Ruined King: A League of Legends Story - Far Beyond MOBA...

How do you feel about spin-offs - plot branches to the main works? I think the phrase "spin-offs" has an a priori bias. But how many people know that the multi-year-old hotshot Apex Legends was originally conceived as the offspring of the now undeservedly forgotten Titanfall 2? Well, when it comes to spin-offs from Riot Games, we are reminded of the unexpectedly high quality series Arcane - the series based on the League of Legends. This time Riot Games decided not to stop at the competitive games and the series, and entrusted the universe of their main brainchild Airship Syndicate. But the main question: how does LoL look on the rails of a turn-based RPG?

Welcome to Runterra

If the subtitle doesn't mean anything to you - that's okay; if Runterra has already become your second home - you're only benefiting. The plot of Ruined King: A League of Legends Story was born from a faded, unfired League of Legends event. Who would have thought that some seasonal events would require a separate game...

The story centers on events in the familiar to fans town of Bilgewater.

For those unfamiliar with League of Legends: Bulgewater is the archetypal pirate island, riven by internecine strife between cutthroats, gangs, and lovers of easy profits and rum.

A young king named Viego lost his beloved, unable to come to terms with the loss, and decided to resurrect the girl in a magical spring. The selfish, loving impulse did not lead to anything good, and now a new attack is coming to the island - the deadly mist of Strahovin. A thick fog covers the island, filling it with the souls of the deceased, and those living who are not lucky enough to be caught in the fog are joined by the deceased. All of this is set against the backdrop of the death of Gunkplank, the pirate leader and worst enemy of one of the protagonists, Miss Fortune. She kills Gunkplank in revenge for the death of her own man.

The beginning of the story, the middle, and the finale are clearly designed for the player to be familiar with the universe, at least in absentia. In the early hours of the timeline, the current characters from the League of Legends appear on the screen. Their very appearance on the screen should bring a warm, nostalgic smile to fans. Unfamiliar with the universe LoL players at first it will be difficult to understand what is going on. There are a total of six playable characters.

Everyone has a different motivation on Bildewater: some want power, some seek forgiveness for themselves, and some seek medicine for their fading settlement--all better understood through the narrator and the game itself than in spoilers...

Despite their different goals, the fine six decide to band together to fight the deadening fog. Remarkably, the script is written in such a way that none of the current characters can pursue solely their own goal, the team of cheeks is forced to become the A-team.

Further peripeteia of the script is not worth telling, but it is worth noting the general tone of the narrative: we have before us a classic three-act story with a moderate amount of emotional swings. The story has no philosophical undertones and almost no psychology. The whole story of Ruined King: A League of Legends Story is an ordinary, soulful story about love, friendship, the mistakes of life, justice, that good always triumphs over evil, etc. Only League fans will go here for the story, because seeing familiar characters in a new role is always strange, it breaks the pattern.

Fan service is also designed for fans, referring to items and abilities from League of Legends. Everything is done with great love for the source material, but... not in the amounts that are usually given to loyal fans. The characters are revealed gradually, in personal conversations, but there were no revelations about anyone, no unexpected plot twists either. And if League of Legends doesn't interest you at all, but you want to play turn-based tactics?

Why does it take 30 hours to get through the game?

If you're looking for a truly deep turn-based RPG, a truly challenging challenge, builds, and thoughtful gameplay, then... Ruined King: A League of Legends Story can both please and disappoint, not everything is so clear-cut. On the one hand, we have the classic butler: ours on the left, the aliens - on the right. A classic set of abilities without subtle mechanics.

The only interesting nuance is that each character has an initiative scale, and all attacks are divided into three paths: the path of speed - whipping attacks, but little damage; the path of balance - medium damage and medium speed; the path of strength - slow, but deadly attacks. Sounds trivial...but all attacks are calculated in real time, albeit in increments. That is, the course of the battle can change at any moment, rather than freeze in preventive logs.

The same rule applies to bosses, but there in the battle bring variety to the unexpected circumstances. Bosses can summon minions, which can be a daunting task, so the player has to intimidate the minions and win them over to his side.

From the above, it may seem that Ruined King: A League of Legends Story is full of tactics, builds, and immersiveness, but it's not. The walkthrough takes about thirty hours, and the lion's share of the time has to be spent on leisurely walks through the maps. The speed of the characters is deliberately slowed down as if for the sake of stretching the timeline, and the mockingly slow running is perceived as a joke. The leveldesigner, apparently, also worked with his hands down, because all the corridors in the locations are unacceptably long; however, the complete lack of understanding of the leveldesigner can not be reproached: sometimes secrets are found at once, and some require from the player a pinch of wit and love of backtracking.

Collecting loot will also take up a lot of the player's time. Side quests, let alone do not shine with originality, but can boast a local, not long-playing variability, and you can take them almost by accident - to wander into a secluded corner and meet a man in need.

They also brought in mechanics with fishing. What for? It is not clear. Apparently, the developers were guided by the principle "The more, the better. Fortunately, all the uninteresting activities can be ignored and do not miss the interesting content.

It will also take you hours to struggle with the cluttered interface. In the tradition of free South Korean games: a lot of icons, the mini-map opens only on a separate button, where even the icons can not distinguish the markers of the main task from the side. Keeping in mind the dialogues of NPCs, their verbal reference points does not want to, it is exhausting.

So it turns out that it seems like thirty hours of gameplay, but the valuable content is twice less. It makes no sense to live in the world of Ruined King: A League of Legends Story, it's not the game where something interesting is waiting around every corner.

Is it worth it?

LoL fans are strictly recommended to read at least to distract from killing creeps, nubs in the team and flaming mid. For a player unfamiliar with League of Legends, Ruined King: A League of Legends Story might brighten up a couple of evenings, but without any love for the source material - only take it at a good discount.