Introduction
As a lover of Rogue-likes and dungeon crawlers I knew from the start I would love Wizards of Legend. This is a game of 5 parts in a sense as each of the 5 base elements is represented not only by its own dungeon, but also a myriad of spells, items, enemies and bosses with an alarming amount of variety. It’s vibrant, fast paced, incredibly descriptive and damn good fun. If you don’t own this already then you best get buying!
Platforms and Language – 9/10
Wizards of Legend is available on most modern platforms including Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC for anywhere between £4 and £13 depending on sales, it is also often found on Xbox Game pass and Play Station store for free accessibility if you are subscribed
The game can be set into Japanese directly from the options menu so if you own the game it is easy to get started right away.
Glossary
Usability – 8/10
Wizards has a clear and legible user interface with attractive font and no blocks of text that are heavy or intimidating. The variety of language is vast with many unmoving dialogue boxes, item descriptions and menus. All of the text presented in the game is at most 3-4 lines long so it makes understanding each phrase digestible and easily approachable. The style of the language also varies from short and instructive, through to casual conversational and on to poetic and descriptive. The range of vocabulary is, for the most part, focused on elements, magic and trials but due to the way that spells in particular are described you can gain an understanding of direction, force and shape of certain attacks. Adjectives and modifiers such as 前方, 広く and 連続に meaning ahead of you, widely and in succession respectively are often not found in textbooks or day to day conversation but are abundant here.
Wizards is entirely text based which may initially seem like a downside but I feel that the quality of the writing very much makes up for this. It also makes the setting and feel of the game more mellow and relaxed. I often spend my time simply walking back and forth around the town speaking with the NPCs and reading spell descriptions and this alone is how I built a lot of my fantasy based knowledge. The gameplay is fun and engaging but you will find that for the standard mode you can go extended periods of time without any reading (we’re talking potentially 40 minutes to an hour) which if your intention is to learn you’re just fooling yourself. There are shorter game modes and other methods you can use for learning, which depending on your outlook on language learning can arguably be more fun!
The game is challenging from start to finish with the late game being near unattainable for the longest time. You’ll die frequently regardless of which game mode you play but this can be taken as an opportunity to read between sessions (e.g read 10 spells every time you die). If you want to spice up the gameplay, or even study with someone else, there is a multiplayer mode, which can make the gameplay easier in a lot of ways. It also comes with the added bonus of having a tussle for superiority after every boss which may make or break friendships.
Challenges and Methods – 8/10
Read the Market
Every time you enter the home portal and leave back into the market, the items and spells available at the 2 stalls are randomised from the pool of available unlockables. I would set myself the challenge of leaving the portal, heading to the furthest right spell or furthest left item and trying to read its description. If I succeeded I would move to the next position and repeat. The goal was to read all the descriptions without fault from one side to the other and if I succeeded I would be allowed to enter the trials as a reward. However if I failed I would have to enter the home portal and start again with a new set of random items and spells.
Boss Rush Mode
The standard Chaos trials can be time consuming and require a lot of focus and commitment in order to survive. A better way to play if you want to spend more time focusing on the language with fewer obstructions is through the Boss rush mode in the bottom left of the plaza. This mode is faster paced and the merchants and miscellaneous NPC’s are directly accessible from the central rooms before and after each mini-boss fight. The advantages to this are that you can try the above challenge or practice reading around the plaza while intermittently rewarding your study with shorter and less intensive runs than you’d otherwise have with the larger trials.
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