Legends Arcana

A good RPG style game with a solid story and good character development can be hard to come by. What's worse is typically finishing such a game means it's time to find another as replaying an adventure game is akin to watching a movie over. It might be entertaining, but it's just not the same as the first time through. So I welcome any new RPGs and doubt I could tire of them as I have with categories such as the 'match 3' genre.

Legends Arcana is a new RPG from indie developer Little Killerz. In this game, and I won't reveal too much story, you are awoken and placed into service to pay off your debts. You start off in town, aren't terribly popular, have no cash, and only scraps for weapons and armor. No, I don't think that's an amazing start to a story, but the graphics are pretty and the game also features some nice cut scene artwork with comic book style dialog. You can then wander around town and discover the weapons shop, the tavern, the apothecary, and visit with the frog that gives you tasks. Yes, I said frog... a big frog. I've seen people criticize that as amateur. For me it's more creative that the same old, same old and it certainly shouldn't be a distraction even if you're anti-frog. One of the neat things is that each shop has its own graphics when you enter and the game doesn't just pop up an 'items for sale' screen. They went the extra mile with this game.

So you leave town and head down to the dungeon for your first encounter. The trees blow in the wind and after a few wilderness encounters you should find the entrance to the dungeon. Walk on in and start waving your sword around and you'll soon discover that most stuff can be destroyed. Yes, tables, chairs, and treasure chests all smash to pieces. After you slay some monsters and pick up their gold you'll get to places that have traps... you'll find scrolls... and it will be fun. Funny thing. When I first played, (please, skip to the next paragraph if you don't want to know a thing about the game), I was fighting some bats and killed them all, got the scroll and it summoned a pet. Next thing I know I've got another nasty bat on my tail that I try and try to kill with no luck. I spent five minutes trying to slay this doubly strong bat before I realized "oh, he's (or she's) my pet". I was expecting something fluffier, I guess.

As you progress you'll be able to buy better equipment, upgrade your character with skills and skill points, and advance to bigger and bolder challenges. There always seems to be purpose, though, granted the missions aren't exactly rocket science. This is certainly more of a hack and slash, dungeon crawl kind of game with a decent story on top.

One interesting thing to me is that the developers say they're happy to fix and bugs and promise a big update forthcoming. I don't buy a game based on something 'coming soon' anymore and the 'bug fix' request while friendly seems a bit weak. I don't want to be a tester. But be assured that the game is in good enough shape now to play. There are issues such as when I walk into the lower right building on the east side of town my character can get stuck and can appear to walk out of the side of the building. Likewise, the game seems to allow for some use of a physical DPad instead of the on screen ring of control, but when I tried that my character started to always head to the upper left and would no long remain stationary.

Legends Arcana has a lot to it and makes for a great isometric, dungeon crawl experience. I've enjoyed the time I've had with the game and look forward to more progress. I like the fact that there are different monsters and treasure to find and the game has a good personality with its entertaining, comic book dialog, and expecially the occasioanl trap. It's easy to get carried away, ignore your health meter, and meet your doom. 4.5/5 stars.