You’d think that there’s only so much a young girl can take in at once, yet it would appear that Legend of Fae‘s heroine Claudia is ready to open her mind to anything. Left on her own and surrounded by bizarre creatures that only she can see, it’s no wonder that she’s going out of her way to find some answers.
You’d think that there’s only so much a young girl can take in at once, yet it would appear that Legend of Fae‘s heroine Claudia is ready to open her mind to anything. Left on her own and surrounded by bizarre creatures that only she can see, it’s no wonder that she’s going out of her way to find some answers.
Thanks to Claudia’s story, Legend of Fae turns out to be one of the most enjoyable Bejeweled-style match-3 games we’ve played. There is so much content and depth, all melded together with gorgeous pixel-art graphics to provide non-stop exciting puzzle action. It’s impossible not to be enthralled throughout, with enemies to fight and secrets to uncover.
Claudia Bernard is born with a weakening disease, and although the doctors are able to keep her fit, she still needs a walking stick to balance on her impaired leg. Her parents are incredibly busy and don’t have the time to look after her, so she is sent overseas to live with her uncle on Sea Cross Island.
A master in mechanical craftsmanship, Uncle teaches Claudia his ways and she soon becomes very clever indeed. One morning, however, she wakes up to find him missing, with just a book, a mysterious lantern and a note telling her to escape from the island. She sets off to find her uncle, but soon stumbles across the Fae, a bunch of elemental fairies who grant her special powers.
Legend of Fae is split into two sections – gather mode and attack mode. Move to the bottom half of the action, and you can take part in some gem matching, earning powers and spells. Once enough have been gathered, you then jump to the top and use each separate magic spell to fend off enemies and obstacles.
There are four main elemental powers – fire, wind, water and earth – and each has a strength and a weakness against another type. For example, if you are up against a fiery beast, using your water fairy will cause a critical hit. It’s all very tactical, as you search frantically on the match-3 panel for a specific gem type to cast.
This is only the basics, however. Legend of Fae is in fact a seriously deep game, with so much to consider. Mind gems must be matched to cure blindness effects, while poison can be removed by matching certain gems. Purple gems can be used to defend yourself from incoming attacks, and you’ll also need to watch your health bar to make sure Claudia doesn’t come a cropper.
On top of that, you have collectible parts that can be used to upgrade your Fae powers, and gems that reveal pages in your tome book. There’s also a combo system in place that rewards more points based on how many matches you make in a row. Elementals don’t just fight either – each has defensive powers that can be applied directly to Claudia.
We could go on and on, as there is just so much depth, with new enemy types and special situations, leading to different tactics being required. One level you’ll be surging forward to a specific point, while other times you’re in a defensive stance with enemies constantly coming in your direction.
The action is always exciting, and looks gorgeous to boot, with great pixel art and gorgeous locations. The main story is rather length too, taking several hours to plough your way through to the very end. Even once you’ve helped Claudia save the day, there are expert scores to go back and obtain.
Our only real criticism is that the going can get a little tough later on during play. Sometimes you’ll need specific elements to take down certain enemies, and if barely any of those gem types are present in your gather grid, it can take a while to match enough other gems so that these types fall down into play. Yet to combat this, you can set the game to Easy mode, during which health is barely an issue – hence, it’s not exactly a huge problem.
Legend of Fae is a highly enjoyable match-3-cum-RPG that we recommend anyone with an interesting is block-matching should check out. Make sure you at the very least check out the demo.
