A bittersweet end to Riot Forge
This is the end of the Riot Forge experiment, with Bandle City the last in the League of Legend stories being released it is indeed a sad day. Riot Forge was an awesome idea that took the MOBA world of League of Legends and expanded it by creating character driven stories that allowed the exploration of some of the most well-known champions from Runeterra. Among the cut backs thru the industry parent company Riot has had to close down the Forge but not before publishing one last title for fans, this time focusing on the cute and deadly (but mostly cute) Yordles.
MSRP: $24.99
Platforms: Switch (reviewed), PC
Price I’d Pay: $24.99
In Bandle City: A League of Legends Tale from Lazy Bear Games; players will create their own Yordle from a rather generous amount of customization options. The story is pretty simple in set up, the players will attend a party with some eccentric characters. Thinks go all ‘weird science” and the world is broken, so now our brave little yordle sets out to save their world through the power of…. crafting. Yes, crafting because you see the back story for our new friend is that we have been an apprentice magical knitter for the last 100 years and we are finally ready to spread out little knitty fingers.
All of the tasks in Bandle city will follow a similar pattern: crafting, completing quests, earning badges, and unlocking new crafting recipes. This also leads into stories that get bigger, a simple objective of finding a backpack which doubles as a house like the tents in Harry Potter, spirals to finding a new home for some animals using it as a nest, which led to exploring the beautifully colorful world of Yarnsville. Bandle City is a cozy type game, which is a seemingly new genre of video game that is seeing a boon in the wake of games like Stardew Valley and Fae Farms. Games that don’t focus on attacks but instead are just chill vibes and good music with some simple yet satisfying gameplay loops.
Players will perform various tasks such as farming, cooking, fishing and gathering all of which help with the main goal which is throwing fun ass parties. That’s right, players will spend time throwing fun mixers and festivals for the local yordles to help win them over and inspire them to band together to help fix the world. Players will learn crafting recipes to create festive decorations among other party themed items that will help to liven up each event. I must admit that I found myself smiling like a big ole kid when I got everything together and started my first party. Seeing all the various yordles walk around and dance and mingle was just a fun sight. And it helped that the game has a really good soundtrack which helps to accentuate the cozy/chill vibes.
This is such a bittersweet moment since this is the last game from Riot Forge. I have enjoyed each and every game more than the last and was hopeful that we would get a game that would focus on Darius (my favorite champ in LoL) but alas it was not to be. With Bandle City the developer Lazy Bear Games has done an excellent job of bringing the world of the Yordles to life. As I said the graphics are all bright and colorful with a whimsical vibe throughout and a soundtrack that’s among the greatest for the genre. I had no idea what to expect from this game when I started it but I ended up loving every moment.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
