RPG Time: The Legend Of Wright is a clever mix of the adventure, RPG, and puzzle genres, that feels like playing a made-up game in a classroom.
RPG Time: The Legend of Wright is an adventure / puzzle / RPG title developed by DeskWorks Inc. and published by Aniplex Inc. The player only spends a few hours in the world of The Legend of Wrightbut that time is spent with a lot of fun puzzles, charming artwork, funny dialogue, and the nostalgic feeling of playing a board game as a child while making up the rules along the way.
The Legend of Wright casts the player as an unnamed kid at school, who spends most of the game starting at a desk. The player is soon joined by their friend, Kenta Nakamura, who has created a game out of cardboard, paper, and whatever other props he could find laying around. Kenta has made a game called The Legend of Wright using his school book, which is filled with drawings that are animated by their shared imagination. The story of The Legend of Wright involves the heroic Wright, who must save the Princess Lay from the clutches of the evil Dethgawd. Wright is defeated in his first battle with Dethgawd and flung across the kingdom. It’s up to the player to guide Wright home, gaining allies and defeating enemies along the way, with Kenta acting as the D&D-style Dungeon Master, narrating all the actions, acting as the judge during fights, and playing the role of every NPC.
The gameplay in The Legend of Wright switches many times over the course of the story. The most common segments are adventure-style exploration segments, where the player interacts with characters and items in the environment. The majority of the battles in The Legend of Wright Involve turn-based first-person fights, with the player using the right stick to guide Wright’s sword. At any time, the game can switch between overhead The Legend of Zelda segments, R-Type flying sections, a board game, and even a Rock ‘Em Sock’ Em Robots fighting game parody. There’s always something new going on and the world of The Legend of Wright is rarely boring or tedious.
By far the best aspect of The Legend of Wright is the art. The animation in the game is gorgeous, with everything resembling hand-drawn doodles in a sketchbook that has come to life. The constant props used by Kenta to facilitate different characters and gameplay elements are always charming, as he uses every tool available to a small child to help bring his world to life. The Legend of Wright is a loving tribute to series like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, with tons of references to classic JRPGs. The soundtrack is equally impressive, with numerous 8-bit tunes playing on Kenta’s phone that matches whatever is happening in the game.
A big part of the gameplay in The Legend of Wright involves puzzles. These are more of a mixed bag, with some being incredibly easy, and others being frustratingly obtuse. Luckily, the game will let the player skip some of the maths problems, but there are still some annoying puzzles throughout its run. The Legend of Wright offers endless continues, which counterbalance the numerous instadeaths the player will encounter along the way. The battle system is also a puzzle in its own way, with most of the fights requiring the player to hit specific spots on the map. The fact that the player can bring up a food menu at any time to heal, coupled with the numerous healing items they are given along the way, means that the battles are often just a fight of attrition until the player finally works out exactly what they need to hit.
It bears mentioning that The Legend of Wright is a short game, clocking in at around 5-6 hours. The short runtime is good in the sense that the game does not overstay its welcome, as stretching the concept out to 20-30 hours would diminish the game’s charm. Each of the chapters has a different focus and the only one that feels weaker than the others is the board game / airship section of the game, which mostly amounts to rolling dice and performing the same directional-based puzzle over and over again. The haunted house chapter should also be mentioned, as The Legend of Wright seems like the ideal game for young kids, yet this section of the game has some gruesome moments and nightmare faces that might be too much for little ones.
The Legend of Wright is a unique title that really captures a moment in time. It perfectly encapsulates the nostalgia for the days of old-school RPGs and creating games during lunchtime with school friends. Kenta’s game does not last for long and it has some frustrating moments, but The Legend of Wright is worth experiencing, as there is nothing else like it out there, and its shortcomings can easily be forgiven due to its overwhelming charm.
RPG Time: The Legend of Wright is available now for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X / S, and will launch on Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PS5 on August 18, 2022. Screen Rant was provided with a digital code for the Xbox One version of the game for the purposes of this review and it was completed on Xbox Series X.
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