After about two years of development, Re: Legend, the new RPG from Magnus Games Studio and 505 Games, is available on Steam in an early access version. We have tried it for you and we must say that it pleasantly surprised us in almost all respects.
This is not a classic RPG but it is a mix of various genres. Take Stardew Valley, add a little Harvest Moon and finally something Pokémon: this is, in summary, what Re: Legend seemed to us. Now let's try to explain it to you better.
The game opens with a short sequence where the main protagonist, who can be created to one's liking by changing his physical appearance and clothing, is thrown into the sea by a mysterious figure, finding himself without strength and without memory on the beach of a island in an unknown world called Ethia. After being treated by the community doctor, he will discover that he has been shipwrecked on the island of Vokka, populated by humans and friendly giant penguins. The kingdom of Ethia, divided into 5 islands all freely explorable, is also populated by strange creatures with a bizarre appearance including the Magnus, small and apparently aggressive dragons, who can later be trained to ensure that they help us in the continuation of the story.
At this point the village chief will give us an old farm from which we can begin to face the main story of the game, which will consist in recovering our lost memory and finding the mysterious character who tried to kill us. To do all this, however, we will have to first of all complete the quests that will be entrusted to us by the various NPCs scattered around the kingdom.
But it does not end there: between one quest and the other we will have to try to improve the skills of our alter-ego and earn money to upgrade weapons and armor. Here comes the management aspect of Re: Legend: growing fruit and vegetables, cutting wood, digging in mines, fishing, retrieving food and objects and improving your farm are all fun activities that we will find ourselves doing very often. Very interesting and fun look is also crafting that is not limited to the simple combination of the various elements but is a real mini game where we will have to try to make the cursor stop inside colored bars and, the more precise we are, the more there will be the possibility that the objects created have bonuses.
The island of Vokka is a kind of freely explorable city populated by carpenters, blacksmiths, warriors, fishermen and sellers of various types of goods. With each of them, and also with the citizens, it will be possible to interact through short written dialogues and establish a friendship made up of gifts or completion of quests. To help you move there will be a small mini-map on the screen that will show you the NPCs you can interact with and the various shops or taverns available. We found it a bit frustrating to always press the confirm button to enter a new area and the minimap is very uncomfortable, as it really shows a small portion of the game world and it is often easy to lose orientation and find yourself forced to take a look to the main map using the M key. However, here and there in the game map, there are also some teleportation points that facilitate movement and save time.
It should be remembered that each character you deal with will have their own preferences in terms of gifts and missions to perform. Consequently, the quests that will be entrusted to you will inevitably lead you to explore the other areas of the kingdom of Ethia. But they will not all be available immediately, to access some of them you will have to overcome bosses and fight them with sword, spear and bow, and this is where the combat system comes in.
Wandering around the areas of the island you will come across various types of monsters, more or less aggressive, which you can defeat, consequently obtaining special materials for the manufacture of rare items or types of food otherwise unavailable in the kingdom. The fights are simple to master - at least at the beginning - and take place with a combination of mouse and keyboard that we found a bit tricky anyway.: with the mouse you guide the attacks and with the keyboard you can dodge and position yourself for the next attack. This combined system sounds simple, but in battles against multiple enemies, you tend to lose a little sense of what you are doing.
However, do not worry: we will always be able to get help from the Magnus - creatures similar to dragons, as we have previously mentioned - who, if trained and cared for properly, will become our friends and help us in the fighting. using their abilities, to be upgraded during the adventure. There are various types of Magnus, different for each region of the island, each with special characteristics and abilities. To make one of them become your faithful friend you will have to teach him. This aspect of Re: Legend also takes place through a mini game where, in a few seconds, you will have to try to hold an indicator in the center of a circle by repeatedly pressing the 4 buttons on the keyboard dedicated to movements. This mechanism is not simple at the beginning but little by little you become familiar with it even if, continuing in the adventure and with the increasingly powerful Magnus, it will always be a little effort.
The main story of the game, enriched by numerous side quests, is undoubtedly interesting and is peppered with a excellent graphic sector which, despite showing some uncertainty here and there, offers noteworthy scenarios: from the countryside to the desert, from sunny beaches to mountain peaks. The choice of colors is also excellent, very bright but never out of place. The animations aren't great but they do their job. The background music is also excellent, created by the Boston Video Game Orchestra, which offer moments of true relaxation. There is no auto-save function so every time you want to save your game, you have to go to our farm.
There is also the possibility to play Re: Legend in online co-op mode for up to 4 players. In early access we were unable to test this mode, however, since in our grueling search for probable adventure companions we had to give up in the face of long waits seasoned by some unexpected crashes of the game.
Re: Legend, while still in early access, it seemed to us a title already quite complete about which there is still a lot to say. The gameplay is solid and the graphics are very good, as is the audio. Uncertainties remain about the management of the character's movements, the minimap does not help and the mouse plus keyboard combination should be improved. We also tried to use a joypad but it is not yet possible to configure the keys. Even the dialogues are limited to simple text messages filled with some animation. The online multiplayer still needs to be fixed but the conditions for a great success are all there. Re: Legend succeeds in reinventing a game mechanics already used by other titles of this genre from a new point of view, adding an interesting and fun crafting system, a Magnus training phase that can give satisfaction and a main captivating story. For the moment, only the PC version of the game is available but versions are planned, in the future, also for consoles including Nintendo Switch. Basically, if you like the RPG genre seasoned with the relaxation of peasant life, we advise you to keep an eye on it.
