Written by Kris Galvez
Title: Joe Dever's Lone Wolf
Developer: Forge Reply srl con socio unico
Publisher: Forge Reply
Price: $14.99
Genre: Role-Playing, Adventure
Also Available On: Steam, Android, iOS, PS4
Imagine embarking on an adventure, fighting hordes of goblins, orcs and other fantasy creatures but only in book form. Might sound boring right? But if you are a fan of a certain series called Fighting Fantasy (Fighting not Final),then you will feel right at home with Joe Dever's Lone Wolf. For those wondering, Fighting Fantasy is a series of adventure gamebooks famous in the 80s which are a mix of choose your own adventure style of story telling with the stat building and role playing of Dungeons and Dragons. At the start of the game, you open up a book titled Joe Dever's Lone Wolf so presentation wise it really feels like you are reading a full fledged novel.
You play as Lone Wolf, the liege lord of Sommerlund, on a quest to rescue his subjects from a vicious attack by the forces of the dark lords. The story is set on a standard Middle Earth like world plenty of villagers in peril, giaks (goblins) and drakkharim (orcs). As the last surviving member of the Kai Lords, Lone Wolf reminds me of Geralt of Rivia (Witcher) with his set of skills. Depending on what you chose at the start of the game, he will defend his land using a variety of powers ranging from controlling animals, increasing his attack power, recovering his health by damaging the enemies together with his martial skills with a melee and range weapon.
You may think that the game is as simple as choosing how to approach a situation, but each choice has consequences that take effect in battles, how your stats grow and even how the world perceives you. One such decision which had me feeding a famished prisoner came to bite me back later. Choosing to be more strategic will lead to an overwhelming advantage in battle while being rash will lead to ambushes or harder enemies. These decisions also determine how you will build your character. Choosing to be rash will increase your strength while doing the logical choices will increase your intelligence. All of these are wonderfully woven in your personal tale. While there may be only one setting my Lone Wolf will definitely be different from yours.
While most of the game is spent reading prose in a book like interface, there is also actual fun in the battles that the game gives you. Strategy is important in battles and there are lots of options to ensure that each skirmish is optimized. You can use your melee and range weapons to deal damage (but also spend your endurance), use your Kai powers to give an additional advantage to you in battle (free dodge from enemies/increased damage) and even unleash the legendary Giak Killer, the Sommerswerd. Since enemies hit hard and your resources are limited, you have to manage them to ensure that you have enough restoratives for the next battles. While the battles themselves are fun, I seldom want to encounter enemies as each battle is hard fought. I have died many times in a simple skirmish with these ugly Giaks that I curse them every time they summon a new fiend against you. There are many times when I wanted to quit after battles leave me with almost no health, endurance and Kai powers. These battles may not reward you with experience points but I feel rewarded and satisfied that evil has been vanquished using my wit and persistence.
The game may have been perfect for the Switch but it does not utilize the Switch's capabilities well. The graphics are great and serviceable. The music is standard fantasy fare and inoffensive. I am disappointed as there is no HD rumble support even for battles. Battles will definitely feel more exciting if each sword clash is felt using the Joy-con's rumble. Though not related to the Switch, the weakest part of the game is navigating through the menus as viewing the status screen, the maps and your inventory is tedious and clunky.
Overall, there is nothing quite like Joe Dever's Lone Wolf for the Switch. It is a grand adventure that has you roleplaying as a one man army by reading and making decisions that matter. It has fun combat that is strategic and mechanically great. People who like reading as well as vanquishing fantasy creatures will find a lot to love with this title.
Strengths:
- Engaging story with real choices and consequences.
- Fun battle system with a steep learning curve.
- The presentation makes you feel like you really are reading a fantasy novel.
- The illustrations in the book are beautifully drawn.
Weaknesses:
- Clunky menus.
- The steep learning curve may turn off some players.
Score: 8/10
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