Wayward

Wayward
Beta Project
Developer	Vaughn "Drathy" Royko (drathy@gmail.com)
Theme	Wilderness Survival, Fantasy
Influences	Ultima Online, POWDER, Dwarf Fortress, Minecraft
Released	December 22nd, 2011 (Alpha 1.0)
Updated	December 14th, 2024 (Beta 2.14.0)
Licensing	Commercial
P. Language	HTML5, JavaScript, TypeScript, WebGL
Platforms	Windows, Linux, Mac OS X
Interface	Keyboard, Mouse
Game Length	35+ Hours
Official site of Wayward

Wayward is a challenging turn-based, top-down, wilderness survival roguelike.

In Wayward, there is a large focus on simulation, exploration, and discovery. There are no classes; there are no levels. Progression of your character depends on individual skill and stat gains by your interactions with items or objects in the world. You are free to play and explore the game in any fashion you wish.

Wayward is a traditional roguelike, meaning it has random environment generation, (optional) permadeath, turn-based gameplay, grid-based movement, complexity, non-modal interactions, resource/inventory management, and more. As such, Wayward is similar to games like UnReal World, Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, or Dwarf Fortress.

Some of Wayward's key features include:

• Sandbox survival game mechanics mixed with roguelike gameplay.
• Over 750 items to craft, discover and interact with.
• Deep, multi-faceted skill system with over 30 skills.
• More than 60 creatures and animals to combat, harvest, or tame.
• Iterative game design and community feedback driven with transparent development.
• Online multiplayer with optional PVP mode.
• 35+ hours of content and gameplay before reaching the "end-game" with supplemental content requiring hundreds of hours.
• Infinite procedural generation with five island types featuring unique content for each biome.
• Optional permadeath (hardcore), or respawning (casual) modes.
• More than 40 milestones to unlock that provide unique gameplay modifiers.
• Ability to rollback to previous versions or play the latest development build of the game before public release via Steam.
• Choose from the following game modes: hardcore, casual, challenge, or custom.
• Day and night system with temperature effects.
• Character customization.
• Dynamic reputation and difficulty system.
• Play in turn-based (default), simulated turn-based (multiplayer only), or real-time modes.
• Modding and Steam Workshop support with extensive development tools.
• 18 custom music tracks.

Multiplayer Information

Multiplayer in Wayward is enabled for up to 32 players. Multiplayer works in a simulated turn-based mode where each turn happens on a fixed interval as long as players are performing actions or in a real-time mode where each turn happens on a fixed interval regardless of player action. When playing in hardcore mode (or with permadeath enabled), after dying, you will continue to play in ghost form, allowing you to spectate but not interact normally. Multiplayer also allows for a special PVP flag to be set to allow players to hurt and kill other players. Multiplayer options can be set in the "Multiplayer" menu via the pause menu accessed with escape by default. Additionally, modes and tick time (turn intervals) can be changed via the "Modes" menu.

Creature spawn rates, creature difficulty, and reputation are all based on how many connected players there are and will scale and average based on each individual player.

History

Wayward began as a hobby project designed to explore HTML5 and create a roguelike game with survival elements. From its inception, the development process has been highly transparent, with regular iterations based on feedback from alpha and beta releases. Development on Wayward has spanned over many years, though progress has always been part-time. Often referred to as a "slow-cooked" game, work on Wayward is expected to continue indefinitely.

Initially launched as a browser-based game, Wayward has since evolved into a more robust experience, now available as a desktop client. The original vision for the game remains intact, but there has been a shift toward delivering a more traditional gaming experience through platforms like Steam, including support for Steam Workshop and modding. While the project began as a solo endeavor, helpers, friends, and contributors have significantly impacted its growth. Today, the Wayward team has expanded to include four members.

Early Access FAQ

Why Early Access?

Wayward is still a beta product. During this phase, many things still need to be improved, expanded upon and tweaked. There's tons of content and ideas yet left to explore. Early Access for Wayward means giving the players an early look into Wayward and providing a vessel for those players to help us shape the future of Wayward.

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

Wayward will be in beta, or "Early Access" indefinitely, until, we as the developers, and you as the players feel like this is a polished, fully featured release, suitable for a non-beta status. There's no set time frame for this; however, even after the eventual release, there's no plans on stopping development for Wayward. We have been developing Wayward for years now and will continue to do so.

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version? The game will not differ in large ways from the last Early Access version to the full release version. You will continue to see improvements in every aspect of the game through our iterative design and development process during Early Access, all the way up until we feel like it is ready to ship as a fully, finalized gaming experience.

We are transparent about our goals, ideas and planned changes. We will routinely post updates to discuss with the community.

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

Wayward is a content-rich experience, even in its early state. It's a fully playable game filled with many hours of gameplay. As a disclaimer, we would generally state that Wayward is Early Access and is a beta product. You may experience bugs, unpolished system/mechanics and unbalanced gameplay. Early Access will allow Wayward to refine and fix these issues as we become aware of them.

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

At this point, we are unsure if the non-Early Access release will increase in price, but we are not ruling it out. As we provide a better game, more content, and more features, a price change may be warranted. The price increase, if in fact it does happen, will most likely be a small increase to signify a jump from our beta game to a near-finalized product, and as a reward to all the early customers.

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

Ever since the early alpha versions of Wayward, the community and player feedback has shaped Wayward into the game it is today. This will not change at all going forward on Steam with the project.

Team

Vaughn "Drathy" Royko Programming, Design, Web, and PR

Gary "Spacetech" Wilber Programming

Chiri Vulpes Programming and UX

Dusty "Goaticide" Melling Art and Design

Austin Dhillon Music

Contributors

Frank "Sassafrass" Sasto Programming

Special Thanks

• Richard "Orillian" Hobson
• Vlad "vlsd" Seghete
• Unstoppable Carl Olsen
• Justin "boxofrox" Charette
• Frank Orechio
• Drachlen
• Joshua "jday" Day
• Oddmund "oddmunds" Strømme

External Links

• Steam
• Website
• Developer Website
• Discord
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Bluesky
• Facebook
• Mastodon
• Reddit
• Todo