Another day, another new adventure! Just under the surface of the Kingdom of Kanata lies a mysterious labyrinth that guards treasures untold. Who but you dare venture into its endless dungeons, where beasts and secrets abound? But fear not, adventurer, for you will not be alone. Play as one of three classes with distinct abilities, and take an ally with you in co-op mode. Labyrinth Legend is a go!
Labyrinth Legend
Like I stated in my introduction, Labyrinth Legend focuses on the kingdom of Kanata. It is a kingdom that houses a cursed labyrinth, but instead of warding people away from the land, it entices would-be adventurers with promises of fortune and glory. As a silent protagonist, you aren’t given much motivation or reason for going there yourself, but you’ve decided to lift arms as well. After becoming stuck in the village, you’ll have to overpower this yet unconquered trap because all the good jobs have already been taken. With the NPCs providing more information with each dungeon clear, it’s a simple and effective way to unravel the story, even if it’s nothing groundbreaking.
Gameplay
Gameplay-wise we can break the game into two sections. The first takes place in the village, where you refine equipment and upgrade your items, giving you more resources when going into the dungeon. You’ll also learn more about what’s going on from the locals. Each time you clear the next part of the labyrinth, the villagers will have something new to say to you, with most of them having long given up on the idea of anyone vanquishing it. They’re safe enough in the village, so why not just make the most of it? Despite giving up themselves, they’re content to offer you better gear to take a stab at in exchange for gold and magic. There’s even an island where tamed monsters can be summoned as assistants for you in battle. Poké-Chibi-garden vibes for sure.
The more prominent component of the game comes from taking trips into the labyrinth. Floors are randomly generated, with each having a gateway that’ll go down to the next floor, but the only way to gain access is to find and kill the enemy holding the key. Even if you could leave immediately, you’d want to do some skulking about due to the random treasure chests lying around, which can hold better equipment than what you’re already using. Sometimes this comes from higher stats, but I also find the type of weapon matters a lot. For example, I thought the whip would be helpful due to its circular attack pattern, but you don’t want to let enemies get that close to you. Instead, I found the boomerangs to be better secondary weapons with how damage can stagger from stacking multiple, repeating attacks. I mainly used a spear instead of a sword for my primary weapon due to its higher stopping power and upgraded beneficiaries.
Handheld Docking
I played the game both in handheld and docked mode, and I urge you to play this game in docked mode. It feels more natural and helps beat down the more enormous bosses (since you have a better grasp of what’s happening). There are two attack buttons available related to what weapons you are equipped with, and I always assigned one of them as a long-range weapon so I wouldn’t mix the two up. I’d say the controls are primarily functional, but it can feel a bit clunky with how combat works. For example, you’ll hold down an attack button to maximize your DPS yet also need to release it early enough to get ready for the enemy’s counterattack.
Art & Sound
When checking out the trailer, I wasn’t too raved by the game’s graphics because there’s nothing that makes them stand out. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a sucker for pixelated games, but the visuals are pretty simple, even for pixel art. Labyrinth Legend has recognizable monster designs, environments that don’t pop with detail or variety, and some look flat or dull. For instance, when looking in my inventory, more often than not, the equipment looks like it’d be worthless, even if it winds up being a better choice than I have now. Other facets are reasonably good, such as specific attacks, but they aren’t that flashy or awe-inspiring. A shame since the overall game is pretty decent!
Whoever composed the music for Labyrinth Legend did a great job since I enjoyed the tunes quite a bit. The music has an apparent, crisp sound quality and incorporates a good blend of instruments to make for easy-to-enjoy songs. They’re a bit on the short si, de though, so they quickly loop upon themselves. That’s a pretty minor complaint overall, though, and I suspect many people would be surprised at the quality for some of these tracks. Some of the sound effects feel a bit flat, such as your sword slashes, but the sound effects are otherwise satisfactory enough.
Conclusion
So, to conclude! Labyrinth Legend might be of greater interest to someone who’s not played many roguelike games, but it doesn’t offer very much to someone who’s experienced in the genre. It might be a bit too simple for someone who played Binding of Isaac, Dead Cells, and many more back to back. For example, the combat is too simple, as it revolves around hit and run movements and long-range spamming attacks heavily before switching back to close-range weaponry. In addition, the gameplay feels a bit stilted and unengaging with enemies telegraphing their attacks, which have significant delays. The bosses, on the other hand, are all pretty damn hard. This resulted in a bit of a grind-fest, though, since I used it to get more gold and level-ups so I could grind through it faster, instead of finding myself having fun with it, so after a few hours, I just stopped playing. Does this make Labyrinth Legend a bad game? No, on the contrary. It’s the perfect game for newcomers to the roguelike genre but might lose its uniqueness among the others already out there on the Nintendo E-shop.
