Black Legend

Black Legend introduces some neat concepts, but lacks the depth needed to create an engaging experience.

Belgian studio Warcave's approach is nothing less than an interesting mix between an RPG of turn-based tactical combat and a game of exploration in the small open world of a city in Modern Age Europe.

Despite having a distinct setting and good ideas for its combat, Black Legend fails in putting its elements in the right place to deliver a worthy experience, which makes it just another forgettable game.

With its 17th Century setting, large 17th Century-era class selection, and an alchemy-based combat system, Black Legend stands apart from other turn-based RPGs. It looks and plays distinctly different enough from other games in its genre on the Switch to merit some attention. Its steep learning curve and the long battles, however, might turn away those with little patience.

Despite the heavy influence of Belgian folklore and an interesting tactical battle system Black Legend couldn’t convince me. A disappointing visual world, annoying bugs, and frustrating explanation of game mechanics result in a game that exists but won’t be recommended by anyone. Honestly a big missed opportunity for something much better.

Black Legend isn't capable of living up to its interesting premise and quickly becomes a repetitive slog through similar combat encounters. It lacks the complexity other tactical RPGs possess, it doesn't offer meaningful exploration or choices and its writing is generally quite bland. The concept is intriguing enough but it needed a stronger game around it.

A great foundation soured by unbalanced classes, uninteresting story and an extremely linear exploration. Black Legend could’ve a future if updated and polished further, but I don’t see that happening.

Black Legend is not completely without merit, but it's a game that had better ideas than execution. The big, unique gameplay mechanic that dominates its combat system is also responsible for making each battle far too long, and while the game's atmosphere is excellent, the art direction is uninteresting and there isn't nearly enough of a narrative to actually make something of the setting. There are a lot of excellent tactics games being produced these days, and I fear that the developers of Black Legend won't even be able to use patches to bring it up to the standard of the least of their competitors. The flaws are simply too ingrained into the core experience.

The story does little to appeal, although the setting has some potential. The presentation is bad. The city is filled with tropes and no surprises. The development team has a good grasp on mechanics and that will keep die-hard fans of the genre playing for a while. But to reach a wider audience they need to improve all other areas of a future release because Black Legend seems impossible to redeem.

Black Legend is a game with interesting ambitions. The gameplay is well structured in the fights, the dark atmosphere of the lost city in a mad alchemy of madness and violence is well executed in some respects (such as the voice acting and one of the side quests) and also some of the themes raised by the discovery of the origins of the fog are of good depth. Unfortunately, the many technical shortcomings don’t allow you to enjoy the game without being distracted by the aforementioned discordant notes but, if you are a fan of tactical RPGs, give it a try. Grant's misty streets could be worth the ticket price, especially in sight of patch improvements.