No, LoL is more than just a competitive game. Already, it is THE competitive game that has exploded and democratized eSports, although historically it is not the first title to have launched into it. A little over 12 years after its launch, League of Legends has become a true must-have, a dinosaur that we can no longer imagine disappearing from the landscape. And to evolve, Riot decided to extend its franchise to other media, other games and to create a gigantic universe. Riot Forge was born, a branch of the company which is launching into the development of a whole bunch of projects, a fighting game, an MMO and several diverse titles, including a certain Song of Nunu which is arriving very soon.
A League of Legends Story
Riot recently confirmed that all these productions are now canon, the story of the 160 heroes of Summoner’s Rift will be gradually modified and everyone must be connected. Arcane, the hit Netflix series, has become part of the universe, ultimately proving to be of paramount importance to understanding the world of Runeterra, the world of League of Legends. And Riot Forge’s latest creation, Song of Nunu, is also an essential for all fans of the license.
“The developers were given clear and precise guidelines, but also had complete creative freedom”. This is what was revealed to me just before I could lay my hands on this action-adventure game tinged with platforming, narrative and even a bit of puzzles. At the helm, we find a studio well known in the indie scene, a certain Tequila Works, which has already worked on some gems like the sublime Rime, Deadlight or Sexy Brutale. A studio which, unlike most of its other productions, is here the only master on board.
Song of Nunu takes us on an adventure that is at once poetic, harsh and full of naivety alongside Nunu and Willump. This duo, well known to fans of the franchise and League of Legends junglers, are here well and truly separated, even if they are inseparable. Nunu, a young nomadic orphan, is destined for a great future, but he doesn’t know it. All he is sure of is that he wants to find his mother who disappeared in the Freljord glaciers. The young flutist is accompanied by Willump, the last of the Yetis encountered during his travels.
A legendary creature, endowed with a unique power, that of creating pure ice, a powerful magical material. The duo therefore sets out on the road in search of answers. But to do this they will have to come up against the ruthless Lissandra (another League of Legends heroine). The Ice Queen, for her part, seeks to get her hands on the duo to use their ability to generate pure ice in order to prevent a cataclysm: the opening of the Void.
Journey to the Freljord, for real!
That’s the main points. The uninitiated will find here a story halfway between a fantasy tale and an animated film. Song of Nunu is clearly stuck between the two on every level, in fact, both in its narration and in its staging. It exudes a touching and pleasant aura throughout the journey. If the plot follows perfectly well, it can sometimes seem a bit too “ass-ass” with bad guys who are not really bad, or good guys who are always enthusiastic and funny. We are clearly on something for the general public that will speak to everyone.
League of Legends fans will clearly get their money’s worth. Song of Nunu introduces us to Freljord for good this time. It’s like a waking dream for those who have been walking the Rift for ten years. This is the first time we seem to be able to really explore a part of Runeterra. The third-person view has a lot to do with it, where Hextech Mayhem, Ruined King, CONV/RGENCE and even Mageseker all had very different directions. Panoramas as far as the eye can see, caves caught in ice, hidden ruins, colorful forests… Song of Nunu knows how to diversify its environments and everything is absolutely coherent.
The artistic direction is not left out either. Very close to what League of Legends offers, Song of Nunu opts for an AD close to animation with heroes with slightly chubby shapes and lots of color. The settings become truly fantastic thanks to these artistic choices. We are swimming in the middle of a tale, nothing more, nothing less. It’s beautiful, it does a lot of good for the retina. Well, you shouldn’t pay too much attention to details or look for the little beast otherwise you’ll see some unsightly textures even at high resolution levels on PC. But that certainly won’t prevent you from enjoying several visually incredible environments, or successful lighting effects. It’s very inspired.
A game for fans and a great entry point into the franchise
As fans of the franchise, we will have fun discovering the story and our favorite heroes, like the gods Ornn, Volibear or Anivia (to name only the most obvious), but also the headliners of this Song of Nunu, namely Willump, Braum, Lissandra and of course, Nunu. Besides, it’s quite crazy to see how someone who was only known as a simple Yetis trainer ultimately turns out to be so much more important than one might have believed. But that, shush. I will also not talk about the major surprises that await you, the more or less hidden references or the incredible number of exhilarating, satisfying or even fun things that the game will introduce to fans of the franchise.
But as I said from the start, Song of Nunu speaks to everyone and not just League of Legends aficionados. The universe is ultra affordable, the game is, just like the Arcane series, one of the ideal entry points to get a foot in the license. Plus, as a pure game, Song of Nunu has some serious arguments.
At first glance, it presents itself as a simple adventure game to go through in one go. This isn’t completely false, but it’s not completely true either. From the first moments, Tequila Works sticks our noses at cleverly well-staged sequences, like the introduction, gripping and yet very short. The studio also establishes a real brotherhood between the two protagonists. If they are one in League of Legends, here, we will mainly control Nunu, who will still very often climb on the back of her Yeti. But even when we play the duo as a single entity, the two heroes are indeed dissociable.
They constantly interact with each other, chat (even if only Nunu seems to understand Willump’s grunts), laugh and have fun. The Yeti doesn’t sit still and spends his time playing with the environment, to which Nunu can react if given the opportunity, by approaching Willump for example. A fraternal alchemy which gives credibility to the relationship between the child and the beast, and leads us to become attached to this improbable duo, but also to each of the two souls which compose it. As a bonus, Song of Nunu is meant to be touching, the cutscenes are very numerous, the story of Nunu and Willump is not all rosy and the OST serves it all up to us on a platter of emotions that we did not expect find there. Nothing to say, it’s a surprise and it’s great.
Between classic and good ideas
Where Song of Nunu surprises much less, however, is with regard to its gameplay. It’s very basic. Lots of platform phases where you jump, climb, slide and wander around the four corners of Freljord. We have the impression of having quickly gone around and although the controls are easy, Willump (due to its size) is quite clumsy. It feels like you’re moving in slow motion and the few times the Yeti goes into second gear, the speed or power output isn’t great.
It breaks the rhythm of discovery and exploration a little, especially since these sequences are extremely numerous. Platforming and exploration represent a good 80% of the game as a whole. Fortunately the world is captivating, otherwise we would quickly get bored as the platform phases are so classic. We can still count on a lot of diversity in the situations to break the routine and many puzzles to solve at the same time. And everything will of course be sprinkled with fights.
If Nunu is only good at throwing snowballs, Willump will use his entire arsenal: his claws, his fangs and his pure ice. There we find a good part of the League of Legends hero’s kit, from his ability to eat enemies to gain a little life, to claw strikes through snowballs that freeze and even summoning of a big explosive blizzard. But the duo also has other strings to their bow that I will let you discover for yourself. Once again, fans will be touched here, but neophytes will find a very accessible and well-crafted combat system. If they are not as deep as they could have been, the confrontations are on the other hand cleverly staged, in particular the finish moves (executions) which can be triggered when a target is knocked out. Then some cool animations are launched that are as classy as they are sometimes funny. In any case, they are well made.
If Nunu can’t fight directly, the little one has other resources. He is notably capable of calling on Willump’s pure ice when he is on his back for example, allowing him to freeze water to create platforms or enemies. He is also equipped with a magic flute capable of activating mechanisms with a few notes. These are the main puzzles of Song of Nunu. The young man will often be asked to use his instrument, which will turn into a QTE session with the controller triggers on our side of the screen. Nothing transcendent, but certain sequences will call on your brain when you have to force yourself to memorize several notes in a row.
Song of Nunu is sweet as a Poro
Well, in terms of challenge, we’ll come back. Song of Nunu isn’t meant to make you sweat, it is what it is, but a little extra difficulty wouldn’t have killed anyone. As it stands, the game is very (too?) easy. The fights don’t really put us in danger, the puzzles are solved at a glance and even the platform phases are nice. It’s not a walking simulator either, but let’s say that the priority here is to discover the universe quietly without worrying.
Anyway, some treats for the eyes and ears don’t hurt from time to time. This is the perfect opportunity to talk about another very successful point of Song of Nunu, its OST. Already as soon as Nunu takes out his flute, we are amazed, especially when he discovers new songs here and there during the exploration or when he sings a song by the fire between two chapters. But more generally, these are all the themes that instantly engage us. It’s extremely pleasant. But in any case overall you will have understood, Song of Nunu is extremely pleasant to follow and browse. Furthermore, the game is entirely dubbed in French and is of excellent quality. We will also note that it is the original actors who have once again lent their voices to our favorite heroes.
