It doesn’t help that the game’s UI relies on an icon system that is oddly difficult to figure out. Selecting your character and determining where to go is surprisingly cumbersome, as if it was meant for a keyboard, not a Joy-Con. So, there’s a lot to consider, and the visual cues aren’t terribly helpful. Movement/attack options are limited during each turn, and you need to consider how open you are to attack after your turn is up. You can jump up on boxes, for example, to get the high ground on an attack or to avoid an enemy, but it takes up more of your movement time. Initial placement is very important, as you’ll want to make sure characters are able to defend themselves and each other while being able to land attacks.ĭirection matters, as does height. Combat requires you to select and equip your combatants, then place them on the combat grid. It’s actually kind of like the orb-break system used in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and beating the tougher bosses can feel just as rewarding.ĭifficulty, however, isn’t the real issue with Black Legend pacing is. This is especially important in the game’s boss battles, which are pretty difficult even with the game’s easiest settings. It gives you a wonderful layer of combat strategy beyond the typical weapon selection and positioning. You can combine these, then use them to unleash catalyst attacks for devastating damage.

Here, you’ll utilize elemental skills that attach “instabilities” to your enemies. Obtaining a new weapon means you now have access to the classes that use it, so it’s easy to customize your group as you prefer.īeing effective at combat, however, also requires you to master an alchemy system based on humorism. There are 15 available classes, all of which allow you to use a variety of weapons. Most strategy RGPs task you with customizing skills, weapons, and armor to optimize your party, and that does exist here. Thankfully, the combat gives you something new with which to play around. Again, great for cohesion, but not great if you’re used to the occasional change of pace. This means you’ll get an awful lot of grays with the occasional sprinkle of browns, and there you are. There are no other locations to visit, so the scenery never changes. The problem, however, is that this wonderfully creepy town is all you’re going to see. This approach does a fantastic job of immersing you within this wonderfully creepy town. You’ll see enemies down alleys, and whether you try to engage them or sneak past them is often up to you.

Instead of the traditional exposition followed by setup followed by a new grid for combat, you get to move your character through town in a third-person perspective. Of course, there’s a campaign, but it’s all presented differently from what you’d expect out of a turn-based RPG. So, you enter town with a “Good luck, you’ll likely be dead by morning” tutorial, then you’re turned loose within the walls of Grant. Trouble is, his cult-like followers would rather you not meddle in their affairs. Your task, as a mercenary, is to seek out Mephisto and put an end to this.

What happened here, it seems, is an alchemist named Mephisto has enshrouded the city in a thick, perpetual fog. Personally, I just want a world I can buy into, and I was able to do that with the city of Grant. Whether that’s a positive or a negative is up to you. Warcave has created a dreary world and confined you to it throughout the game’s duration. There are no opulent outfits with which to play dress-up. Unlike most turn-based RGPs I’ve played lately-especially on the Switch-there’s not a lot of color. The medieval setting of Black Legend is not a happy place to be.

Black legend switch