Sword Coast Legends (PC) - Review

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In 2002, Neverwinter Nights changed the way Dungeons and Dragons games were perceived. Although its campaign was serviceable in its own right, the powerful editor ensured that players would be able to create and enjoy a nearly limitless amount of content. Sword Coast Legends, from developer N-Space, is the latest in a long line of Dungeons and Dragons games that have attempted to empower the player and give them an authentic dungeon master experience along with a rewarding gameplay experience. Unfortunately, some nagging issues prevent it from being something truly special.

Sword Coast Legends has a decent campaign, with solid voice acting and a few good twists thrown in. You play as a member of the Burning Dawn Guild who has been afflicted with a prophetic, apocalyptic nightmare. To rid yourself of the nightmare and avert the fulfilment of the prophecy, you are tasked with finding an ancient relic known as the Moon Tear. The 30 to 40 hour campaign will take fans of the Forgotten Realms to familiar locales but it is otherwise standard fare for the RPG genre and doesn’t do much to stand out in today’s landscape. Still, it is well told and offers some memorable moments.

The story is also easily experienced cooperatively with friends or even strangers. N-Space has done an excellent job of creating a system that allows players to easily connect with one another and enjoy the story together. Players can also choose to play through custom modules that they or members of the community have created. There's already a healthy selection of modules to choose from and they should only grow, both in number and quality, over time. For those who just want to mindlessly romp through randomized dungeons for loot, there is also a Dungeon Crawl mode. All of these game modes ensure that players can get a lot of value from Sword Coast Legends.

Although there are a lot of game modes, Sword Coast Legends’ core gameplay suffers, as it is derivative and simplistic. Your party will basically go from room to room killing mobs of enemies. All of your skills are on cooldowns and there is no mana, which actually makes things less strategic. You could pause the game to issue commands to your party members, but outside of a few encounters I rarely felt the need to do so. Veterans of Dungeons and Dragons games will definitely want to turn up the difficulty. Even then, the combat quickly becomes monotonous. There are puzzles here and there to provide some variety, but most are uninspired and feel like chores rather than an essential part of the experience.

If you prefer to create modules and campaigns rather than play them, one of Sword Coast Legends’ major draws is the inclusion of a Dungeon Master Mode. This editor is easy to learn and players can get a simple campaign going quite quickly. However, there are several key limitations that will frustrate more advanced Dungeon Masters. For example, dungeon layouts cannot be customized. This forces editors to use pre-made layouts which can then be filled with NPCs, enemies, and other obstacles. There are also no branching dialogue options, but N-Space has promised that this is coming. As a result, those hoping for an editor that rivals Neverwinter Nights’ Aurora Toolset will be disappointed.

Another major draw for the Dungeon Master Mode is the unique 4 versus 1 online multiplayer mode. In it players can host custom campaigns and random Dungeon Crawls, filling in the role of a live Dungeon Master. This essentially allows you to customize enemies and NPCs, as well as create quests, traps, and other obstacles for up to four others players on the fly.

Again, this is easy to use and includes a point system so that Dungeon Masters can create more difficult enemies or traps by accumulating and spending points. N-Space deserves credit here for attempting to create a mode that hasn’t really been touched on by other Dungeons and Dragons games before. For the most part, it succeeds in allowing live Dungeon Masters to run a game, but the limited scope of the tools may hold more advanced Dungeon Masters back.

All of Sword Coast Legends’ game modes are supported by visuals that are impressive at times, but also uneven at others and subject to performance hiccups. For the most part, the environments are beautifully realized, particularly forests, swamps, and towns. However, some dungeons look quite repetitive, drab, and offer little variety. Lastly, several times during my playthrough the framerate dropped and the game chugged along. This would occur even after lowering the graphical settings. Although this wasn’t a deal breaker for me, it happened often enough to become an annoyance.

Unlike the visuals, Sword Coast Legends’ sound design is consistently strong. All of the playable characters have unique voices that really bring them to life. The musical score is evocative, memorable, and helps to welcome players into the world of The Forgotten Realms. The one thing that is annoying is the repetition of sounds characters make when they are given commands. Fortunately, there's an option to reduce the rate of such remarks.

I have no doubt in my mind that a very good game is hidden under Sword Coast Legends’ unremarkable exterior. It is important to keep in mind that, much like Neverwinter Nights, games like this evolve over time. N-Space has already laid out plans that should improve the overall experience and fix some of the issues I've identified in this review. For example, Dungeon Masters will be getting more options, such as the ability to create branching dialogue options. Finally, and most excitingly, N-Space has promised that mod support is coming.

As of this time, Sword Coast Legends is a straightforward, average game with some unique and interesting ideas that are yet to be fully realized. It offers a lot of value with a solid 30 hour campaign, the ability to create and play user created modules, as well as being able to host games as a live Dungeon Master. The creation tools are easy to learn yet may prove inadequate for more ambitious Dungeon Masters. Overall, the visuals and sounds are also well done, though there are some minor technical issues here and there. Finally, although the gameplay is accessible, it gets dull over time. For the most part, N-Space has been open to these criticisms and is working hard to address some of the more pressing issues. Hopefully, with time, Sword Coast Legends can become a game that matches N-Space’s impressive ambitions, but for now it falls short of that mark.

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