Wizard of Legend 2 is the co-op game of the year, even if it’s broken

Wizard of Legend 2 is about pretty much as good as roguelikes get. It’s a disgrace then that I’ve spent extra time making an attempt to play Wizard of Legend 2 than I’ve spent truly taking part in Wizard of Legend 2.

The unique Wizard of Legend, developed by Contingent99, rapidly amassed a cult following, because of charmingly minimalist vibes and a deep, artistic fight system. For the sequel (that’s additionally a remake), Contingent99 stepped again from the sequence, passing the buck to Kids of Morta developer Lifeless Mage. Wizard of Legend 2 has been in early entry on Home windows PC since October 2024, however simply final week was launched in full, alongside variations for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Sequence X.

The bones of the sport are practically equivalent: That is nonetheless an isometric motion roguelike through which you select a sequence of assaults (within the type of magical spells) to combat your approach by way of a sequence of dungeons, getting stronger as you go. Even lots of the similar spells have moved virtually one-to-one from Wizard of Legend to Wizard of Legend 2.

However the sequel has obtained a beauty overhaul. Gone are the pixelized graphics, changed with a visible type harking back to a graphic novel. There’s one thing resembling a story now, replete with voice appearing and character designs and quippy dialogue. Trawl the series’ subreddit and also you’ll see no scarcity of followers weighing in, on either side, about these adjustments. A standard chorus? Many consult with it as “Hades lite” (derogatory). One other widespread chorus? Many consult with it as “Hades lite” (complimentary).

The comparisons are truthful, if a bit apparent. However Wizard of Legend 2 has one factor Hades lacks: co-op. The truth is, co-op is arguably your complete level of Wizard of Legend — the distinguishing function it prospers to face aside in a quickly crowding style.

So it’s too dangerous the co-op is busted.

As of this writing, Steam and Xbox opinions cite damaged multiplayer performance because the rationale behind decrease scores. And whereas an early patch focused a few of these points, like lag and improper animations, it has not addressed all of them. Whereas taking part in or making an attempt to play native co-op on Xbox, I’ve run into many of those points myself. In some cases, one participant can navigate menus, capable of customise builds and select new power-ups, whereas the opposite can’t. In different cases, if one participant is shifting their character, the opposite participant can’t. Over the previous week, I’ve been capable of get the sport to operate correctly a grand complete of [checks notes] thrice. (I’ve misplaced depend of what number of tries it took.)

However when Wizard of Legend 2 works, it works.

Firstly of every run, you and your co-op accomplice choose a handful of spells. Possibly one particular person opts for fireballs, whereas one other chooses a set of large stone boxing gloves that go thunk thunk thunk while you spam the melee assault. From there, you’ll step right into a portal, which takes you to a dungeon. Your aim is to make use of the spells you’ve chosen to remove waves of enemies who’re making an attempt to cease you from reaching a portal on the opposite aspect of the dungeon. Each few ranges, you’ll face a boss. And when you defeat the ultimate boss, you and your teammate turn into wizards of some type of iconic, famend, dare I say, legendary standing. Fairly easy stuff (that’s the secret!!!), however the velocity at which runs go by compels “let’s simply attempt another time.”

With every run, you’ll earn a foreign money that permits you to completely unlock extra spells, opening up much more customization for builds. OK, so fireballs and that big stone fist don’t mesh nicely collectively. However what if one particular person chooses an ice storm that may freeze enemies in place whereas one other picks up the electrical hammer that shocks enemies? There’s a delight to mixing and matching spells together with your teammate, adopted by a thrill in seeing how your plans play out — or don’t.

Your characters are fragile in Wizard of Legend 2; a couple of hits and also you’re down for the depend. Well being can be vanishingly uncommon, showing simply as soon as per stage (and barely at an quantity that’ll absolutely heal you). If you run out of well being, you turn into a ghost, but when your teammate can defeat sufficient enemies, you’ll come again to life. The message is evident, at the very least in multiplayer: You may’t get by way of this alone.

Most roguelikes forged you as a singular savior, a near-godlike entity tasked with saving the world/underworld/universe/you identify it. These video games provide you with superpowers or tremendous weapons. However they neglect the one factor that’s colloquially unbeatable in excessive fantasy: friendship. Wizard of Legend 2 doesn’t. And it proposes that if these bonds of friendship are robust sufficient, you’ll be able to ultimately overcome any adversity — even a multiplayer mode that solely works 0.0017% of the time.