It’s time to put your tycoon and development skills to the test in Wizdom Academy, a tile-based builder fantasy school setting. Launching to Early Access on Steam from Kipwak Studio, is it time for you to go back to school?
I was sent the demo for Wizdom Academy so many of the game’s features were not yet unlocked. It suggests new options for your student’s development and a campaign to come, but as it stands, I was unable to save my game and was only able to play with the first level.
What we do get, however, is a really interesting take on the classic management-sim format. As the headteacher of the academy, it is your job to navigate the needs of your teachers and pupils. To do this, you need to place different rooms on a tile grid and use hallways to connect them to the mana source in the centre of the map.
Building the academy was quite intuitive, with things clicking into place without much difficulty. I couldn’t find a move function, but there didn’t seem to be any downsides to destroying things to build them back up again. You can also build across multiple levels, a thing often lacking from series like Two Point.
There is a lot to wrap your head around initially, but the tutorial did a good job of showing me around. I found my strides after restarting the level with a better idea of what I wanted. I’m not sure I have played enough of the game to say how difficult it is compared to other building-sim games, but there was enough to keep me engaged and it was really rewarding seeing the progression of the academy as they are not uniform shapes.
The graphics aren’t too detailed up close, but nor do they need to be for a game where you’ll be spending most of your time in “God mode“. Even so, Wizdom Academy has a really nice atmosphere. It’s just really pleasant to sit and lord over your minions as they work.
The demo showcased a few classes, each with a unique room. There was also an exam hall for students to level up towards graduation, halls of residence and some utility rooms. These rooms appear to have some options for upgrades and need staffing or can break down. You also have mana production which I didn’t get too involved with, but looks interesting.
Managing teachers and pupils is a fairly routine affair that self-regulates for the most part. They each have positive and negative traits, plus a course or specialisation. Once students complete their exams, a little pop-up appears and you can decide if you want to invite them back again next year or not. Student avatars will “age” as they level up, which is a cool feature that is ultimately soured by the use of generative images. I also noticed a bunch of errors like a neckband that centred around a teacher’s collarbone.
Wizdom Academy has a tiered skill tree, which allows you to unlock new rooms and upgrades. I’m unsure if this is carried on between locations or not, and my game crashed before I could get too far into it (again, no save option). It seemed pretty extensive, giving decoration and expansion options that are intriguing.
As the game is just launching into Early Access, there are still some localisation errors which the developers are working to address. They weren’t egregious though, and didn’t affect my gameplay or understanding. Similarly, since the game is Early Access, it’s possible the use of supposedly “ethical” GenAI could be a placeholder, although it is not mentioned that this is the case on their Steam page, which is a sticking point for many – myself included. It’s also made in Unity which has “AI-assisted” tools of a questionable nature, so maybe some more clarification is needed here.
Scratching the surface, Wizdom Academy looks like an interesting project with great potential. Without a save function, I couldn’t get too far into the meat and bones but they do look appealing. It’s just a shame about the generated images.
Platform: PC
Developer: Kipwak Studio
Publisher: Kipwak Studio
Leave a Reply