Wayfinder didn’t always start with pre-created characters, but throughout development, Airship Syndicate decided to switch to pre-made ones, and now we know the reason why.
In a press presentation where MP1st was invited to, Airship Syndicate’s CEO Joe Madureira explained why the team decided to scrap the idea of custom-made characters in favor of the characters they built.
Early on, it was a lot more like a traditional RPG where you had a blank slate character, you choose hairstyle and named them and did whatever. And as we started working on the game, we realized that, you know, one of our strengths as a studio really is creating cool stories and worlds, and characters. And we thought, you know, leaning into each character personality, and backstories would really help flesh out the world and make it more interesting. It’s another vehicle for world-building as well, because each of the Wayfinder has, in some cases preexisting relationships with some of the others. Some get along some don’t. They remember things about the world and places about the world that they’ve been to. So each character really brings a little bit of more lore and backstory of the world to life. And really, like so much about the game is about collection and having another aspect that hopefully, the characters are so cool that players want to engage with them and check out what they’re all about, you know they have completely different playstyles, which we’ll talk about. And it just really got us excited once we started talking about it.
We do want to explore the world more, even outside the game with like supporting lore, whether it’s like short stories, animated shorts, or whatever, I think building a rich world is what we’ve always wanted to do. So it just seems like a natural way to do that is also focus on the character to help tell that story.
Marketing director AJ Lasaracina also added that the characters are all fully voiced acted and how they’re tied to locations in the world, with characters making a mention of those locations in the game.
While it may bum players out that they won’t be able to craft their character, Airship Syndicate demonstrated to us that there are several customizations for players to make characters fell like their own. Changeable armor pieces and sets, color dyeing, weapons and abilities, and more. So while everyone can select a preset character, once they’ve started leveling up and unlocking new gear, you’ll eventually be able to customize that character’s look and even play style.
A decent compromise if we say so ourselves. Hopefully players will feel it has enough to offer.
Wayfinder is currently available to play in beta on the PS5 and PC. Early access is planned for PS4, PS5, and PC in May, with the title coming to more platforms once it has fully launched out of early access.
More Wayfinder Reading: