Wildgate is an simple recommendation for multiplayer fans looking for something modern. While matches may move slower than some might think, developer Moonshot Games has expertly crafted a space fantasy built around exploration, ship customization, and epic multi-crew dogfights that are cinematic and tactical in nature. Despite minor balance issues and a reliance on the unpredictable nature of communicating with strangers, winning a tight round of Wildgate is satisfying and memorable.
The action takes place on a procedurally generated map called The Reach. Multiple teams of five players work together to control and upgrade your spaceship, starting with basic amenities and progressing throughout the match. Each team explores various engaging places in space, from science laboratories, through docking stations, to the cavernous interiors of asteroids. While each location’s challenges (and rewards) are randomized, they range from different wave-based combat scenarios to puzzle-based challenges such as activating hidden power switches while managing circumscribed oxygen.
Combat and exploration are enjoyable, whether against AI enemies in the environment or elsewhere against players, thanks to exaggerated animations and easy-to-understand first-person shooter mechanics. After clearing a point of interest, the team receives its rewards: modern ship turrets, hull modifications such as automated safety systems or shield-melting laser rams, and pilot gadgets such as tractor beams or personal turbines that enable faster movement in weightlessness.
Teams must win by outperforming all other ships or escaping with the Artifact. While it’s tempting to be the first team to capture an object, a wiser strategy is often to wait for another crew to take the bait while your crew waits beneath an asteroid storm or nebula to intercept and steal it.
Steering, upgrading, and maintaining your ship requires constant attentiveness throughout the entire match, often requiring attention in between other critical activities. At the center of each ship is a reactor – a key installation that you can activate to repair the hull or for an enemy to bypass it to start a self-destruct timer. Fortunately, players can easily teleport back to their mothership with the press of a button, so attackers must coordinate to properly disorient the enemy crew. When I perform these duties with a familiar team, I often find myself in a state of flow; however, organization often (and frustratingly) falls apart when playing with strangers.
Months after launch, matchmaking queues are slower, but usually pair up crews within minutes. While most players participate silently in the game, enabling the ping system allows for basic communication between parties. However, the system usually cannot keep up with the chaos of fighting with other players. Still, it’s a fantastic feeling when your team manages to overwhelm another team, even if connectivity isn’t optimized.
Progression is tied to unlocking modern Seekers – different characters, each with unique abilities and passive bonuses – and additional equipment, weapons and cosmetics to customize them. Each Seeker is distinguished by style and power: Adrian is a raider with a jetpack instead of the Maghook that other characters utilize to zip around in zero gravity. Venture is a robot well-suited to exploration because it doesn’t need oxygen to breathe, while Sal is an axolotl in an aquarium-style space suit with a buff that encourages a defensive, repair-oriented strategy. Each character helps with a different approach and is rewarding to master, but some, like Adrian, are overplayed, which often leads to an unbalanced party composition.
While the pace of gameplay can be choppy due to procedural map generation and unpredictable player behavior, Wildgate stands out from other PvPvE multiplayer offerings. Working with your teammates to navigate challenging scenarios to find modern equipment and upgrades to your spaceship is excellent, especially when it often results in larger-than-life dogfights in which each person must play a role, resulting in cinematic fights that are often intense.
