Legend of Keepers Review (PC)

A scholar, an exile, and a sorceress walk into a dungeon. This is not the start of a long-winded joke but a threatening situation in Legend of Keepers. My minions are weak to their powers and I have failed to develop my traps because I thought monsters are the best way to deal with threats. The three adventurers blast through to groups of monsters, which I expected. Thankfully I have invested some resources into the boss I control and he has the morale damaging attack that manages to take down the group, even if he has less than 300 health when he does so.

The title is created by Goblinz Studio and published by the same company on the PC via both download distribution services and the PC. The game mixes concepts from the rogue-lite genre and dungeon management.

The core mechanics are built around rooms, monsters, and traps. Groups of adventurers are coming and the player needs to put together the best combination of all the above to stop them. If monsters and traps are not enough the master awaits at the end of the dungeon, a powerful figure that can deal with enemies but is not invulnerable in the long run.

Each enemy party contains three characters, with various abilities and vulnerabilities. Player monsters and traps have their own sets and much of the game plays out in their interactions. Actions can target health and morale and bringing any of them down to zero for an entire group leads to a win and associated rewards (the core resources are blood, mana, and gold).

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When adventurers are not incoming Legend of Keepers turns to the management elements. Players have to manage the morale of monsters and keep traps in top shape. Random events pop up, offering new options, some interesting choices, and, sometimes, negative consequences. The player can choose to raid hamlets, get a therapy session, train their minions, engage with merchants, and more. There’s plenty of variety to keep everyone engaged until another group of adventurers sets forth.

The story does not aim for complexity for either characters or setting. The dungeon exists to take down meddling human heroes, the monsters and traps exist to help the player reach that aim. There are some funny bits of writing when it comes to events but there’s no character development and that’s perfectly fine. I think the Archaeologist text event encapsulates the tone of the game beautifully, allowing gamers to focus on the joys of hero slaying.

Legend of Keepers runs on decisions and synergies. Should I try morale damage or should I destroy their bodies? Should I use traps that deliver full damage or those that introduce effects? Should my creatures be the focus of development or is my master the buy that should get all possible upgrades?

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These are just some of the core decisions that players have to engage with. The game also benefits from the variety of creatures, complete with attacks and abilities, and the way they interact with enemies, traps, and artifacts.

The biggest problem is that the long-term goals of a campaign feel too slight to keep me working to push my master forward. Once the initial variety of content fades the game becomes a little too familiar. The most powerful adventurers are either too easy to defeat or too brutal and take down my leader. The fact that there are two new masters to unlock is a good target for players but the game needs more than that.

Legend of Keepers is a cartoon-looking game with plenty of small, nice details for the creatures and world. This is not a graphics-focused experience but nothing looks bad or date. The world is a little bit too brown but there are welcome moments of colorful action. The developers have nailed the user interface, which makes it easy to create dungeons and to control the action when that’s required. The sound design is pretty average, unfortunately. I would have loved a little more variety to the soundtrack or a new take on the ways fantasy creatures and heroes attack each other.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion