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Ruined King: A League of Legends Story is the latest RPG game that is developed by Airship Syndicate and published by Riot Forge.
Ruined King was officially released on November 16, 2021 after a showcase by Riot Forge on their Twitch channel. While the launch date was never mentioned, fans did not complain about the surprise release of one of the most anticipated games of the year.
Ruined King has been a matter of discussion ever since the game was announced. The Sentinels of Light event in League of Legends further aggravated the need for this game, especially for lore fanatics.
The game was touted as the one which was supposed to redeem Riot Games when it came to storytelling. It seems, though, that Ruined King has delivered in style as the game has shown massive consistency in terms of lore within the League of Legends universe.
However, Ruined King offers more than just lore. It offers a very unique take on RPG games that makes it different from the other popular titles in the market. The narrative, gameplay, combat, itemization, everything feels well integrated into the framework of the game.
Ruined King: A League of Legends Story provides a very unique take on the RPG genre
Ruined King provides everything that League of Legends fans ever wanted. A game that encapsulates its deep lore while also providing a way through which their favorite characters feel alive.
It makes sure that none of the characters in the game ever feel forced and that they are well integrated into the narrative. Ruined King’s narration is primarily executed through dialog as well as cinematics.
The cinematics primarily focus on tying up the key points in the story while the dialogs provide context to the present status of the characters in the game. However, none of the dialogs are disconnected from the cinematics as there is a flow to how both of them are placed one after the other.
There might be instances where a character speaks about a certain incident, while another one asks about the reason. In such a scenario a cinematic will play where the past is explained, before diving back into the present day.
Even then, the dive back is kept as streamlined as possible so that the flow to the story is never lost. This is probably one of the most vital points of Ruined King as this flow keeps players engrossed at all points of the game.
However, maintaining flow to a narrative is not enough if the core content of the game is not rock solid. Airship Syndicate kept this idea in mind as the lore, gameplay and combat makes sure that there are no loopholes left for players to exploit.
However, just mentioning these three vital features is not enough, as there is a lot more to them that needs to be discussed.
Ruined King’s lore remains true to League of Legends
One of the biggest criticisms of the Sentinels of Light event in League of Legends was its inconsistent lore. Therefore, a lot of expectation rested on the shoulders of Ruined King as lore fanatics were hungry for consistency.
The game delivers the same quite well as it ensures that nothing feels foreign and the universe of League of Legends is kept intact. Ruined King creates a link between the original lore of the characters while also uniquely integrating them within this game.
The game introduces a wide range of characters including Ahri, Yasuo, Miss Fortune, Illaoi, Braum and Pyke. All of these characters are well-known and each have their own individual lore within League of Legends.
Ruined King ensures that the lore of those characters are connected to their current status within the game. In other words, everything that happened to those characters and every decision that they make within Ruined King are all but connected.
The primary story of the game revolves around the harrowing and the black mist of Viego, the Ruined King. The black mist approaches Bilgewater and the strongest people from the region like Illaoi and Miss Fortune have to fight in order to protect themselves as well as the region.
However, in an effort to do so, their paths cross with others like Yasuo, Ahri and Braum.
This will become even more prominent through some really good examples. Miss Fortune, for instance, is currently the new leader of Bilgewater, after she managed to kill Gangplank. However, she is always conflicted by the decisions Gangplank made and the decisions she is taking.
She does not want to be the leader who believes in blood and gunpowder, and therefore tries to maintain diplomacy with others such as Illaoi. Illaoi is a Buhru priestess who goes by the name of the Truth Bearer. She also wants to protect Bilgewater, but her methods are different.
However, the motives of both of these personalities are the same. Therefore, when the black mist presented itself they decided to settle their differences and work together. If the original lore of Miss Fortune and Illaoi is focussed on, then their pasts are represented within the game in exactly the way that it exists within League of Legends.
It is the events of the past that drives them to act the way they do when the harrowing finally arrives. Miss Fortune knows that acting like a tyrant will not lead to any form of victory against a foe that is way mightier than what she has faced.
Therefore, asking for help from others is the right thing to do. However, this framework of story-telling is not just true for Illaoi and Miss Fortune as the same goes for Yasuo and Ahri as well. Yasuo and Ahri arrive in Bilgewater together as it continues from the cinematic Kin of the Stained Blade.
Yasuo wants to protect Ahri as he cannot forgive himself for everything that happened in Ionia and the fate of his brother Yone. Ahri on the other hand tries to remain composed as despite caring for Yasuo, she knows that eventually she will consume him.
Ahri is a Vastaya and they need to keep feeding on others to keep their insatiable hunger in check. Ahri once loved a man, but her Vastayan blood forced her to kill him. Once her primal instincts take over, she cannot control herself.
This is why despite traveling together and booking a tavern, she eventually wanders off at night to calm down her primal instincts. Yasuo, however, cannot let her go on her own (on account of his guilt to protect others) and goes out to find her while crossing paths with Illaoi and Braum.
This is another instance where the personal lore of the characters and their decisions ultimately bring them together. In short, everyone has their own personal agenda, but those needs ultimately play the catalyst which brings all of them together to fight a common enemy.
Ruined King’s Gameplay plays a key role in tying up the narrative as well as keeping a wide-range of fans invested
Ruined King’s gameplay is linear to say the least. The game presents quests to players where they need to move from one point to another and complete those tasks. The game, however, shines in the way those tasks are allocated.
The game does not spoon feed the players by any means. Players will be asked to explore a certain area. It is now up to the player on how efficiently they can explore and figure out the quest.
Finishing the quests requires completing puzzles and fighting enemies from time to time. While the puzzles and fights are easy to complete, they add diversity to the game and prevent it from getting monotonous.
To keep players engrossed, the gameplay ties quests, locations and events to lore. The lore is relayed in the form of cinematics, but it provides a purpose and makes the task of completing a quest feel necessary and important.
The game also has rest points which act as bonfires. Players refill their health and mana from these locations. The unique aspect of this is that characters are often involved in light conversations in rest points that further add onto the lore aspects tied to the gameplay.
However, gameplay does not only revolve around lore and puzzles, but items as well. Items in Ruined King are not very different to what people expect from other games. The game includes general RPG features like health and mana potions, enchantments, gold and several other items.
Gold is the primary currency of the game and is obtained from looting chests as well as from winning fights. Potions are obtained from chests and play a crucial role in keeping the players healthy in combat. Enchantments allow players to add certain abilities to their weapons. This can only be done through items found during combat and exploration.
Overall, the game combines basic RPG features and ties together with Ruined King’s narrative. In most RPG games, the gameplay often causes the lore and other features to drift apart. In Ruined King, however, the gameplay is crafted in a way that such a thing never happens.
The final aspect of Ruined King has to be its character progression system. Every character gains experience through battle and they level up eventually. Leveling up provides new abilities and upgrade points. Upgrade points can be further used to make abilities even stronger.
Ruined King’s combat is something that is very unique to western RPG games
Western RPG games primarily have combat where it involves casting a wide variety of spells and throwing them into an enemy. While it seems very flashy, the idea can become boring at times.
In order to prevent that from happening, Ruined King added a turn-based combat system. Players who have never played turn-based combat, it is very similar to card games like Duel Masters or Yu-Gi-Oh.
Players have certain characters and they have certain spells. They can either cast a spell which can be offensive or defensive, or they can directly attack the opposition. Some of the attacks cost mana, while others do not.
There are certain buffs that get activated randomly as soon as the fights begin and players need to use those to their advantage. Ruined King’s turn-based combat is very similar to that, and in-fact it improves on that feature.
They have added something known as the lane mechanic. The players have three lanes called “Balance Lane”, “Power Lane” and “Speed Lane”. Each lane has its own mana cost and its own special effect.
Players can switch lanes depending on what sort of effect they want to use. At the same time, there are special abilities allocated to each character, selecting which changes the position of the characters within the same lane.
The random buffs such as “Attack Power Up” or “Defence Up” get applied in the lane at a specific position. Players need to position their characters in the lane to ensure that they remain within the buff area for the effect to trigger.
The characters are obviously the primary protagonists of the story, namely Yasuo, Illaoi, Braum and the others. Depending on the story, the characters will keep switching and it is advisable that players get used to them as each has their own unique abilities.
Braum has defensive features, Illaoi can heal, while Yasuo is a damage type character. Since it is a turn based combat, selecting the appropriate ability is vital to gain advantage in battle. Going all out on offense or defense can prove to be fatal.
Final verdict on Ruined King: A League of Legends Story
Ruined King is definitely a brilliant game that Airship Syndicate has developed. It is a true representation of the actual League of Legends lore, but with intelligent and smart features. The way this game has tied gameplay to storytelling is something very few developers can manage.
The only criticism of the game is probably its graphics. It may feel a bit outdated, however, in all possibilities it was done to make sure that the game runs on a wide range of devices. Apart from that, the game does not leave a lot of scope to nitpick and find out flaws.
Ruined King is a game that many will find entertaining. It is a gold mine for those who are invested into the League of Legends lore as well as those who are just fans of the genre and want another game to spend some time with.
Overall, it is a brilliant game that everyone should play, as it is truly an achievement by Riot Forge and Airship Syndicate.
Ruined King: A League of Legends Story
Reviewed On: Lenovo Legion PC
Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch
Developer: Airship Syndicate
Publisher: Riot Forge
Release Date: November 16, 2021
Review Copy Provided by: Riot Games
