2021's best RPG improves a key feature alongside fixing 'wonky barber jobs'

Wildermyth was one of last year's most welcome surprises, a tactical RPG that interwove crafted and procedural narrative to at times incredible effect. It's a wonderful story generator, basically, and it scooped up our RPG of the year award for getting as close to the feel of a tabletop RPG as games have managed to get.

The game has received a new patch, named in Wildermyth style as the Mara Mallard patch, and a roadmap to go alongside it. The latter is not as exciting as it sounds (if in fact you find the idea of roadmaps exciting), with the developers mainly talking about how 2022 will eventually see DLC, more events, and things like a soundtrack release.

It also says that, as long as there's the demand, they'll do more merch and possibly DLC in 2023.

As for Mara Mallard, it first of all brings the game to GOG. As for the game itself, it's made improvements to the legacy browser (where you sift through heroes), allowing players to filter by legacy tier, class and playability. There's also a hero list that lets you more easily see what past versions of your legacy heroes have looked like, "and for those of you tired of seeing your heroes in their 80's and 90's, there's now an age customization option."

The patch also adds one new event, rewrites three existing ones, and updates hairstyles to fit all heads as apparently people were seeing some "wonky barber jobs."

Improved controller functionality
New sfx for certain abilities
Added option to hide in-game console
Overlapping ability buttons look better
Moved star in gear upgrades to top left
Crag Eagle roll difficulty adjusted
Controller navigation now wraps on in-game menus
All hairs should appear properly on all heads now
Added custom Dreamloom map
Fix a bug with Pulling Threads skipping in multiplayer
Fix a bug with legacy file saving in multiplayer
(earning achievements, legacy heroes, completing tutorial)
Fix a bug with premature comic skips in multiplayer
Fix a bug where base monster calamities could never be removed
Fix a bug where lower tier calamities removed before higher ones
Fix a bug where calamity cards could jitter up and down at lwo fps
Fix a bug with stone stunt pin range on multi-tile enemies
Fix a bug where Needed Elsewhere choice didn't recruit a hero
Fix a bug with incorrect station job names
Fix a bug where acid damage was reduced by walling
Fix a bug with the Low Road missing escape regions
Fix a bug where Harvest kills wouldn't proc vfx
Fix a bug where shooting star feedback was incorrect
Fix a rare bug where the gear dialogue wouldn't show up
Fix a crash from movement prediction
Fix a bug with Silver and Shadows pet targeting
Fix some typos
Tools: Theme skin data now stored in aspects, for modding support
(no longer hooked up directly to themes)

Wildermyth is currently 25% off to celebrate the GOG launch, and has the same discount on Steam, where it sits on overwhelmingly positive reviews.

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."