Wizard of Legend – PC Review
4 min read
Wizard of Legend, developed and published by Contingent99, is an exciting dungeon crawler with randomly generated levels. Little information is divulged early on about the character, but they do appear mysterious, donned in a hooded robe with glowing eyes. The game is designed to appear in 32-bit graphics, but Contingent99 has gone above and beyond expectations for what is possible with this scheme. The non-player characters, and later on the enemies, have noticeably different features. It feels like the right graphic style was chosen for this game already, but could be more enjoyable with stronger detail.
Ahead is the Lanovian Museum and seeing as there was no place else to go, it was time to explore. The museum turns out to be a tutorial. Speak with the people at the desks to earn arcana and learn how to use them. Talk to the non-player characters to learn some lore and history about the Chaos Trials and the wizards of the council. Simple and yet lacking. At some point, I started to wonder if that was all. There was no hint about the game’s destination. Would a princess be kidnapped? Would the museum be sucked into a vortex and sent across space and time?
Not so much. Upon inspecting the last artifact of the museum, the player is transported to a new place within the same realm. A mirror named Veres informs that you have been chosen for the trials that were explained in the museum. Outside the building are shops to purchase new arcana and relics using chaos gems, however they offer no description of the items. It is important to customize the arcana because you can only hold so many in the Arcana Grimoire. Experiment and find the best combination to suit your unique play style. There’s a variety of spells that involve fire, ice, lightning, and wind. The player can swap which arcana is assigned to each button. There are also different relics to increase health, defense, attack, or a plethora of other options. Lastly, you may choose to purchase new robes later that provide different benefits.
After venturing through the village, the player will happen across an insignia on the ground. Step on it and finally the tutorial is over. Let the action begin! Instantly it becomes obvious that this is a randomly generated game. The three areas are either earth, fire, or water, which also appear in a random order. The beginning location of the dungeon is always central but the enemies, the vendors, and the dungeon boss are constantly in a new location. Now the game becomes exciting and difficult, but the music helps keep the blood pumping for the next battle!
I actually only learned the dungeons were completely random after my first game over. On that note, this game is unforgiving. The relics picked up in a dungeon are gone upon defeat, and the player starts from the beginning of the six dungeons. Each dungeon is crawling with deadly archers, spearmen, demons, zombies, ninjas, and just a little bit of everything. Death comes quickly while using the keyboard and mouse. Then, switch to a gamepad, and my skills drastically improve. I tried a third-party controller first and that didn’t work, but my Xbox One controller did, so first party gamepads should be fine. The game seems to be designed for Xbox One as the buttons displayed are A, B, X, and Y in their corresponding colors. The movement was smooth, however aiming an attack proved a struggle. More game time might help improve that skill though.
Co-op mode helped to increase chances of completing the dungeons. In this mode, when one or the other dies, there is the possibility of being revived by collecting green orbs. Alas, I am no legendary wizard. I was constantly thwarted before the end of the second dungeon. In co-op it can be easy to lose track of the character, even when wearing different colored cloaks. Picking up a potion for a hundred coins heals all party members. I highly recommend this as a cooperative game to play with friends, as long as you coordinate which corridors to take first.
Overall, I will be coming back to play this game. If you love a challenge, and slinging magic to make awesome combinations, this game is a great choice. The difficulty might be a deterrent for some, but the more I played the better I became. Combining spells and dashing at the right moment are extremely important. The action in this game is tough to capture in words, so check this game out for some fast-paced dungeon action and see if you are a Wizard of Legend.
