Legendary Gary Review - A game in a game

lyra.roberge (56)in #gaming • 7 years ago (edited)

There is little legendary about Gary. He is in his twenties who lives in the cellar of his mother and works in the supermarket. He prefers playing games rather than taking good care of himself. But he does not turn into a stereotypical gamer, he has friends, a girlfriend, and he wants to take good care of his mother.

What it lacks is mainly ambition. He finds his life seemingly fine and prefers to live comfortably in the familiar than that he sticks his neck out to achieve something new.

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Legend of the spear

Gary is only legendary when he crawls behind his PC in the evening and loses himself in the world of a game. In the fictional game Legend of the Spear, he is the heroic warrior who will marry the princess, but first has to protect the world from destruction. The fanciful adventure appears to have quite a few parallels with his own life. Scary casual parallels even, making the game world and Gary's life seem to flow into each other in a strange way...

These are the moments when the game is at its strongest and encourages you to think. When an emperor asks you to expose a thief in a fantasy world, do not hesitate and take the quest. But if his boss asks Gary to lure a stealing employee in order to be easily dismissed, it is a completely different story.

Little garden in my heart

A separate role is reserved for Gary's front garden, where you can plant all sorts of flowers. During the game you collect seeds, with which you can cultivate new plants. Remarkably, those flowers give you extra skills in Legend of the Spear, which makes Gary's real life and his game world intertwine. That is therefore twice as well remembered to water the plants every day. You do not only make your mother happy with that, but your warriors also become stronger.

Gary does not have much special in his life. He hangs around with his friends and philosophizes about the usefulness of life, fears that his girlfriend is no longer pulling the rut of their relationship, and worries about his mother. It is clearly a very personal story for developer Evan Rogers, with aspects that we would rather not reveal here.

The game splits into two: Gary's life and his adventures in Legend of the Spear. As Gary, you mainly talk to people. Sometimes you can choose an answer, but in general it is a linear story. Legend of the Spear does play as a game in a game, including turn-based combat.

Predictable fight

The fights you work on a grid, where you choose an action for each of your heroes. You can walk, hit, block or choose a special skill. It is a bit of the standard work, but the way the fight goes is special. After you have chosen your actions, everyone moves at the same time. And during your turn you can just see what your opponents are going to do. That makes the combat very clear, but also very easy. You always know when you will be hit.

Given the many parallels between the fantasy game and Gary's life, it feels appropriate that the fights are so predictable. That is also his life. It is also an interesting mechanic to philosophize about, but in the end you still have to play it. The underlying idea does not make it any more fun to do. Fortunately, you only encounter a handful of fights, it is not like being thrown at it.

The special style comes out a lot better, with hand-drawn backgrounds and characters. It looks a bit like a budget version of The Banner Saga, or an old Disney movie. Because it is a one-man project, it may not be so polished. The navigation is sometimes a little awkward, we saw several misspellings and the game crashed once. What you get back in return is a game full of atmosphere and personality.

Figure

Legendary Gary is such a game that it does not really feel fair to give it a score. It is a huge personal story and if someone shares that with you it does not feel good to say "okay, fun, but I think the combat is less so you get an 8". It is clear that this game is not for everyone, and if you have read this review and viewed the screenshots, you probably already know in which camp you are.

If you want to experience a special story about how a game can influence the life of a mediocre person, then you can not take a bump here. Legendary Gary does things we do not often see in a game and asks relevant questions. Gary is learning on the road to be a better person and take his responsibility. That is a very positive message for everyone who feels stuck in the grind of life and therefore all the trouble of playing.

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