Convergence Review | League of Legends Metroidvania
Convergence Review | League of Legends Metroidvania
Riot Forge has done it again, except this time its with a Metroidvania from the likes of Double Stallion. That’s right, I said Metroidvania, even though Convergence is being marketed as an action platformer, all of the elements are here. Sprawling, interconnected map that requires backtracking? Check. Ability gated areas? Check. Tight controls? Check Interesting skills to find and upgrade? Check. Epic boss fights and atmosphere? It’s all here and it doesn’t matter what you label Convergence or if you even associate it with League of Legends, this is an excellent game.
Back To The Future
You play as Ekko, a young genius inventor who has created a way to reverse time and hopefully this will help him and his friends save his home city of Zaun. You can’t change your past, but you can learn from it and that’s exactly what Convergence has done by taking a lot of the time travel elements that have come before including slowing down battles like Max Payne or completely rewinding like Prince of Persia to cheat death and then creating something original.
Rewinding time is obviously the highlight of Convergence as it feels like you are constantly cheating the game in the best way possible, It would have been enough to stop there , but Double Stallion also decided to incorporate ten extra abilites that you unlock throughout the game that drastically changes how you play and approach each encounter.
Convergence doesn’t just front load all of these goodies, instead they pace things out properly by handing out new skills from start to end and this pacing kept the game feeling fresh. On top of these abilities, there is also a skill system that allows you to craft new equipment that can improve your abilities. Fans of Hollow Knight will likely find a lot to love as this system works similar to charms with slot limitations and you choosing the best combination for your play style.
Once you have most of your skills and abilities unlocked you start to feel like some type of superhero as you are chaining together wall jumps, rail grinds, teleports and other interesting methods of travel that I won’t spoil.
The city of Zaun feels alive thanks to many supporting characters, both of the friendly and foe variety. All of them are voiced with high quality acting, especially Ekko. Most of the familiar faces hang out back at your hideout in the form of vendors or upgrade benches, which you will visit frequently after each chapter at the minimum. Every time you return, these characters have something new to say that builds upon the lore or the relationship with that character. This is very impressive. Most of the time, it's just whaddya buying?
There are plenty of hidden areas in this game that are addicting to find as they are both challenging and rewarding. It’s a blast to chain together all of the different elements required to succeed.
Out of Time
Rewinding time turns out to be a double edged sword bat as one of the main criticisms of the game is that most of the bosses don’t feel that difficult because you have the ability to reverse mistakes made. They are all still very creative and original in their own way but most of the time they can be defeated on the first attempt. This isn’t to say the game is easy because you do have limited rewinds and there are some battles that are very difficult.
Verdict
Convergence plays like a Saturday morning cartoon as its loaded with action, explosions, gorgeous art and and much more interesting plot about time travel and trying to become a better human than you would typically find with your bowl of Froot Loops. Riot Forge continues to deliver with yet another great indie collaboration that expands the League of Legends universe. Whether or not you have previous knowledge of the source material, fans of Metroidvanias and action platformers should absolutely book a one way trip to Zaun.