League of Legends is a game with a massive following, first starting life as a multiplayer online battle arena game, or MOBA. Many people who play League often question why they continue going back to a game that seems to be the cause of so much stress and toxicity in their life.
One popular theory is the lore and world building that takes place behind the scenes. Recent moves support this theory, with the developer of League of Legends, Riot Games, branching out. The incredibly popular Netflix series Arcane was one such foray and now they’ve partnered with Digital Sun Games to release The Mageseeker: A League of Legends Story.
The game follows Sylas, a mage who was recruited as a child by the Mageseekers, an organization charged with hunting down and capturing mages. Sylas has a unique ability that allows him to detect magic in the world, an invaluable tool for a group that wants to find hidden mages.
But Sylas ends up unable to turn a blind eye to what the Mageseekers are doing and as a result, he finds himself imprisoned. The game begins with Sylas staging a prison break and sparking an uprising throughout the kingdom of Damacia. A prison break that is thanks to Sylas’s other ability; the ability to steal magic from other mages and use it as his own.
This ability is the foundation for The Mageseeker’s combat system. Not only can Sylas use melee attacks to strike down his foes, but he is also able to turn his former captors magic against them.
Shortly after his escape, Sylas meets Leilani, the leader of a mage resistance and it is with her and a ragtag team of rebels that Sylas fights to claim his revenge. At their base, Sylas can unlock new spells, acquire upgrades for his health, armor, and more, as well as talk with his allies. From the war table, you take on missions to weaken the Mageseekers and recruit new soldiers.
The gameplay loop can be broken down into heading out on missions, returning to the base, and then going on more missions. Most levels will have a boss fight, as well as some short cutscenes that expand on the story.
The plot is a bit of a slow burn at first. It’s very run-of-the-mill with Sylas being obsessed with revenge, and it’s almost comical how evil they make the villains of the story. You know you are on the right side throughout the entire game, and it starts off feeling a bit cliché. However, as the plot develops and the characters gain some depth, the story becomes more and more interesting. Towards the middle of The Mageseeker: A League of Legends Story, I was actively playing because I wanted to see things through to the end.
There is also a fair amount of environmental story-telling through the use of scattered notes and dialogue pop-ups from NPCs that you pass by. A little extra exploration is needed to find some of these notes, but the world is so beautifully crafted and the soundtrack is so perfect, that it is easy to find yourself wandering around simply to experience more of it.
The combat system is fairly straightforward. You have melee attacks and spells that you can assign to use throughout the level, able to steal magic from enemies that you come across. That magic can be used once before you need to steal it again, and enemies can only have their magic stolen once every few seconds. Stealing an enemy’s spells also gives you the ability to unlock it back at base, adding it to your arsenal.
Magic types also have opposites, and using these against a mage does massive bonus damage. This leads to the combat feeling very fast-paced and there is a good amount of challenge involved while learning the different controls. It’s not hard to start fighting, but as you overcome the learning curve, you’ll be dashing around the map, stealing abilities, and taking enemies down in no time.
There are a lot of spells to learn, and the variety allows you to create a playstyle that fits you and how you wish to play. Some spells are built for range, some are meant to be used close up, and there is even a spell that lets you heal yourself if you’re not the most inclined to dodging when you know you should. Cough cough.
For the most part, everything runs smoothly. There are a few issues that popped up during my time with The Mageseeker, but they didn’t ever ruin the game. These range from the incredibly minor, like a line break in a text box that places the period on a separate line, to the more significant like the chain attack taking a couple of button presses to activate.
The worst glitch I came across, and it only happened once, was during a boss fight I became unable to move or take damage. I was still able to attack though and since I could move around by hooking the boss with my chains to pull myself at them, I managed to clear the fight without any trouble.
I seem to have an uncanny ability to discover any glitch in a game when playing it for a review. As I said, this only happened the one time, and it actually made the game easier for me, so it’s hard to get too upset about it.
Overall, the performance of The Mageseeker has been great. The combat system starts off simplistic but gradually adds more and more layers as it progresses, and by the end it is fairly challenging. There are adjustment options to make the game easier or harder, as well as separate sliders to increase or decrease Sylas’ health and attack damage. So even if you aren’t normally confident in your ability with these kinds of games, you can still play through the story without too much trouble.
One of my favorite aspects of the game has been the base. As you play through missions and recruit more mages, the base will begin to grow; more NPCs will be found walking around and new areas to explore will unlock. There are also Silverwings hidden throughout the game, and these little birds made me think of the Chocobos from Final Fantasy. As you find them, they will get added to little nests throughout the base. It has no effect on the game at all, but I loved seeing all the little guys as I walked around and talked with my allies between missions.
I do wish there was more to do at the base. Whenever it is expanded, it usually just means a chest with some extra loot and maybe a new note. New shops are added as a result of main missions, so while it feels cool for the base to become bigger, there is no actual utility in it.
Fans of League of Legends I’m sure will appreciate the cast of characters that star throughout The Mageseeker. As someone with limited knowledge of the game, I recognized quite a few of the characters, and I’m sure there are more details that are included for veteran fans. That being said, you can go into the game with no knowledge of the world and still find the story and characters engaging.
Overall and whilst you may find the opening of The Mageseeker: A League of Legends Story to be a bit of a slow burn, the more you play the more invested you will become. The controls become more comfortable and the spells are fun to use, all as new combat abilities are unlocked and the story continues to develop. The few shortcomings don’t change the fact that The Mageseeker: A League of Legend Story is a game well worth picking up.
