Vilde review

From Gunfire Reborn, Roboquest, Immortal Redneck, to Deadlink, there’s no shortage of roguelike first-person shooters in 2025. And almost any of them are better than Chaotic Minds Studio’s Vilde, which struggles with delivering the fundamentals of the genre.

One of the game’s preliminary disillusionments is just it getting it to run. On two different desktop systems, no amount of fiddling could help bypass a back screen when loading Vilde up. And while it boots up on Steam Deck, lowering every single graphical setting still can’t deliver a framerate average about thirty frames-per-second. That kind of choppiness might be forgivable if Vilde was a visual powerhouse. But the game’s environments, draw distances, and detail are on par with Gunfire Reborn, which manages a fluid 60FPS delivery.

A Good-Looking Disaster

Once you are able to get Vilde running on a robust enough rig, the game’s different milieus do have potential, with a woodsy biome adorned by crumbling ramparts and waterfalls. There’s a requisite winter level, of course, where mounds of snow loiter on tall walls of stacked stone. Meanwhile, each run starts on the deck of a pirate ship, where a destitute skeleton is ready to calculate your DPS output.

Sure, the game’s Norse fantasy-aesthetic is carved into odd corners of the game’s ecosystem and in the modeling of the game’s weaponry. But all often, Vilde feels built from a generic asset pool. And that’s coming from someone who appreciates the stylized, vibrant, and cartoony look of games like Fortnite.

Little Gratification from Gunplay

But aside from the look of the game, nearly every other element of Vilde makes the experience feel like a dodgy Early Access release. You’re locked you into a procession of small areas as you make your way through each run, which is common for the genre. But between the feebleness of your firepower and the tendency for air- and ground-based enemies to pursue you robotically, gunfights aren’t engaging. Periodically, you’ll be able to pick up new weapons. Yet, even in the rather constricted arenas, melee weapons aren’t enjoyable or even efficient to use.

Vilde’s tedious early moments could be forgivable if the game provided you with an improved arsenal and ass-kicking abilities. But there’s the deal-breaker: most new weapons are insignificant variations on a basic set of 24 offensive tools. Imagine grabbing an ice-gun thinking that you’ll freeze-stun foes but realizing it’s just a machine gun that does like more than fire blue bullet. Undoubtedly, some guns are better than others and a hard-hitting rocket launch was one of the better ways to punch through enemies. But even that device wasn’t enough to rescue Vilde from succumbing to tedium. From adversaries who tossed AOE attacks behind me to alt-fire modes with little impact, Vilde becomes a chore after only a few runs.

Godspeed, You Halfhearted Hero

Likewise, the new abilities that your character can earn are less that powerful. Sure, you can summon lightning, meteors and a delayed explosion on a marked enemy, yet each attack felt frustratingly feeble. Sporadically, there’s not enough feedback to even know that a perk is working. That happened when one rune promised to damage enemies when standing still. When stationary, I did not see any effect.

There’s also scant synergy between these perks and your guns with even an augmented rocket launcher taking several hits to down a demon. Sure, Vilde attempts to provide a few nuances like crafting with dew dropped by defeated enemies and side-quests, like not killing anything for 20 seconds. But these systems aren’t seasoned enough to provide the feeling of cultivating a powerhouse.

A Mythic Misfire

Finally, there are quite a few bugs that afflict Vilde. From transitory hiccups when you’re reloading to full-on freezes that can ruin your momentum, the game rarely runs smoothly. Occasionally, area gates close too early, letting you gun down trapped opponents without any fear of reprisal. At other times, groups of enemies will surround you, prohibiting the use of a jump or dash to escape and likely leading to a game over. Given these problems, Vilde isn’t just rough around the edges. It’s a roguelike FPS that feels unfinished, uninspired, and ultimately unworthy of your time.

Vilde was played on PC with review code provided by the publisher.