Look don't touch.
As a long time on and off League of Legends enjoyer I was pretty excited to see Riot partner with studios to make non-MOBA games within their flagship titles' deep and interesting universe. After watching gameplay of the Ruined King game my interest waned despite being a fan of that lore and a very seasoned Thresh player, mostly because the gameplay seemed genuinely uninteresting to me. Mageseeker's announcement had me interested right away as I was drawn to the rich pixel art and story of a character I was largely unfamiliar (though still curious) with. I spent a lot of time in high school and college playing League and reading up and down each character background and region wiki that I could, as Riot has carefully crafted a rich roster of over 110+ characters (at that point) with unique histories and relations to one another. I don't play League too much anymore, as freetime is a virtue and it becomes harder and harder to learn character rework mechanics, but I still am very interested in the world that League of Legends has to offer. Arcane for instance is one of my favorite shows from the last few years simply because of how well it treats the decade+ long universe in its storytelling.
Mageseeker at its core is a 2d Pixel Action game in which you take advantage of Sylas' lore/in-game mechanic of being able to copy enemy spells and make them your own. This mechanic itself is not too different from Kirby, but you use this to unlock new abilities and mix and match combos that work for you with recruits you meet from your journey. These spells unfortunately do get quite stale as you've got your basic missile, shields, aoe's, and splash magic attacks that spread across the elements. Some spells simply feel better to use than others despite not being necessary for the enemies on the mission you're embarking on. Weakness targeting is a big part of the game, ie using fire spells on ice enemies and light spells on dark enemies, meaning that you need to be cognizant of what spells you are picking up from enemies and employing at checkpoints where you can switch these out. In theory this is alright and an idea not foreign to indie games like this, but it became a bit of a chore to spam magic in conjunction with physically attacking the enemies.
Unfortunately a symptom that I've found of action games like this is that they become button mashers. Sure there's a rhyme and reason to tactfully hitting your attacks and putting in your spells at the right time, but I felt fairly early on that spamming all I could as fast as I could was the right way to do things. Unfortunately the dodge/move timings in Mageseeker have a large input delay to them, which is a massive gripe I have in games that are meant to be fast. There were honestly too many times to count within this title that I found myself executing a light or heavy attack and pressing the dodge button BEFORE the enemy even queued up to attack, but would be hit by said enemy because the buffer timing was so poor. I think to play this game on its harder difficulty and/or to its 100% completion, I would have to have better feedback on my moves and dodges. Difficulty tuning was also a bit awkward... enemies feel like punch sponges and you definitely DON'T get the necessary amount of potions refilled if you lose a fight to succeed in the subsequent attempts.
Where I'd say Mageseeker Magesucceeds is in the way it treats its lore and tells a story that was previously hidden behind text logs and indirect storytelling from Riot. Sylas is a complicated character with an interestingly sad backstory, which is told quite well. Demacia is a complicated place, and if you know League lore is supposed to be a place of righteousness and justice, which unfortunately comes with its own strict forms of punishment and adherance to a rigid lifestyle. It's awesome to see more exposition behind League's most familiar characters like Jarvan IV, Garen, Shyvana, Morgana, and Lux (my main!) in a light different from inting down mid lane.
Mageseeker is alright, I probably like it more than it's worth because I am one of those people who have spent wayyyy too much time on Summoner's Rift. I don't know if I'd recommend it to anyone except for those looking to experience more lore from League of Legends.
As a long time on and off League of Legends enjoyer I was pretty excited to see Riot partner with studios to make non-MOBA games within their flagship titles' deep and interesting universe. After watching gameplay of the Ruined King game my interest waned despite being a fan of that lore and a very seasoned Thresh player, mostly because the gameplay seemed genuinely uninteresting to me. Mageseeker's announcement had me interested right away as I was drawn to the rich pixel art and story of a character I was largely unfamiliar (though still curious) with. I spent a lot of time in high school and college playing League and reading up and down each character background and region wiki that I could, as Riot has carefully crafted a rich roster of over 110+ characters (at that point) with unique histories and relations to one another. I don't play League too much anymore, as freetime is a virtue and it becomes harder and harder to learn character rework mechanics, but I still am very interested in the world that League of Legends has to offer. Arcane for instance is one of my favorite shows from the last few years simply because of how well it treats the decade+ long universe in its storytelling.
Mageseeker at its core is a 2d Pixel Action game in which you take advantage of Sylas' lore/in-game mechanic of being able to copy enemy spells and make them your own. This mechanic itself is not too different from Kirby, but you use this to unlock new abilities and mix and match combos that work for you with recruits you meet from your journey. These spells unfortunately do get quite stale as you've got your basic missile, shields, aoe's, and splash magic attacks that spread across the elements. Some spells simply feel better to use than others despite not being necessary for the enemies on the mission you're embarking on. Weakness targeting is a big part of the game, ie using fire spells on ice enemies and light spells on dark enemies, meaning that you need to be cognizant of what spells you are picking up from enemies and employing at checkpoints where you can switch these out. In theory this is alright and an idea not foreign to indie games like this, but it became a bit of a chore to spam magic in conjunction with physically attacking the enemies.
Unfortunately a symptom that I've found of action games like this is that they become button mashers. Sure there's a rhyme and reason to tactfully hitting your attacks and putting in your spells at the right time, but I felt fairly early on that spamming all I could as fast as I could was the right way to do things. Unfortunately the dodge/move timings in Mageseeker have a large input delay to them, which is a massive gripe I have in games that are meant to be fast. There were honestly too many times to count within this title that I found myself executing a light or heavy attack and pressing the dodge button BEFORE the enemy even queued up to attack, but would be hit by said enemy because the buffer timing was so poor. I think to play this game on its harder difficulty and/or to its 100% completion, I would have to have better feedback on my moves and dodges. Difficulty tuning was also a bit awkward... enemies feel like punch sponges and you definitely DON'T get the necessary amount of potions refilled if you lose a fight to succeed in the subsequent attempts.
Where I'd say Mageseeker Magesucceeds is in the way it treats its lore and tells a story that was previously hidden behind text logs and indirect storytelling from Riot. Sylas is a complicated character with an interestingly sad backstory, which is told quite well. Demacia is a complicated place, and if you know League lore is supposed to be a place of righteousness and justice, which unfortunately comes with its own strict forms of punishment and adherance to a rigid lifestyle. It's awesome to see more exposition behind League's most familiar characters like Jarvan IV, Garen, Shyvana, Morgana, and Lux (my main!) in a light different from inting down mid lane.
Mageseeker is alright, I probably like it more than it's worth because I am one of those people who have spent wayyyy too much time on Summoner's Rift. I don't know if I'd recommend it to anyone except for those looking to experience more lore from League of Legends.