The Mageseeker: A League of Legends Story (2023)

I found it difficult to decide on a 2 or 3 for this game, but unfortunately I'm more on the side of a 2.

The controls and combat simply don't flow great. Targeting enemies to steal spells feels really clunky to use. There are far too few combos to input that make the combat quickly feel dull. The heavy attack is incredibly situational due to its slow speed. When you dash, enemies and the smallest of terrain block you, feeling incredibly clumsy. If you have played Hades, this game will feel off throughout the whole playthrough. Missing this many foundational elements means that the rest of the game, although great, can't make up for the weak gameplay. Lastly, hard mode results in enemies having enough health that it's a slog to kill even grunts.

There's solid elements to the game, including a basic progression system, alright story, and pretty pixel art. The enemy variety is also pretty good, and some of the bosses are entertaining enough too. These elements of the game were done quite well, so it's a shame to see the gameplay hold it back.

Overall, I don't recommend this game, but it's possible you still may enjoy it.

The demo starts well giving you a truncated setup for the game, but then dumps you in a later level with a bunch of powers and not much context of how to use them. The premise seems neat wherein you steal a power and use it, leveraging one power on another enemy that is weak to it.

That being said, I am on the fence with whether to invest my time in the game. The basic gameplay didn't really feel as satisfying as I was hoping. The enemies are very spongy even when they have weaknesses to other spells.

I didn't expect to like this game this much. The combat system is cool. It uses the classic elemental strenghts and weaknesses of RPGs but adds enough depth to make it interesting and the pixel graphics are nice.

But the thing that really loved was the plot. I know next to nothing about LoL lore, just what I learned watching Arcane, but this story about oppression, rebellion, and a hateful man becoming a beloved revolutionary leader that actually takes its themes seriously was extremely my thing.

You can read my full review in spanish here.

Sadly it has a lot of issues: bugs, repetitive environments, a bad translation (weird, the devs are spanish) and if you don't experiment with the magic and try different builds, the combat can get very samey.

But I still enjoyed it a lot and Sylas is now one of my favorite characters.

The game action is pretty fast-paced, controls are reliable and quick to respond.

Combat is generally fun, having both physical attacks and a bunch of different magical skills to use. You can change pretty these skills often along each stage to encourage players to try new combos vs different enemies.

Not to mention you can steal enemy's skills and use them against themselves, which is always fun to watch and experiment!

Playing against the most known league of legends champions as bosses was the Top of the fights in my opinion. I did die a couple of times against each of them and it was so satisfying to see these champions at their full potential.

The story has an amazing potential and is indeed interesting but, in my opinion, the delivery could've been a bit better. Maybe with some voice acting or a bit more live to the models while on dialogue would help to focus a bit more. Around mid-game time I found myself pressing skip button more times than actually reading each sentence of each dialogue.

Overall, pretty fun game! - 7/10