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Wildgateis a unique online multiplayer space race experience that sends you anda team of Prospectors on intergalactic adventuresto recover artifacts while facing off against enemy teams. The game contains numerous dynamic features that can take some practice to get the hang of.
Knowing where to start inWildgatecan be a challenge in itself as the game essentially throws you right into the fray, but once you gain an understanding of how everything works, you’ll find yourself shaping into a bona fide space pirate in no time.
How to Get Started in Wildgate
When you first boot upWildgate, you’ll want to get yourself familiar with the game’s various systems, in terms of equipment loadouts, character customization, theroster of playable Prospectors, and its different modes. In fact, before you do anything else, you’ll want to try out the game’s tutorial, which you can find by going to the Game Mode menu (above the ‘Play’ button in the bottom right corner).
The tutorial will walk you through all the fundamentals of aWildgatematch, from how to use your ship’s different features to destroying and boarding enemy ships, mining asteroids, recovering Artifacts, and making it into Wildgate portals to secure a victory. This will give you an idea of what to expect when you’re ready todive into multiplayer matches.However, there are still plenty of other gameplay aspects you’ll want to be aware of ahead of time.
Beginner Tips for Wildgate
Level Up Your Prospectors
First and foremost, progressing inWildgateinvolves leveling each individual Prospector character in the game.They each have their own storylinedivided into two chapters. For example, Venture’s story is titled ‘Adventure: Wonder’, and starts with Chapter 1 - Explorer. Meanwhile, Chapter 2 is called ‘Curious.’
As you complete matches with Venture as your chosen Prospector, you’ll earn XP towards not only various equipment and customization unlocks, but also his overall storyline. Likewise, you can do the same with the game’s other Prospectors, and this method of progression encourages players to try out each character thoroughly.
Complete Your Daily Missions
Similar to other online FPS multiplayer games with experience-led progression systems,Wildgatefeatures a list of Daily Missions you can complete every 24 hours to earn a considerable amount of bonus XP toward any chosen Prospector.
These missions revolve around universal tasks done during matches, such as restoring ship parts, destroying and outliving enemy ships, and overloading the reactor on an enemy ship if you’re feeling gutsy. Make sure to check these missions each day and complete as many as you can.
Explore Different Match Roles
The tutorial covers this relatively well, but as you go into online matches, you’ll notice that there are all manner of things to do besides shooting enemy space pirates. you may venture out to explore the map and discover important locations as well as enemy ships hidden in the distance. You can raid abandoned ships and other locations for loot and artifacts, while also, of course, boarding active enemy ships and doing your best to sabotage their operations.
However, if you prefer to stay close to home, you can focus on piloting and/or maintaining your ship and its defenses when enemy ships attack. Any and all of these tasks reward various amounts of XP, so you don’t have to worry about falling too low on the contribution totem pole. While it’s optimal to get comfortable with at least a few of these different tasks, if there’s a certain role you’d prefer to stick to, that’s fine as well.
Flexible Chat Options
WhileWildgateis first and foremost an online multiplayer experience, the game still provides a hearty amount of chat customization options that you can adjust according to your level of social comfort. You can adjust your chat settings by going to the Options menu and then to both the ‘Audio’ and ‘Social’ tabs.
For example, you can opt to disable voice and text chat outright if you’d prefer to keep things more muted during gameplay. It may seem like this would do nothing more than cripple your ability to communicate with your teammates properly, but the game still includes other features like location pings and in-game messages related to various tasks that help share key information (e.g., “The ship needs more fuel”).
Use the Firing Range to Test Weapons
The Firing Range mode inWildgateis probably one of its most dynamic features, and one that you should definitely try at least once while getting used to the game. Rather than just having you walk up to a counter to shoot some simple targets with a handful of weapons, this Firing Range presents you with all possible means of firepower in the game on a silver platter.
When you first enter the Firing Range, hop out of the ship on the right side to find the platform full of various items (your HUD will ping them with green arrows so you may’t miss them). These items include resources you can deposit into your ship, such as Afterburner Fuel, Ice to make Coolant for your ship’s reactor, and Ammo for your ship’s turrets.
Further in, you can find all types of unique turret weapons that you can further customize your ship with during a match. There are also handheld weapons to try, if you’re looking to be more of a raider or boarder on enemy ships.
The Firing Range allows you to test every type of possible weapon there is in the game before you dive into actual matches, so that you’re familiar with as many types as possible, as your loadout often depends on what loot you can find in each match.
PvP Combat Can Feel a Bit Unforgiving
The PvP combat inWildgateis pretty simple in nature, but can still take some practice to get the hang of. If you get ambushed and killed by an enemy on your team’s ship, it’ll take a little over 10 seconds to respawn. When you do, be aware that there’s no invincibility cooldown like in other games that usually allow you a brief moment to re-engage during combat safely.
That isn’t the case here, unfortunately, and you’ll need to be vigilant the moment you respawn to avoid getting killed in quick succession. Given the very close quarters you have to fight around inside your ship, the lack of an invincibility cooldown does make some sense. However, it also means that PvP combat is more of a learning curve in this game, so make the most of each respawn and also consider the weapons you’re using. The more powerful they are, the more likely you are to stay alive.
