Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story is the cutest League of Legends Game so far, but it's almost as tiring to get through as the original game. Nevertheless, it's pretty fun. If you are interested in the game or are checking to see if it is worth the price, then read on for our review and score for Bandle Tale, a look at its gameplay and story.

Bandle Tale: A League Of Legends Story Review

Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story has a release date of February 21, 2024. It will be available on Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store. Players can either preorder the regular version or the digital deluxe edition.

Bandle Tale Background

Bandle Tale is a crafting RPG set in the world of Bandle City, the place the Yordle race lives in in the League of Legends Universe. Players control a Yordle and must travel across Bandle City, solving the problems that its residents may have. Along the way, the player may run into various famous Yordles, such as Teemo, Lulu, Corki, and more. Craft items, throw parties, and save the world, but not necessarily in that order.

Let's start off this Bandle Tale review with a look at its gameplay.

Bandle Tale Gameplay

When Bandle Tale was first teased, a lot of players online commented that the game was going to be like “if Stardew Valley met League Of Legends.” However, after playing the game for quite a while, it is nothing like Stardew Valley. If anything, it's closer to Graveyard Keeper, another game that Lazy Bear Games, the developers of Bandle Tale, worked on. Sure, there are times when the player can plant crops and harvest them, even getting a dedicated plant room early in the game. However, it's closer to an RPG than it is to a farming simulator. In fact, the crafting RPG description that they put on the game's storefront is an accurate representation of Bandle Tale's gameplay loop.

Let's start with the crafting aspect first. Most, if not all, of the things you will be doing in this game involve crafting. Need a tool that can gather dust from a wall? You're going to have to craft it. Need to repair the bridge leading to one of the game's other locations? You will need to gather special materials to craft it. Need to create this workbench that can build an item you need? You bet that you will have to craft its components as well. Everything in this game has to be crafted, using the various materials that the player can find scattered in the overworld.

This continuous crafting is fun for me. I always enjoyed the ability to create my equipment and items in games like Skyrim or Final Fantasy XIV. The ability to just whip up exactly what I need for any situation is great. There is, however, one problem with this loop for me, something that I also experienced back when I was playing Graveyard Keeper. It's that it can get tiring to only be crafting the entire game.

Take, for example, Iron. Iron is an item that you will get early on, and is an important part of various crafting recipes. Crafting Iron isn't as simple as in other games, where you just need to smelt some iron ore. In this game, players will have to unlock the Junk Upcycler II, which allows the player to turn Upcycled Junk into Iron. To craft the Junk Upcycler II, players will need Wood, Stone, and Catalyst Sand. To get Catalyst Sand, players will need to unlock and craft the Dust-Scooper Multitool. The Dust-Scooper Multitool requires Crystal Dust, which requires a Crusher Workbench.

This can get overwhelming quickly, as players will have to follow a flowchart of sorts whenever they want to create any item. Creating a piece of Iron already has this many steps, so you can only imagine the amount of steps you have to do for the more advanced items. Take note as well that this is just for crafting the item itself. Players will also need to unlock the knowledge of how to create said item as well. This is done through the player's Skill Tree, the second problem the game has in my opinion.

The player's Skill Tree dictates the actions that the player can do, as well as the features they have access to. This includes to ability to craft Iron, house expansions, and more. Players have to unlock the Skill Trees' various nodes using the points that players accumulate whenever they do things like crafting, gathering, and the like. The problem comes in two parts. The first is that the game doesn't tell you what nodes you need to unlock. Sure, the game sometimes tells you skills you need to unlock to finish the current objective. The problem is that they don't tell you until you immediately need it. That means that players could potentially unlock other skills that are not useful for their current situation.

The second problem is the fact that the Skill Trees themselves are overwhelming. There are so many skills to choose from, that I had to constantly review the Skill Tree to see if I was doing the right thing. It's very easy to unlock a Skill from the Skill Tree, thinking that it will be useful, only for you to find out that you messed up and now have to spend a few days of in-game time earning back the skill points you wasted. This happens way more often than it should, and although I can just chalk it up to a skill issue on my part, it doesn't change the fact that it could have been easier to understand.

What I will say though is that, once you have broken through the wall of trying to understand what the Skill Trees give you, and what you need to do, the game becomes fairly simple, and you fall into a routine. You enter a new area and try to gather the materials scattered around. You can then place your mobile shelter down, which allows you to deploy your restaurant, crafting area, or party area. Afterward, you gather Stars by opening your restaurant or holding a Party to cheer people up. When you need an item, be it for a quest, you gather its materials and craft it.

Progression in this game comes from the improvement of your crafting stations, and the ability to craft more advanced items. As mentioned above, it's fun to be able to craft the items you need when you need them. Granted, it can start getting repetitive after a while. Not only that, but it gets tiring having to roam around, gather materials, and wait for your crafts to finish. However, being able to unlock the next area, or craft the next best thing is always worth it.

To summarize my thoughts on Bandle Story's gameplay, it can get tiring and confusing when you first start the game, as there is so much to learn and digest. However, once you get into the groove of things, you can have a ton of fun just crafting things and meeting the game's objectives.

Now that we're done with the gameplay, let's talk about Bandle Tale's story.

Bandle Tale Story

Bandle Tale revolves around a Yordle that the player creates. They have a problem walking and spend most of their time indoors knitting. Their sole dream is to meet Ozzy, the party Yordle who throws the best of parties. With the help of their friend, as well as a magical Knitted leg that allows them to run around, they are able to sneak out and attend a party hosted by Ozzy. Things don't go as planned, however, as the Party causes a catastrophe that throws Bandle City and its surrounding islands into chaos. It is up to the player's Yordle, as well as the friends they make, to undo the chaos that happened, and bring happiness back to the land.

The premise of Bandle Tale's story is very simple and very cute. You are a Yordle who, like many others, just wants to have fun. However, when things don't go as planned, you rise to the challenge and save everyone. What's fun is that although the goal of the game is for the player to turn back a catastrophic event, the entire thing just feels so lighthearted. Yeah, your friend is still missing. Yes, the islands are still separated. But why not throw a party first? Open a restaurant and feed the hungry populace? Why not help the Arts and Science departments of a college become friends?

Bandle Tale does a great job of finding the joy in small things. Not only that, but it teaches players that they should make the most out of any situation. Yes, the world may need saving. However, you have time to make a spicy dish, right?

I also appreciate how the game was written. The game's humor is, for lack of a better word, stupid. I don't mean this in a bad way. It's not that the game isn't funny. It's just that the humor of the game requires you to not take things seriously. There are a lot of puns in the game that will make you want to sigh. Some fights could be solved if only the two parties talked. Heck, a lot of the items in the game sound funny (like the Glownana that looks like a glowing worm). The game's story is very “brain off, head empty”, but it's still full of substance and good storytelling. Just be ready for the various puns and lame jokes that are so bad they loop right around to being good.

Bandle Tale Review Summary

Overall, Bandle Tale's gameplay and story lend to it being a good game to sink hours into. It's not going to be a game that you will play multiple playthroughs of, that's for sure. However, that doesn't make the game any less bad. It just makes it different, and that's okay. It's very fun and very cute, albeit tiring to play, but it is still worth the time you put into it.

Bandle Tale Score: 8/10

Editor’s Note: ClutchPoints received a PC review copy of Bandle Tale to allow us to cover the game. This copy did not, in any way, affect this Bandle Tale review’s verdict.