Ruined King: A League of Legends Story Review (Sevotius)
A Super Fun Ride
Ruined King: A League of Legends Story is a story-driven turn based RPG in which you'll command a party of six to explore the world of Runeterra, engage in puzzle-like combat and develop your skills to that you can eventually take on the eponymous Ruined King who is about to bring disaster to the Tortuga-esque pirate haven of Bilgewater. I'll go on a breakdown of the pros and cons of this game so you can decide whether it appeals to you or not. If you just want the TLDR version: if you like LoL or turn based RPGs and have 40-50 hours to spare, I can definitely recommend it.
Cons
1. Bugs. Some quests and map markers don't resolve or register correctly. Some quest triggers are finicky. Some animations bug out. Nothing game breaking but it's kinda strange that they're not patched out since they seem so minor.
2. Lack of choice. Ruined King, unfortunately, is pretty linear. There are no meaningful choices to make, no consequences to ponder. It's a very straightforward experience from beginning to end.
3. Character art. Don't get me wrong. The character art is beautiful. The issue is is that it's super limited with just one image per main character. I wish they had a lot more images with different expressions like in Hades so that the visual storytelling is more dynamic. It's a shame too because the voice acting is absolutely on point and would've been so much more elevated with more art.
4. The game is slow. Characters move and animate at a snail's pace (not talking about the combat which you can play at double speed). I wish the game was at least 25-50% faster because there can be a good amount of backtracking and it feels like an unnecessary slog when your character runs and interacts with objects sooooo slowly. Also the pacing can be a bit weird with rest point conversations taking forever to finish.
5. Story resolution. No spoilers of course but the story gets resolved pretty easily. The story keeps telling you to hurry up or we're all doomed but there's actually no deadline or mechanical reason to do so. You just teleport to the final boss fight and that's it.
6. Easy combat. I played on Heroic/max difficulty and I only felt challenged in the beginning of the game before my characters had developed their powers. Towards the end, everything was a breeze even the optional max level bosses.
7. Bonus content. The stuff that comes in the Deluxe Edition as well as the Manamune are pretty useless. Sure, the items technically do become more powerful as you play but they're never so powerful that they're obviously better compared to what you can find in the base game.
8. Skins. Continuing the above point, the skins are super un-immersive. I understand they're just for flavor but I really hate skins that makes your character look so different from everything else in the game.
Pros
1. Art style and direction. The world of Runeterra, even the gloomy Shadow Isles, are a treat to the eyes. Colors pop, the art is very nicely stylized and animations are smooth. Some things are slightly low-res but not enough to detract from the experience.
2. The music slaps! The combat tracks get your blood pumping while the exploration tracks can be suitably mysterious and contemplative or intriguing and fun.
3. Combat mechanics. While not super hard, enemy variety is pretty good and new combat encounters can be like a little puzzle to solve. It's extremely satisfying when you can dispatch tough enemies through some careful planning.
4. Character development. Pretty much all the main characters go through a great journey of personal discovery and I was thoroughly invested in their arcs.
5. Party management. Abilities, runes, equipment, party synergies, numbers! It's very satisfying to develop a strong party and seeing everything just click together.
6. Voice acting. As mentioned previously, the voice-over is stellar.
7. Sound design. Abilities have very distinctive sounds that carry the right amount of heft and weight.
8. Cutscenes. I'm a sucker for comic book style art. The cutscenes are super expressive and just beautiful to watch.
Conclusion
I'll admit I wasn't super impressed by Ruined King when I first started playing it but its charms certainly won me over and I had an absolute blast towards the end. I feel like there's a lot more potential to explore with this game design so I hope Riot and the devs can make a sequel that capitalizes on the strengths of this game and resolves its weaknesses. Looking forward!