Hearing the tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table growing up never failed to create a sense of awe and justice. The tale of a young man coming into his own and leading his kingdom into legend. Sword Legacy: Omen, however, is not that story.
With a strange plague ravaging the broken land of Britannia, Princess Igraine has been kidnapped and the kingdom of Wessex marches across the realm. Uther must join forces with the sorcerer Merlin, and a band of other characters from across Britannia in order to find the fabled sword Excalibur.
Gameplay
As a strategy based game, the game requires the player to move characters to different tiles and utilize abilities, the terrain, and objects on the stage to defeat the enemy forces. The characters all have a range of abilities and weapons types, from brute strength to swordsmanship to archery and magic. Sword Legacy: Omen does a fantastic job of stretching the strategic and cerebral gameplay itch that players have. Coming up with strategies, such as using Merlin’s teleport ability to swap places with a foe and surround them with the other characters, allows for individual’s creativity to flourish. As the story progresses, one can upgrade each character by unlocking new skills and incorporating that into their gameplay.
Aesthetic (Music and Art)
Sword Legacy: Omen’s most distinctive quality has to be it’s art style and music. Many areas where the game takes places are darker visually, fitting for the more serious take on the classic Arthurian tale. The stages themselves often depict the heaviness of war, with bodies and blood littering most areas. The renditions of the characters also match that tone; Merlin looking more ancient and cryptic that one would first imagine. Though the game does an effect job at portraying a ravaged and war torn Britannia, one can’t help but chuckle at the save icon being a floppy disc. Another relic from ancient times, has anyone even seen one of those things in recent years?
The music matches the drapes in that there is not much upbeatness or sense of adventure to them. The atmosphere of the game is well accompanied by the music, creating a sense of urgency and danger.
World (Characters, Plot, Lore)
One of the qualities of good storytelling is having the audience put two and two together. A spoon feed story requiring no brain power to process leaves a dull taste on most people’s tongue. Sword Legacy Online lore and story are created through collectibles hidden throughout the stage, and with cutscenes of writing and pictures being scribbled on parchment. World building also takes form in character interactions at camping spots between major cities. The player has to piece together what all the notes in a stage mean, and how to pertains to what’s happening in the plot overall. The relationships between characters depict a lot of strain due to circumstances in Britannia, and the paper scenes allow for a lot of story in a short amount of time. Admittedly, however, some of the dialogue and text can fall flat and predictable at times, but it does a sufficient job of telling the player what they need to know going into the next scene.
Overall
All in all, Sword Legacy: Omen provides a challenging strategic game, that delivers a more gruesome and darker take on the legends of King Arthur and Britannia. The story is provided in clues and in interactions, and requires some putting together in order to understand. Even with some of the writing falling flat at times, Sword Legacy: Omen is a difficult yet intriguing strategy game that carries a serious tone.
Score: 8 out of 10
Check Out the Sword Legacy: Omen Launch Trailer:
Sword Legacy: Omen is available for PC via Steam for $17.99.
Steam Review
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Overall Score - 8/108/10
Having spent my entire life gaming, my interests have expanded over to how the gaming industry has grown and developed into a globalized market over the course of my life time, as well as how games can build community and create a sense of belonging for people. I'm also trying to climb ranked in Overwatch so if you want to queue together, let me know
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