NEED TO KNOW
What’s it? A League of Legends spin-off that shares a conceit with Limp Bizkit’s “Break Stuff”.
Launch date April 18, 2023
Count on to pay $30/£24
Developer Digital Solar
Writer Riot Forge
Reviewed on Steam Deck
Steam Deck Verified
Hyperlink Official website (opens in new tab)
What creates the circumstances for revolution? Often, an occasion has occurred or coverage has been enacted that goes past what’s bearable and right into a fractured territory the place compromise is not potential. It’s at this level society can not be meaningfully reformed by means of voting or laws; the brand new world will solely emerge from the ashes of the outdated.
In Runeterra, that’s. Positively simply in Runeterra, nowhere else.
The Mageseeker: A League of Legends Story, developed by Digital Solar (creators of Moonlighter) and revealed by Riot Forge, Riot Video games’ worldbuilding-centric publishing wing, is the origin story of Sylas the Unshackled, a League of Legends melee burst/skirmisher champion added in early 2019. Relying on who within the participant base you ask, Sylas is both an particularly edgy anti-hero or a straight-up villain, a revolutionary determine or a assassin—there doesn’t actually appear to be any in-between. The Mageseeker goals to set the file straight.
We first meet Sylas after a brief synopsis of his origins within the Kingdom of Demacia. He was conscripted into the anti-magic secret police, the titular Mageseekers, as a baby as a result of he had the flexibility to visually determine different folks’s magical auras—in essence, turning into a human drug-sniffing canine, however for secret mages. When one among his latent magic powers flared up on a mission and he unintentionally killed some villagers, he was locked in a high-security dungeon for 15 years, with nothing to maintain him firm however some questionable books and a thoughts and physique bent on revenge.
Reduce to current day; there’s a full-on revolt occurring in Demacia towards the Mageseekers. A freshly escaped Sylas is directed to a secluded insurgent camp in a close-by forest, and from there we’re left with a selection: can we search the revenge Sylas so badly desires, or can we assist the rebels construct up revolutionary energy?
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The motion that props this political drama up is pretty sturdy. Sylas begins out by having the ability to punch folks or whip them along with his chain gauntlets, and those self same gauntlets enable him to shut the space on enemies, steal their magic, and even toss himself throughout the battlefield for security. Whereas the fundamental assaults are, properly, primary, you possibly can unlock just a few devastating elemental combos by recruiting elite mages and selecting as much as two of them to combat every mission. You even have an entire host of elemental spells you possibly can select from, which you’ll put into as much as 4 unlockable spell slots. These spells assist in a pinch, particularly if you’re attempting to maintain your distance from enemies with a protracted attain or huge area-of-effect assaults.
The elite mages you recruit can themselves recruit cadres of as much as 15 rogue mages. This has the fabric impact of noticeably bolstering your insurgent camp’s dimension and energy Sylas’s moveset up. That is particularly necessary as enemies, particularly bosses, may be additional brutal when you’re not paying consideration. There have been a number of moments whereas combating a boss the place I seemed away from the display for one second and Sylas was already knocked out. The excellent news is, the checkpointing is honest—I used to be by no means greater than a room or hallway away from the place I fainted. The tip result’s a difficult motion expertise that doesn’t put on out its welcome.
Comradery is magic
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Totally different folks have totally different causes for taking part in revolutions, and the sport explores lots of potential motivations.
I’ve by no means actually gotten into League of Legends or its numerous spin-offs, however refreshingly I did not want a doctorate in Runeterra lore to grasp The Mageseeker’s story—and I used to be impressed by how frank it’s with its surprisingly radical narrative. There’s no waffling right here: the Demacian state is evil for imprisoning and killing mages, and it—or on the very least the group doing the broad majority of the jailing and killing—must be dismantled. Sylas is out for revenge, and he’s initially fairly one-dimensional on this regard, however that single-mindedness is offset by everybody else within the forged. Totally different folks have totally different causes for taking part in revolutions, and the sport explores lots of potential motivations.
You’ve acquired Leilani, the insurgent chief, who desires of a post-rev world the place mages not should reside in concern. Then there’s Gideon, a former Mageseeker who defected after his mage husband was captured and imprisoned, now searching for a solution to proper the wrongs of his former employers. Yops, a yordle warrior, fights to verify the Mageseekers can’t proceed their abhorrent experiments on people and nonhumans alike. We even get the attitude of pacifist resistance from Sylas’s former buddy, Lux Crownguard, as she defends a mage haven in Terbisia.
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The revolution is important; the Mageseekers are evil; the Demacian monarchy is corrupt.
These characters don’t merely pop as much as give Sylas pats on the again for a brutal job properly performed; they disagree with him on motives and techniques at numerous factors all through the roughly-12-hour-long story mode. Whereas he tries to stay to his initially paper-thin convictions based mostly in bloodlust, there are moments of reflection the place he even appears troubled by his personal single-mindedness. Ultimately, he’s pressured to confront the truth that you possibly can’t combat a revolution on revenge alone; folks want one thing else to hold their hat on.
However nonetheless, when you’re on the lookout for some type of centrist “pox on each homes” which confirms Sylas’s place as a villain or one thing, you received’t get it. The revolution is important; the Mageseekers are evil; the Demacian monarchy is corrupt. These aren’t negotiable topic positions, we see it clearly within the actions of the folks in energy. And Sylas, removed from being evil himself, by no means directs his rage towards random residents. He doesn’t terrorize random villages or slaughter indiscriminately. To butcher a typical phrase, he solely afflicts the snug and comforts the bothered.
Whereas The Mageseeker can really feel a little bit bit didactic at occasions, its willingness to stake a transparent ideological declare when so a lot of its contemporaries shrink like violets on the point out of politics is refreshing. It backs this up with compelling gameplay, a wonderful soundtrack and vibrant pixel graphics. In the event you like media that mixes high-octane motion and bombastic political intrigue, The Mageseeker is properly definitely worth the time.
