Time to start some trouble
The League of Legends anime Arcane took the world by storm in 2021, finally showing everyone what I have long known: League of Legends is full of so much more than just a MOBA. So it is that they have been making games for various champions from Runeterra finally getting these characters out of Summoners Rift. In Convergence: A League of Legends story, developer Double Stallion has made the star of this game the young, genius inventor Ekko.
Ekko was featured in Arcane as he is from Zaun, which is the dangerous undercity of the rich and utopian city of Piltover. Those above in the shiny streets looked down on those who live in Zaun as being less than. Zaun is a rough place to live, full of warring gangs, drug barons and is a place that is policed by fear. Full of dilapidated buildings, ‘off-limit’ areas, and of course a fog that rolls over everything, it’s just the place where a genius inventor can make good use of his skills. Ekko manages to make Zaun into his own playground with his various gadgets and ability to manipulate time.
MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $29.99
Convergence is a ‘Metroidvania’ game which means that players will slowly unlock all of Ekko’s various abilities. Which for fans of him in LoL I can confirm that the developers have managed to include his whole kit here and each of his abilities are a joy to use. His main ability ‘rewind’ is going to find the most use, akin to the same way it worked in Prince of Persia: Sands of Time; Ekko can rewind time to correct a missed jump or avoid an incoming attack from an enemy. While rewind has no cooldown it can only be used for as many time circuits as Ekko has on hand.
Which makes resource management a thing come late game as players will have more than a dozen charges to rewind time but will have to temper those with low health. Ekko isn’t a tank, so he doesn’t take a lot of hits, instead using his gadgets to get out of situations. He is equipped with a large light bat that can hand out a wallop, but players will have to pay attention to enemies as Ekko can’t just wail on them until they fall and will need to dodge attacks.
Exploring this bright a colorful version of Zaun is a real joy, the brighter depiction of the city from the more mature, dark and gritty version from Arcane was a wise choice. The bright color palette lends itself to Ekko’s ‘punk’ style with his love of lots of neon bright colors. Even the various denizens who make up the background all look great and stand out. Ekko is a man of the people and a force for good in Zaun, so whenever anyone needs help or is in trouble, he is always first to help. As such there are quite a few side quests that players can tackle during their time in Convergence. One of my complaints is that some of these quests can take away from the main story and in the case of some cameos (looking at you Jinx) Ekko will need to take a full sabbatical away from his goals to stop Jinx from being well…Jinx.
Convergence is my favorite League of Legends side story thus far. Double Stallion did a fantastic job of taking a champions kit and realizing it in a totally different genre of game and made each ability shine. Ekko as a character has a sort of an infectious positivity about him and his willingness to aid a hand to help his city and those in need is something that we need more of in the real world. Full of cameos and easter eggs for League fans and having some genuinely fun boss fights against some champions from Runeterra there is a lot to love in Convergence for longtime LoL fans. Its solid gameplay, fantastic graphical style, and excellent metroidvania gameplay makes this game one that even those non-fans of the series will love.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
