Fellowship Review — Great Dungeon Combat, Fragile Solo Queue
Fellowship nails tight, skill‑based dungeon combat and the feel of WoW‑style Mythic+ in a compact indie package — brilliant with a premade, frustrating solo. Read on for method, tech notes and practical solo tips.
I played Fellowship on Windows in Early Access (build current as of launch) across EU and NA regions — about 50 core dungeon runs over two weeks, roughly reflecting my time with the game. The core selling point is obvious: clean, satisfying combat and short 10–15 minute dungeon loops. The problem: matchmaking and player behaviour turn that loop into a lottery if you queue alone.
Fellowship is a PvE, team‑focused dungeon crawler with leagues that scale difficulty (Contender → Adept → Champion → Paragon → Eternal). Core runs last 10–15 minutes, capstones are longer and Eternal scales endlessly. You pick from a roster of Heroes (Tanks, DPS, Healers) with fixed kits you unlock quickly — then it’s about gear, gems and account‑wide upgrades. Combat is tight: interrupts, positioning and burst windows matter; the animations and hit feel are excellent for an indie. There’s little filler — no open world grind — which keeps runs razor‑focused. Progression leans on repeated runs for gear and socketable gems; seasonal resets mix things up but also reset leaderboard progress. Monetization is cosmetic: Supporter Edition and three Supporter Packs offer armor/weapon skins and mounts (purely visual). No pay‑to‑win systems detected. Method & sample: my numbers come from ~50 completed Core/Capstone runs (EU/NA, mixed Quickplay and premade). I observed a 25–35% leaver/abandon rate in Quickplay samples — tanks queue fast, DPS queues are long. Example run to illustrate: we queued Quickplay, made it into a Champion dungeon, had a messy first pull, one DPS left after the wipe, party fell apart and two remaining players requeued — no loot for those who stayed. That pattern repeats often enough to make progression grindy solo. Tech & QoL: on my Windows rig performance is solid (60–144 FPS depending on settings). Network stability is generally okay on EU/NA but regions like Oceania are problematic (high ping, unstable queues). There are intermittent disconnect reports and some animation/turning oddities. QoL requests from the community—leaver penalties, requeue/fill systems, block/ignore—are currently the biggest functional gaps.
Short verdict: buy with a squad, wait as solo. Fellowship’s combat and dungeon design are excellent; its matchmaking and QoL gaps are the dealbreaker for casual solo players. With leaver penalties, requeue/fill and a few server fixes, this could easily be an 8.0 title.
Pros
- Tight, skill‑based combat that rewards timing and interrupts.
- Short, satisfying dungeon loops (10–15 mins) — great for focused sessions.
- Cosmetic monetization only (Supporter packs) — no obvious pay‑to‑win.
Cons
- Matchmaking & community behaviour: high leaver rates in Quickplay ruin solo progression.
- Missing QoL: no penalty for leavers, no requeue/fill or robust block tools; regional server/latency issues.
Player Opinion
Players are split: many praise the combat loop and say “fun with friends,” while a loud portion complains about toxicity and abandoning runs. Representative quick quotes I kept seeing: “Fun game with 4 friends, otherwise don't bother.” and “No punishment for leavers.” Community sentiment matches my sample: premade groups shine; random queues are hit‑or‑miss. If you like WoW Mythic+ you’ll find the muscle memory familiar, but expect shorter runs and a stronger emphasis on account‑wide progression rather than long open‑world gearing.