Ruined King: A League of Legends Story Review

The city of Bilgewater is under the control of the self-proclaimed Pirate King, Gangplank, but there is a vengeful spirit in the one known as Captain Sarah Fortune. Gangplank took away her mother, and when a dark, twisted event called The Harrowing, a time when black mist crept along areas of Bilgewater, killing and destroying anything that it touches, Sarah not only helps to beat back the mist but kills Gangplank. Since his death Sarah has tried to unite the different factions of Bilgewater, but the resistance is challenging. Then, one night, dark spirits invade her home and make her change her focus. Illaoi, a priestess of Nagakabouros, has an inkling of what is occurring and she’s going to need Sarah’s help if there is any hope of stopping something much worse than the Harrowing from happening.

In Ruined King: A League of Legends Story, you will control a party of three characters (at a time, you will gain a roster of six characters as you progress through the game). Each of these characters will have different ways of helping you both in traversing the areas that you’ll be moving through, as well as in combat. If you are traversing different areas you can quickly swap between your three active party members, if you want to switch out party members you will have to interact with a campfire totem, or rest in the inn. In each area there, at bare minimum, treasure chests to find and pieces of lore to uncover. I highly recommend that you discover everything you can from each area. I would say that it is nice that you will be given a counter (x out of a specific number) so you know when you don’t have to comb over an area any more. 

As you can probably guess there’s going to be plenty to keep you busy throughout the game. The lore will give you points that once you gain enough you’ll gain a special book for your character that will then unlock a rune shard that will help modify your character to make their skills stronger in battle. Each character has two different focuses to apply rune shards to, and although it took me too long to figure this out, you will get extra rewards for putting enough shards into one of those focuses. You’ll also gain skill points as you level up your character that you can use to amplify the effects of their attacks and skills. On top of all that you’re going to be equipping your characters with different items (weapon, armor, ring, necklace, trinket) to help bolster stats, but don’t forget that you also have the ability to enchant said items to give them special effects, or increase in rarity.

If you think the game surely doesn’t have any other additional wrinkles you would be wrong. There’s also a fishing mini-game. As you progress through the game you’re going to come upon different spots that will be teeming with a certain number of sea creatures to catch, all you have to do is successfully cast out your line and reel them in. Yes, you’re going to have to be on the lookout for upgrades to your fishing equipment so that you can pull in bigger and stronger fish. All the fish that you catch you will eventually turn in for a special game currency called black marks. There are hidden dealers that have items that are only sold for black marks. There are chances that when you fish you might pull in a treasure chest, and usually they are filled with ingredients you need for your enchantment endeavors. 

Let's get into the combat portion of this review. All combat is turn-based, with the exception of the fact that characters can try to hit the enemies roaming around an area before the combat starts. Everything happens according to the timeline on the screen. There are three rows (or lanes) to the timeline (speed, balance, power), normal actions are always in the balance lane. When you use a special skill you can change your lane and it will change your damage (or effect that the skill will unleash) as well as the amount of time that is needed to complete the skill (so a stronger special attack will take longer, while a special attack that is done quickly won’t carry as much damage with it). There will be battles that will have rounds to them, so keep an eye on your characters’ health and ailments. As you progress through a fight you’re going to be gaining ultimate skill points, these do not carry over after a battle is completed, so be careful. Once you’ve accumulated enough points, a character can pull off a tier 1 ultimate, and as you progress through the game you’ll unlock tier 2 and 3 ultimates to really destroy anything that stands in your way.

This is a game that I easily sank over 33 hours into, and  I don’t regret it. There were definitely a couple of glitches here and there, but there were never enough problems to stop me from playing through the game. There is definitely the option to immerse yourself more into the story, and into the backstories of your characters if you wish, but it isn’t needed to defeat the game. You’re definitely going to run up against some enemies that will tear you apart no matter what, but that makes the victories all the sweeter when you are able to pull off the upset with only a sliver of health with your final character. I could see this game becoming the blueprint for other “League of Legends Stories” where we might have a chance to sample more of the characters and locales that are present in the LoL universe, but for now I would simply recommend that you check out Ruined King, and take it for a spin.