The Waylanders: Spain's subsidized RPG flops hard on Metacritic

The Waylanders: the subsidized RPG that crashes on Metacritic

The Spanish video game The Waylanders, funded through Kickstarter and backed by the Xunta de Galicia (Galicia's regional government), has suffered a critical and commercial failure that places it among the worst titles of the year according to Metacritic. The studio behind it, GATO Studio, had already left backers of its previous project, AR-K The Great Escape, hanging, according to circulating complaints. The promise of a classic RPG in the style of Dragon Age: Origins has become a textbook example of how activism and subsidies can replace quality.

A studio with a track record of unfinished projects

GATO Studio drew attention years ago with AR-K The Great Escape, a Kickstarter-funded graphic adventure that, according to the harshest analyses, was left incomplete after releasing barely three chapters. The backers who paid for the full game never received an official communication. The studio, meanwhile, was already focused on The Waylanders, a project that promised a Celtic and medieval experience with high production values. The shadow of distrust hung over every new announcement.

The funding for The Waylanders included public aid from the Xunta de Galicia, a detail that has not gone unnoticed. For many, the business model consisted of securing subsidies by presenting a supposedly inclusive and feminist product, rather than selling video games. The result, according to reviews, is a title with technical flaws, poor dialogue, and a historical setting that mixes pre-Christian Celts with medieval Templars without any rigor.

Why has The Waylanders failed with critics and in sales?

The specialized press has been scathing. New Game Network summed it up thus: "The Waylanders tries to imitate a variety of mechanics from the leaders of the RPG genre, but fails to implement any of them effectively, and offers nothing original apart from the astonishingly poor dialogue." Metacritic placed it at number 8 among the worst games of the year on any platform. Sales, judging by the absence of official figures, can hardly have saved the day.

One of the most criticized aspects is the inclusion of Black characters in the pre-Christian Celtic court, something the game justifies with a message in the character creation screen: "the Celts have always welcomed people of all races, religions and ethnicities." For detractors, this is an ideological imposition that breaks historical coherence. The presence of women in command roles with aggressive personalities, presented as empowered, while men appear in the background, has also been flagged. The possibility of explicit gai relationships has been another point of mockery in certain quarters.

The subsidy and activism model in the industry

The controversy goes beyond the game. Several messages suggest that GATO Studio prioritized activism and pleasing the public administration over technical quality. A former employee, according to an anonymous account, reportedly left the company years ago for that reason, warning that they would never make a good video game if they continued down that path. The general perception is that there is a circuit of subsidies for products that meet certain ideological requirements, regardless of their commercial viability.

This case adds to a broader debate about subsidized Spanish film and video games. The comparison with The Witcher 3, which also launched with bugs but became a classic, has been ridiculed: the difference is that CD Projekt Red invested in quality, not propaganda. Meanwhile, the Xunta de Galicia and other public administrations continue funding projects that, according to critics, are only after the public check.

The future of GATO Studio and the lesson for the industry

With The Waylanders at rock bottom, the question is whether GATO Studio will attempt a new project or disappear. Its track record suggests it might seek another subsidy and repeat the cycle. The gaming community, for its part, has learned to identify these products and avoid them. The recommendation making the rounds is clear: don't pay for games that put ideology before fun.

The failure of The Waylanders is not an isolated case; it is a symptom of a system that rewards activism over merit. Until that changes, we will keep watching public money burn on projects nobody wants to play.