After a decade of resting solely on the laurels of its hit MOBA, Riot Video games’s determination to broaden the lore of the ultra-popular League of Legends and its warfare chest of playable Champions will seemingly go down as one of many firm’s greatest strikes. It is already given us Ruined King and the Netflix present Arcane, and it’ll quickly give us Track of Nunu, Convergence, and the fighter Undertaking L. The Mageseeker: A League Of Legends Story is the subsequent enlargement of LoL’s lore, and it retains Riot’s momentum going with nice fight, a stupendous world, and a riveting (although admittedly slow-starting) story.
The Mageseeker follows Sylas, a mage dwelling in Demecia, a metropolis that persecutes magic wielders by way of a particular job drive known as Mageseekers. Sylas has the flexibility to soak up the magic of different mages, which makes him probably the most highly effective magic customers on the earth. Earlier than he found his energy, Sylas was a Mageseeker himself, and through considered one of his assignments, he took pity on one of many mages he was in search of out. Nonetheless, his innate potential kicked in, and his lack of ability to manage the magic he unknowingly absorbed from his quarry resulted within the deaths of a number of innocents. Regardless of his service to the Mageseekers, the invention of his personal energy led to his imprisonment for 15 years. Now he’s out and he’s in search of revenge on those that despatched him away.
The aesthetic selections in The Mageseeker are instantly spectacular. The minimalist pixel artwork on show is a far cry from the state-of-the-art graphics fashionable consoles are succesful of–heck, it is even a stark departure from the sport’s supply materials. Nonetheless, the best way developer Digital Solar tells a narrative by way of this artwork type, whether or not it is the backdrop of a scene or delicate actions in characters each playable and never, is exceptional.
There is a scene from the start of the sport that encapsulates how efficient this artwork type might be. Sylas has simply escaped his confines and fought his manner out of the town. He comes up on a clearing within the forest populated by different escapees who’re making an attempt to regroup. There’s loads of hustle and bustle amongst the NPCs, with heads bobbing and different small interactions creating noticeable motion. Sylas decides to deal with the group by climbing a close-by cliff and pounding the bottom to get their consideration, and when he does the group goes fully nonetheless.
It is not overt by any means, however the best way the characters freeze in place, heads turned towards the chained mage standing above them, is a superb method to organically convey how intimidating Sylas is, which is a tall order contemplating he is a small, faceless determine on the display screen. There are moments like this all through the complete game–small animation selections which have main ripple results all through a scene–and each considered one of them is executed successfully. Digital Solar clearly is aware of the right way to maximize the potential of pixel artwork, and the proof is ample all through The Mageseeker.
Trendy artwork is nice and all, but it surely means nothing with no stable gameplay basis to again it up, and The Mageseeker greater than delivers in that regard as nicely. Sylas can both interact enemies with gentle and heavy assaults, or he can be taught and wield a large number of magic spells discovered all through the journey. You possibly can outfit Sylas with any combination of discovered spells earlier than beginning a mission, and that experimentation makes every battle really feel uniquely yours. Taking down an enormous boss with a spell loadout you’ve got chosen makes every victory that a lot sweeter.
Together with amassing spells, there are a number of methods you’ll be able to improve Sylas’s talents to your liking. Sources discovered throughout missions might be bought to the blacksmith for stat boosts and extra slots for equipping magic. You can too recruit imprisoned mages, who then are assigned to a subgroup representing one of many sport’s six parts. As extra recruits are discovered, your talents with every factor enhance, which offer you extra energy and extra choices whereas preventing enemies.
Do you have to notice you’ve got made a incorrect spell selection mid-mission, Sylas’s distinctive absorption talents lets him take a one-use spell from an enemy within the warmth of battle. The absorbed spell can be utilized instantly and directed at any foe, which opens up a brand new potential technique with every encounter.
For instance, many skirmishes will see Sylas combat mages with particularly designated parts, like fireplace, water, or air. Understanding the weaknesses of every factor means you’ll be able to steal a spell from one enemy, then unleash it on one other that’s weak to the jacked spell. A typical instance is seeing fireplace and ice enemies paired up; use the steal mechanic to take a fireplace spell, after which launch it at an ice enemy whereas persevering with to assault the hearth foe you stole from. The fluidity of battle made each appear attention-grabbing, and extra importantly, it saved fight participating.
Boss battles use this ever-flowing system as nicely, which ends up in some actually riveting battles towards the massive bads. Even bosses you encounter greater than as soon as would change issues up; the Big Helm boss, for instance, generally assaults with completely different parts than the earlier bout, or the world is about up otherwise and forces you to regulate. Each boss battle within the sport saved me on my toes due to by no means remaining stagnant, as proper after I would set up a sample and get the timing down, a brand new impediment would get in my manner. This design offers each combat its personal distinctive vibe, and it improves the entire expertise within the course of.
The flowing fight does loads of heavy lifting for the extent design, sadly, as phases start to really feel repetitive after some time. Each stage within the sport follows the identical fundamental precept: Stroll by way of a hall, enter a bigger room after I combat dangerous guys, after which enter one other hall. Positive, there are some additional paths resulting in some hidden loot, however these diversions are fleeting. I want there have been extra selection within the phases themselves, because the stellar moments of fight couldn’t disguise the uninspiring design.
The sport’s story begins off slowly, with a couple of chapters feeling like they may have been mixed into one bigger mission. The seek for Kara, an elder mage who Sylas volunteers to rescue, spans a number of missions with continued breaks in between to move again to camp, which slows any momentum the story had. The campsite within the early going does not have rather a lot going for it, as a lot of the attention-grabbing inhabitants must be discovered and recruited because the story progresses. The combo of continued story breaks and an uninteresting hub world in these early hours makes for a irritating expertise. Ultimately the story builds into an unbelievable crescendo, and although it does take a while–the midway level of the story is the place issues actually kick into excessive gear–once you are there, it is extremely laborious to place the sport down. You continue to return to camp after every mission, however even that’s extra attention-grabbing within the later phases of the sport, due to the added NPCs providing extra interactions and dialogue. Contemplating it took me about 11 hours to finish the sport, it is not a large time funding to get to the nice story bits, however it’s a disgrace the complete arc did not attain the heights of the second half.
Riot Video games’s determination to widen the scope of its marquee franchise has yielded one other success in The Mageseeker: A League Of Legends Story. The pixel artwork and soundtrack construct a stupendous world, whereas the story–though sluggish to really kick off–is riveting as soon as it hits that turning level. There are some points that maintain the expertise again, significantly its uneven stage designs and the aforementioned sluggish begin to the story. The fluid fight and unbelievable boss battles, nonetheless, make up for these shortcomings, and lift The Mageseeker as much as be one other efficient enlargement of the League of Legends lore.