Ruined King: A League of Legends Story (2021)

Finished!

Back half of the game is maybe one or two dungeons too long and becomes rote once you've got your preferred loadout all set up, but the quick pacing made me feel like it was worth seeing things through to the end. And there's some fun to be had in flexing your ridiculous burst damage on enemies and bosses alike and watching them evaporate.

My only real fault with the whole experience is that each character's 2 "slow" abilities are so dang slow that they feel like a complete waste of time to ever use: the 2 "very fast" abilities can cast twice or more in the same period, do way more damage, and build more ultimate meter. I think I would've preferred for all abilities to share the same cast time.

But overall it's a pleasant little JRPG! I hope this studio gets to make more stuff in this vein.

This game seemingly came out of nowhere given how high budget it is, but it's pretty rad so far!

I don't have any connection to League of Legends, so I can't comment on whether it's a faithful interpretation of that universe or whatever. But the lovely combat animations, sprawling pirate town you start in, and expressive flexibility in character building and team composition are really selling me on it.

Especially impressive is the mechanical design of the protagonist, Illaoi. She's the anchor of the team and can function as any combination of DPS, main tank, or healer depending on how you build her. But her minion summoning playstyle makes her pretty unique for a jack of all trades, and she doesn't feel massively overpowered the way Crono and other JRPG protagonists tend to.

Should be noted that the game is fairly easy even on the hardest difficulty, and that it's got a whole mess of minor UI bugs, but otherwise it's a very solid dungeon crawler!

This game’s turn-based combat system is quickly becoming one of my favorite systems of that style, with so many interesting decisions to make to react to enemy abilities and environmental effects and things, and optimize your turns. I am not that kind of person who goes out of my way to fight optional stuff in RPGs, but here I’m doing so. The systems for building up your characters and their equipment feel genuinely impactful and customizable, yet not overly complicated.

I have heard people compare this to Darkest Dungeon’s combat with some added mechanics so now I kinda want to try that, as well as comments that it’s similar to the dev’s prior game Battle Chasers but better and more complex across the board.

I am really curious to see how broader audiences who don’t necessarily follow League and critics respond to this game. I can see some people finding the opening a bit slow and overwhelming, but it picks up quickly once you have a full party of 3.

By the way, the release year is wrong here on the site (should be 2021). Not sure how to fix (it’s accurate on GB).

So, Riot Games, or more precisely, their new subsidiary Riot Forge, surprise released a couple new single-player games yesterday, both subtitled "A League of Legends Story." For these games they have partnered with various outside developers to sort of put a League universe spin on different genres.

One is Hextech Mayhem, developed by the people behind Bit.Trip, a $10 rhythm/platformer. Not on Grouvee yet, but I'll add it to Giant Bomb in a bit and it will end up on here. I think that game is pretty decent, not great, but I'll put a review up once I finish it. I haven't played Bit.Trip, but this game is somewhat reminiscent of a game I have played called Muse Dash (just not quite as good).

The other is this, Ruined King, a $30 turn-based RPG starring several different League characters, developed by Airship Syndicate, the makers of Battle Chasers and Darksiders Genesis. This game I really like so far. It has a pretty genuinely complex and fun take on turn-based combat. Timing of moves is very important, and many League mechanics have been very cleanly translated to this new genre to give a strategic feel. Story-wise, not bad so far either. I have been impressed with the pacing, and I think even those who are not familiar with these characters could get into it (I am only very minimally familiar myself).

Riot also has an MMO, a fighting game, and who knows what else under development, not to mention their expanded ventures into music and TV and 1-2 new multiplayer games each year for the last 3 years... And yet still Riot Forge specifically does have two more single-player games coming out in 2022. Those would be the 2D action platformer CONV/RGENCE starring Ekko (very cool character), and also Song of Nunu from the makers of The Sexy Brutale. Neat.

One of League's greatest strengths is its roster of characters and all the personality and lore they bring to the table, and the fact that those characters are no longer stuck inside a MOBA these days is a great thing.