This year was stacked with top-tier releases, but amid the fanfare, a vibrant and colorful multiplayer RPG promised the world and delivered none of it. Wayfinder wanted to be the first MMO-lite but struggled to break into the live-service space and critically flopped.
Now, an expansive quality-of-life update could be Wayfinder Echoes‘ light at the end of the tunnel, and according to fans on Reddit, it’s actually worth playing. QoL Update 2 dropped on Sept. 9 alongside Wayfinder Echoes’ full PS5 launch, and at the same time, the game got its first crossover: a cosmetics bundle featuring skins from Matt Mercer’s iconic Dungeons and Dragons series, Critical Role.
The patch adds new multiplayer features and world scaling, refines melee combat, expands player housing, and improves the UI and graphics settings. The Critical Role Supporter Pack costs 20 dollars and comes with four Critical Role character skins, 15 housing items, 10 sprays, and a handful of accessories. You can only buy it outside the game, so it seems developer Airship Syndicate is sticking to its promise that Wayfinder Echoes won’t have microtransactions.
Wayfinder Echoes stumbled to its feet after relaunching as a single-player game earlier this year, and it sounds like this update brings it to full stride. I played 20 hours of Wayfinder in 2023 and found it initially compelling, but utterly shallow and spread too thin, like butter scraped over too much bread. Now, after jumping back in to try Wayfinder Echoes’ new patch this afternoon, I can say for sure it feels like a more polished and complete package. Plus, the PlayWayfinder Reddit community is abuzz with players enjoying the game, discussing builds, and praising the art style.
According to the Sept. 9 Steam post, Wayfinder Echoes 1.0 fully launches for PS5 and Steam on Oct. 25, and Xbox Series X|S and the Epic Games Store a few weeks later. If the developer keeps up the pace and delivers a solid product with its 1.0 launch, Wayfinder Echoes might manage to pull a No Man’s Sky—but we should remain cautiously optimistic until we see it with our own eyes.
