Move Over Mirror’s Edge, Welkin Road Hits Early Access
Welkin Road is a dreamy free runner reminiscent of DICE’s Mirror’s Edge, and the game features its own twist as the player uses grappling hooks to soar through open skies. Currently in Early Access, this puzzle platformer ranges from relaxing to keyboard smashing, depending on whether you’re here to run and jump a bit among the clouds or if you’re racing against the clock.
Welkin Road has all the trappings of a runner, with sprinting, crouch jumping, and wall-running, but the game’s centrepiece is a grappling mechanism which is both its best feature and it’s most vexing. There is no story; this is a light parkour platformer that asks you to get from point A to point B, which is always a pillar of light, constantly shimmering in the distance. Welkin Road will continuously challenge you along the way with imaginative uses of the tools the game has provided itself — you won’t just be crouch jumping to get a little more distance, you might also need to crouch jump to fit into a smaller space and keep going. Welkin Road is about momentum, and the most satisfying part about the game is figuring out puzzles on the fly, running and jumping to each in quick succession. I especially enjoyed the unique concept of jumping from floating puzzle to puzzle, and how the jump is often a puzzle itself.
_____________________________
“Welkin Road is about momentum, and the most satisfying part about the game is figuring out puzzles on the fly, running and jumping to each in quick succession.”
Grappling is Welkin Road’s novelty, and the player is provided light up gloves which can shoot out beams of light to grab onto the floating orbs strategically placed around the obstacle course. Different coloured orbs have different attributes, continually making the game more complex. For example, the player can hold onto red orbs for as long as they wish, but can only grapple onto blue orbs for a limited time before it fades out. In addition, yellow orbs speed up your swing, and green orbs mysteriously change something in the level. I can only imagine how much a rainbow combination would test a player’s resolve, but the mixture keeps the gameplay fresh.
It is easy to stop and size up the next puzzle, but Welkin Road can be frustrating as you try over and over, and this brings to mind the infuriatingly fun bonus stages of Super Mario Sunshine. Luckily, this game is very generous with its checkpoints, so feel free to hurl yourself at each puzzle until you succeed. With the ability to stop from floating puzzle to puzzle, you can set your own pace — unless you are racing. At the end of your run, you are given a statistics sheet with your time and a score, which, of course, you can simply ignore if you’re just planning on having fun.
The controls could use some work as the many keys you must hit at the right time sometimes makes for some awkward gameplay on the keyboard, and controller support would be much appreciated. The timing for grappling is very precise, though the game does attempt to alleviate this with the white cursor changing shape when it is the right moment to grab onto the orb. However, this is hard to see against an often white background and this tiny window of time is easy to miss when you’re leaping wildly into the air. Welkin Road features minimalist graphics with a serene pastel colour palette, which may heavily contrast with your mood as you try a puzzle for the umpteenth time. I noticed a few spelling and grammar mistakes in the many tips provided throughout the levels, but the game is still in Early Access and it is not too late to fix the minor errors.
Welkin Road is a simpler game, a restful break from the louder and bigger games out there. It appears to be ideal for speedrunning, and is something to look forward to if you are looking for a challenge for both your mind and your reflexes.
***A PC code was provided by the publisher***
