GamesAction RpgBandle Tale is League of Legends' deeply intricate spin on Stardew Valley, and it works way better than you might expectWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesAction RpgBandle Tale is League of Legends' deeply intricate spin on Stardew Valley, and it works way better than you might expectWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Riot Games)
“Farming first,” says Nikita Kulaga, creative director at Lazy Bear Games. “Every crafting RPG has farming, and we have farming as well.” The crops we farm become the food we cook for the NPCs we meet throughout the game, but that’s only one part of a bafflingly intricate gameplay loop. Just one of Bandle Tale’s multiple research trees features dozens of recipes and skills to unlock, and different characters have their own specialisms that you’ll unlock as you explore more of the game’s mysterious world.
Yord of the Rings
“We tried to make everything magical in Bandle Tale,” Kulaga says as he plucks glowing bananas from the boughs of gnarled, purple palm trees. Magic is inherent in this world, and the team has gone to great lengths to capture that whimsy in everything from its level design to its characters. You’ll run amid intricate, floating platforms, interlaced like something out of a color-sprayed MC Escher painting thanks to the studio’s complex combination of 2D and 3D art. That means unique crafting, far from the logs and bricks that are a closer staple of the survival genre. “This place allows us to make everything that we would like to make in a crafting RPG,” Kulaga explains. “We have a magical world with unknown physical and magical laws.”
It’s an interesting line to draw. On the one hand, Bandle Tale leans all the way into the magic of its setting, but on the other, the team is keen to exist within at least some form of convention. Kulaga points out that he made his own life sim hit with Graveyard Keeper, without ever playing Stardew Valley or Harvest Moon, but senior game designer Amanda Jeffrey notes that “we have to be aware of what players' expectations are for the genre.” Citing fishing as an example, Jeffries points out that “we know what players consider to be absolute staples, so we were making sure we weren’t going to disappoint players who come into this.”
(Image credit: Riot Games)
This place allows us to make everything that we would like to make in a crafting RPG
This place allows us to make everything that we would like to make in a crafting RPG
Bandle Tale isn’t just following the conventions of the genre, however. Lazy Bear has attempted to make its own mark on the life sim, seen most effectively through your home. Part backpack, part caravan, it can be brought with you and set up wherever you can find enough space to build, ensuring that you don’t spend hours tracking back and forth to your initial base, even as your reach over Bandle City grows.
As you journey through the narrative, you’ll gain access to new parts of Bandle City, those dedicated even further to its magical tendencies, or locked inside a mechanical, chaotic take on that world. Those different areas will bring you into contact with more Yordles, including those from preexisting League of Legends canon. Bandle Tale bucks the trend of Riot spinoffs, which have put you in the shoes of known characters. This time, in keeping with the game’s deep customization options, you’ll be your own Yordle, befriending the LoL cast rather than playing as them.
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