Spending time with No Rest for the Wicked on PC feels a bit like arriving halfway through a storm. You can tell something heavy has already happened, something worse might still be coming, and nobody you meet is entirely convinced things will end well.
First Impressions on PC: Weight Comes Before Speed
The first thing that hits you isnβt the combat or the difficulty β itβs the weight. Movement has heft. Attacks commit you fully. Stamina drains faster than you expect, and recovers slower than you want. If you come in expecting something fast or flashy, the game pushes back almost immediately.
On PC, this weight translates well, especially with a controller. Keyboard and mouse are perfectly usable, but thereβs no hiding the fact that analogue movement suits the game better. Positioning matters constantly, and small adjustments can mean the difference between scraping through a fight or eating the floor.
What surprised me early on is how readable combat feels despite the isometric view. Enemies telegraph clearly. You can usually tell why you died, even if you donβt like the answer. Itβs rarely cheap β more often itβs you being greedy, impatient, or simply tired.
Combat Isnβt Here to Impress You
Thereβs nothing showy about the combat system, and that feels deliberate. Attacks donβt come with exaggerated effects or over-the-top animations. Instead, combat is blunt, practical, and often uncomfortable.
Fighting one enemy can feel tense. Fighting two can feel risky. Fighting three without a plan usually feels like a mistake.
No Rest for the Wicked does something a lot of action RPGs avoid: it teaches you to slow down. You donβt rush rooms. You donβt mash through encounters. You start paying attention to doorways, corners, elevation, and stamina in a way most games quietly train you not to.
Backing off matters here. Retreating isnβt failure β itβs often the correct call.
Builds Feel Organic, Not Locked In
Character building in Early Access is refreshingly flexible. There are no rigid classes locking you into a role. Instead, your build emerges naturally through equipment choices and stat investment.
You experiment early without really thinking about it. A weapon drops and you try it. Stamina becomes a priority because you keep running out. Armour choices shift because survivability suddenly matters more than damage.
It doesnβt feel like youβre chasing an optimal build yet, and thatβs a good thing. For now, the system rewards curiosity more than efficiency.
A World That Feels Hostile, Not Grand
The world of No Rest for the Wicked isnβt built to impress you with scale. Itβs built to make you uncomfortable. The painterly art style gives environments a worn, decaying quality, and towns feel strained rather than safe.
On PC, the game looks sharp without demanding extreme hardware. Itβs not photorealistic, but lighting, animation, and colour do enough to sell the mood. Exploration is slow, cautious, and often tense.
The game doesnβt explain itself much, and it doesnβt rush to make you feel clever either. You learn by failing, watching, and paying attention.
Co-Op: A New Layer, Not a Safety Net
The latest update to No Rest for the Wicked introduces co-op, and is easily the biggest shift so far, and it changes the feel of the game in subtle but important ways.
Playing with a friend doesnβt make the world suddenly feel safe. Enemies still hit hard. Resources still matter. Death still happens quickly. What co-op really changes is the emotional pressure.
Solo, the game feels oppressive. In co-op, it feels tense but shared.
Combat becomes more about coordination than perfection. One player pulls attention while the other recovers. Mistakes donβt immediately end runs, but they still cost you. Communication matters.
Crucially, co-op doesnβt undermine the gameβs identity. It doesnβt turn encounters into power fantasies. It just gives you another way to survive them.
Co-Op Still Feels Like Itβs Settling In
This is still Early Access, and co-op feels like a system finding its rhythm. Balance is clearly being tuned. Some encounters feel better solo, others open up when tackled together.
Progression remains largely individual, which avoids one player carrying the entire experience, but it also means co-op feels more like shared sessions than shared ownership of the world.
For now, that feels like the right call.
Systems That Hint at Something Bigger
Beyond combat, No Rest for the Wicked is quietly building a deeper RPG foundation. Crafting, gear upgrades, resource management, and housing all feed into a sense of long-term investment.
These systems arenβt fully realised yet, but they already feel purposeful. Equipment matters. Resources feel scarce enough to care about. Downtime between runs feels intentional rather than filler.
On PC, clean menus and responsive navigation make managing these systems far less frustrating than they could have been.
Performance and Feel on PC Right Now
Performance on PC is mostly solid. Frame pacing is generally stable, load times are reasonable, and crashes are rare, though optimisation is clearly ongoing.
Higher-end systems have the smoothest experience, while mid-range PCs may need to tweak settings. Nothing feels broken, but it does feel unfinished β which is expected at this stage.
Where This Leaves No Rest for the Wicked
The strongest impression after spending time with No Rest for the Wicked in Early Access is confidence. This is a game that knows the mood it wants, the pace it wants, and the audience itβs aiming for.
It isnβt finished. Some systems need work. Co-op is new and evolving. But the foundation is solid, and the direction feels clear.
If you enjoy watching a game take shape and donβt mind rough edges, thereβs already something compelling here. And with co-op now in the mix, itβs no longer an experience you have to face entirely alone β even if the world still wants you to feel like youβre barely surviving.
https://youtu.be/RmTU-DbFOd4
Read more awesome previews >>here<<.
The game was provided to us for the express purpose of reviewing.
The review was written by me and edited by my partner.
