Ruined King: A League of Legends Story

 PlayStation 4
User Score
6.9

Mixed or average reviews- based on 40 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 40
  3. Negative: 10 out of 40

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  1. DarkSage
    Nov 30, 2021
    7
    This is a good game (7 is a good mark). It's not as good as Battlechasers, but had fun with. Finished on veteran around 40h, completing almost everything.

    The good: fun battle system, great story, fun (but previously established) characters, nice music and sounds. Engine provides solid graphics and as always looks nice in its cartoonish-cellshading style. The bad: too much loadings,    This is a good game (7 is a good mark). It's not as good as Battlechasers, but had fun with. Finished on veteran around 40h, completing almost everything.

    The good: fun battle system, great story, fun (but previously established) characters, nice music and sounds. Engine provides solid graphics and as always looks nice in its cartoonish-cellshading style.

    The bad: too much loadings, which take too much time, making the quasi-obligatory backtracking tedious. Gameplay wise, it has horribly slow start, revealing mechanics without any serious plan for first 6h. On the other hand, close to the end you just don't want to fight anymore, because fights became repetitive and not challenging (at least on veteran). While weaker enemies run away from the party, level difference needs to be 6+, but you end at level 30 with most areas boosting enemies to level 25.

    Pathed version I played still had a lot of bugs. Especially game crushing after battles (from programming perspective, I think they have some issue with adding new entries to Bestiary; reloading game fixes problem for time). Since autosave is scarse, there is no quicksave and entering saving menu after most battles take so much time it was element that ruined my experience most.

    Compared to Battlechasers food lost it's importance, since you can only buy it, and enchantments don't feel so powerful, especially since 3 of characters rely on critical hits, so you naturally boost it for them. Also casting healing skill before killing all enemies will no longer cast it before battle end. Also it feels there is much less variety in environments, but it is due to the story. More enemy types would be fun, but it's not too bad.

    Overall I recommend playing it to all fans of RPG, especially older jRPG types. I don't feel my time wasted in general, but also I probably won't play it again to get platinum.    … Expand
  2. Ariseinthepire
    May 29, 2022
    6
    As a fan of the studio with high expectations from past games, this feels like a step back.

    Key point The power growth of the RPG mechanics are not acknowledged in the story. This effectively renders the RPG genre it exists within pointless. In Pokémon, SMTV, Wastlanders 3 and so on your need to grow in power is acknowledged narratively and drives the experience. Every RPG    As a fan of the studio with high expectations from past games, this feels like a step back.

    Key point

    The power growth of the RPG mechanics are not acknowledged in the story. This effectively renders the RPG genre it exists within pointless.

    In Pokémon, SMTV, Wastlanders 3 and so on your need to grow in power is acknowledged narratively and drives the experience. Every RPG mechanic in this game is not acknowledged by the characters to the point that growth feels superficial.

    Poor level design

    The evolution of Turn based RPGs has enemies visible in the world. This means that levels can be engaging because there is the choice to avoid the enemies. This game has given floor enemies so much speed nearly every mob is needs to be cleared by player.

    Mechanics

    Running in the world feels wrong, sluggish, and laborious. Character abilities feel token and tacked on.

    Story

    The story is rushed. The developments lack meaning. With no single protagonist to focus on the narrative lacks a anchor.

    Visuals

    On PS5 the game looks like it is from 2007 and the game has purchasable DLC for outfits that are honestly the terrible.

    Summary,

    Very disappointed. Massive fan of the studio's past games. This one feels rushed, half baked and without real passion. If you come into this expecting a game that oozes love for league of legends or the RPG genre you will not find such a game.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

34
#34 Best PS4 Game of 2021
38
#38 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. PLAY
    Feb 23, 2022
    80
    Detailed, characterful, and with a mechanical twist that adds depth to turn-based combat. Don’t let any preconceptions about League Of Legends put you off this spin-off. [Issue#9, p.77]
  2. GameSpot
    Dec 14, 2021
    80
    Ruined King: A League Of Legends Story has set the bar for future forays into League of Legends lore. The story Airship Syndicate tells here delivers in a big way, turning these six champions into the new faces of the franchise. The JRPG Airship crafted around its story is also wonderful, creating a feeling of playing League of Legends while actually playing a turn-based RPG battle. A few technical issues pop up here and there, but outside of the rare crash, none of them break the experience for every game. If this is the level of detail that future Riot Forge projects reach, we will all hail the Ruined King for ushering in this new era.
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  3. IGN
    Nov 30, 2021
    80
    Ruined King: A League of Legends Story is a deep turn-based RPG that lets us experience Runeterra from a whole new perspective and gives its characters room to grow.
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