that were previously unavailable. This helped us gather feedback on attacks like the sprint attack and jump strikes.
Will the game offer clearer objectives and onboarding?
Many of you noted that key mechanics like Hântu abilities, healing, or blowdart use weren’t clearly explained. That’s completely fair, and expected at this stage.
This was a raw playtest, not a demo or final gameplay experience. We intentionally skipped a full onboarding to quickly gather focused feedback on core mechanics and systems.
That said, future demos will include a proper introduction to the core features, with an onboarding system that teaches organically without interrupting the flow.
Will Hântu be balanced?
Some Hântu felt extremely powerful. Your feedback there is very valuable. We're already adjusting their, strengths and cooldowns based on this test.
We’re also working on better progression and UI feedback so it’s easier to understand what each creature does and how it contributes to your build.
What We’re Improving Next
Tutorialization
The most frequent comment we received was about discoverability. Too many players missed out on features that were already available.
This is our #1 priority now: helping players learn the game’s systems at their own pace, without information overload or forced pauses.
Combat Balance & Feel
Many players noted improvements in combat compared to Grasslands: smoother, more readable and with more satisfying impact. Still, there’s work to do.
We’re increasing responsiveness, improving dodge and parry feedback, and tuning enemy behavior when there are multiple threats on screen. We’re also iterating visual effects to make the action easier to read.
Movement and Camera
Wetlands introduced verticality and more complex level design, and this made some movement limitations more obvious. We're working on tighter control feel, better acceleration and more intuitive camera behavior, especially when jumping or dodging in confined areas.
We’re once again incredibly grateful for your trust, your time, and your patience. The responses we received from this playtest are helping us make Rewilders more polished, more intuitive and more engaging without losing the identity that makes it special.
The next playtest will include more improvements, plus a whole new biome and more Hântu. If you joined this round, thank you. If not, you can still request access and will be notified as soon as it's live again.
We'll keep you posted with development updates. Your feedback is shaping this world biome by biome, and we can’t wait to show you what’s next.
- The Herobeat Studios team