Legends of Amberland: The Forgotten Crown Review for Nintendo Switch

Legends of Amberland: The Forgotten Crown, is a traditional western RPG by Silver Lemur Games, and ported over to the Nintendo Switch by Pineapple Works. In it, the player controls and adventuring party of seven heroes consisting of elves, dwarves, humans, and half-elves, to go on an adventure to find the king’s lost crown, which has been magically erased from the kingdom’s memory.

In Legends of Amberland, quick start gives you a premade party consisting of a knight, two warriors, a paladin, a bard, a healer, and a wizard. While this party composition is balanced, the player also has the opportunity to build their own party. I initially opted to build a party consisting mostly of hybrid magic users, with a dedicated healer. However, after a few hours of gameplay, my party had gotten KO’d and I had to start over from the beginning. I forgot to save and so eventually completed the game with the default party settings.

            The game leans heavily on tile-based exploration and turn-based combat, so Dungeons & Dragons players who enjoy roleplay, character interaction, and creative problem-solving will feel a little left out. However, for those who enjoy long crawls through dungeons teeming with monsters and littered with traps will feel right at home. Because of the game’s emphasis on straightforward combat, there is no rogue or thief class.

Exploring the game’s overworld and dungeons is very free-flow, similar to that of the original Legend of Zelda game. You, the player, are technically free to wander all over the map, and are given minimal guidance for how you choose to complete your tasks. While you are free to explore most areas in the game, the monsters inhabiting those areas act as gatekeepers. If you are careful, you can strafe along the sides of the monsters to avoid combat. This is useful if your party is under-leveled and has stumbled upon a dangerous area, or if you are all out of health, magic, and need to find an inn.

Another interesting thing to note is that monsters do not respawn. On the one hand, this means that once a dungeon has been cleared, you can be sure to cross it off your list and move on to explore the nearby dwarven village. Sometimes I found this to be pretty amusing, as at one point in the game I had eliminated every single frost troll on the north-eastern continent, while a local hunter insists that the trolls are bothering him. On the other hand, this means that you cannot grind an area for gold or experience points. This means that all the resources in the game are limited, and that it is possible to run out of gold. However, the game throws so many monsters and items at the player that you would have to make a sincere effort to run out of gold.

            If you find that your party is under-leveled for a specific region, (I myself had trouble crossing a desert infested with vipers and giant scorpions) it might be a good idea to see if there are any areas or dungeons closer to your level that you may have missed. The map is incredibly large and packed with characters offering side-quests with powerful weapons, armor, and boat-loads of XP as rewards.

The quest progression reminds me of untangling a mess of earbud chords. You know that there is a reward at the end, but many of the quests are tied together, and to complete one quest you must solve another. This is especially true of the main quest, which seems simple from its introduction before bombarding the player with obstacles. As you start completing quests, they come apart in clusters. Just like untangling a nest of cords, the game becomes a little more linear and focused with each completed quest.

            Legends of Amberland: The Forgotten Crown is a solid port to the Nintendo Switch. With each level-up and completed objective, my completionist monkey-brain got a burst of feel-good chemicals. I give it an 8/10.

Check Out the Legends of Amberland: The Forgotten Crown Trailer:

Legends of Amberland: The Forgotten Crown is available via the Nintendo eShop for $17.99.