Followers new and previous of League of Legends, whether or not you’re coming over from Arcane or have performed the MOBA sport since its inception, will discover one thing to like in Track of Nunu. We had the possibility to speak with Raúl Rubio Munárriz from Tequila Works and Rowan Parker from Riot Forge at Gamescom whereas taking the sport for a spin, and it’s abundantly clear that anybody, a die-hard LoL fan or not, can discover one thing to get pleasure from with Track of Nunu.
Track of Nunu sees you are taking management of a boy and his yeti, Nunu and Willump, as they bear platforming challenges, fight, and puzzles within the frozen Freljord. A couple of different LoL champs will present up on the best way, however the story is de facto about their relationship, with Nunu’s character and Willump’s adorably expressive animation taking heart stage.
If, like me, you’ve solely seen Arcane and barely know League of Legends don’t fear, as Parker makes it clear that Track of Nunu is about character and story at its core, with LoL offering the broader universe.
“Now we have a really onerous rule of ‘you don’t have to know something in any respect about League of Legends to get pleasure from one of many video games,’” Parker says. “However in the event you do occur to know something about League of Legends, there’s a lot of easter eggs and many enjoyable, which makes it extra rewarding.”
“There’s nonetheless a variety of love for followers of League of Legends within the sport,” Munárriz of developer Tequila Works provides. “However it nonetheless must be sport to be a enjoyable sport. It must be a sport that deserves to be made, so after all, there’s this love for the followers, however once more if you already know nothing about League of Legends you possibly can nonetheless get pleasure from it.”
This philosophy was instantly obvious to me throughout my transient play time, as the main focus is on how, mechanically, emotionally, and narratively, Nunu and Willump work together. You’ll both be working round as Nunu, utilizing his flute from LoL to play Ocarina of Time-style melodies to resolve puzzles, or he’ll soar on Willump’s again for traversal and fight.
Every little thing about Track of Nunu serves these two characters, and between Nunu understanding Willump’s grunts and the Yeti’s personal extremely expressive animations, that turned clearer the extra I performed. Whereas I used to be simply within the early sport, Track of Nunu didn’t need to overcomplicate itself with its mechanics. Parker and Munárriz inform me that Nunu does get extra complicated, however not a lot that the story takes a backseat.
“We actually have a possibility to discover and tease out these characters on the earth in additional bespoke, story-driven experiences like this,” Parker provides. “Half of this already existed in League of Legends, however in the event you can’t see the seams and the stitches meaning we’ve all been doing job.”
Very like Riot’s strategy to Arcane, Track of Nunu gained’t overload you with a great deal of LoL champions. Nunu and Willump gained’t be the one champions to look within the upcoming spinoff, positive, however don’t anticipate 50 to indicate up or one thing. The thought as an alternative is for champions to look in video games outdoors the MOBA when it is sensible for both the story or characters. I really requested Parker about this, who stated that Riot Forge by no means desires to “kitchen sink” its LoL spinoffs by including too many champions, and Track of Nunu positively advantages from letting the main focus be on the 2 of them.
Within the meantime, we’ve acquired your again with a LoL Enviornment tier record and an inventory of the best fantasy video games you must add to your backlog if the world of Track of Nunu appeals to you.
