Sword Coast Legends is a game that is fairly difficult for me to review. There’s a few reasons for this, but allow me to explain myself here: I’m not a D&D fan, but I don’t have anything against it. That being said, the game still looked interesting, so I figured it would be worth a try. Sword Coast Legends isn’t this god-awful atrocity that should be avoided altogether, but I couldn’t bring myself to really enjoy this game, and I found it pretty boring for the most part.
I would’ve given this game a neutral option if Steam had that with their reviews, but the negatives outweigh the positives here, so I had to go with the former as my opinion.
Graphics
The visuals aren’t actually all that bad in my opinion. The game looks pretty, and although I don’t think it’s on par with something like Divinity: Original Sin, it still looks pretty nice. It captures the mood, and that’s really all I can say. This one of the few things about the game I can tolerate.
Gameplay
This is where my mixed opinion truly comes into play. On one hand, I am a fan of the character creator, and the game is simple enough to attract newcomers (like myself) to D&D, but the combat is so mind numbingly boring. I understand it’s a CRPG, but at least Divinity: Original Sin, Pillars of Eternity, and all of those other games have combat that is actually somewhat entertaining. The ability cooldown is really long for everything, so the fights with some of the easiest enemies can drag out, and I’ve had trouble trying to stay up for the entire duration of a battle. To add on to this, the campaign is linear, and rather than having these interesting dialogue choices and quests, you’re given what is basically a generic RPG that will lose your attention unless you’re a huge fan of D&D. As said before, however, the character creator is pretty good, and that will probably satisfy fans. It’s simple, as well, and this is also a mixed bag in its own right. Being that simple does attract the newbies like myself, and it might get you into D&D. On the other hand, it is too simple to satisfy the hardcore fans, this also affects the dungeon editor, which felt disappointing to someone like me, who loves trying to express my, ehm, “creativity.”
Story
There’s not much to say here. If you’re a D&D fan, you might enjoy it, but it felt bland from what I played. I couldn’t bring myself to truly feel interested in any of the campaign, and the side quests are just as generic. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it isn’t a good thing either.
Audio
The audio is the same way, as it isn’t bad. However, it’s just as forgettable as the story, and really the entire game in general. Again, there isn’t much to say for this category.
Replayability
I couldn’t bring myself to play much more of this game as it is, I found it to be really boring. However, there are people who have logged well over 100 hours into the game, and you might end up doing the same. It really depends, though. If I managed to remain interested in this game for longer, I could’ve played at least 30 hours before giving up on it. Seeing as how this game has nothing innovative to it, I think you won’t remember this game after 2 months of playing it.
Verdict
Again, Sword Coast Legends isn’t a BAD game. It brings nothing new to the table, however, and it feels forgettable as a result. You might have fun, you might not. But this review is about my experience with the game, and I couldn’t stay interested in it for very long. I would only recommend it to someone that is a casual D&D fan or if the game is discounted, as it has trouble appealing to the hardcore fans.