Various games based on the League of Legends universe have emerged in recent years. Games like Mageseeker, in particular, serve to expand the already huge lore of the game. Song of Nunu is the latest entry to the League of Legends Story group of games and an interesting one at that. Chockful of interesting lore, fun puzzles, and a fluffy companion, Song of Nunu is a good game to spend some time on. Here is our review of Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story, including our score, and a look at its gameplay and story.
Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story has a release date of November 1, 2023. It is available for preorder on the Nintendo Switch, and on PC via Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store.
Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story Review
Song of Nunu Background
For those not familiar with the game, Song of Nunu is a story-rich adventure and puzzle game. The game focuses on Nunu, a Notai child, and his best friend Willump, the last Yeti. The two best friends are on an adventure across the frozen land of Freljord in search of Nunu's mother. In their travels, they will face dangers like ferocious wolves and Krugs. They will also have to solve a wide variety of puzzles, some with the help of Nunu's flute Svellsongur. Since we're at that topic, let's take a deeper dive into Song of Nunu's gameplay.
Song of Nunu Gameplay
The game is primarily a third-person game, with the camera behind the character. Players primarily control Nunu throughout the game, although they also do control Willump whenever Nunu is riding him. The controls are actually very simple, although it does feel more like a controller game than a mouse and keyboard one. Whether you are playing as Nunu or Willump, the player will be able to sprint, jump, climb walls, and throw snowballs. Of course, there are some key differences, mainly because of the size difference between the two characters.
When playing as Nunu, the player's sprint isn't that fast, their jump is not that high, and they can only climb ledges. Their snowballs are also nothing more than a tickle to enemies and are primarily for having snowball fights with Willump. When controlling as Willump, however, things are different. Their sprint is way faster, they can climb rough walls, and the snowballs that Nunu throws can freeze water. Not only that, but Willump can also fight enemies using his claws. Let's take this time to talk about the game's combat, which I believe is one of its weaker points.
As mentioned above, players will face dangers in their travels across the Freljord. When said dangers arrive, the player will be fighting as Willump, as Nunu is powerless before them. Players can either do a strong attack, or a weak attack when fighting. They can also dodge around to avoid enemy attacks. Once the enemy's HP reaches 0, Willump can initiate a finisher that heals them for a portion of their HP. However, as mentioned above, I believe that the game's combat is one of its weaker points.
For starters, the game's combat feels clunky. Doing an attack locks you out of moving, and it feels like it's dragging you along for the ride. While others can argue that this makes you think about your attacks, it just doesn't feel smooth and fun. Not only that, but it makes the melee combo system hard to pull off. The game teaches you during your first fight that you can combine your strong and weak attacks to do combos. The problem is that it doesn't teach you what combination of buttons to press to achieve said combos. That means that if you input the wrong buttons, you actually end up just standing there, doing nothing.
There's also the fact that the finishers take so long to do. Whenever you execute a finisher, a random finisher animation happens. This ranges from Nunu and Willump tag-teaming to freeze and destroy an enemy, or Willump dive-bombing the enemy. While these were fun to watch during the first few times, it gets tiring after a while. Don't get me wrong, all of the animations are funny. However, some of them felt too long. Not only that, but it also broke the flow of combat. You would be doing your combos, and then suddenly you would be pulled out of the combat to watch a very cinematic finisher. Then it immediately drops you back into the fight without warning. Maybe if it didn't suddenly change the camera angles in such an extreme way, it would have done better.
What I do like about the combat, however, is that it knows when to introduce new mechanics to you. The introduction of new enemies is properly spaced out. In doing so, they made the combat in the game a little less monotonous. You don't spend hours fighting the same boring enemy before being introduced to the next one. Each of the enemies the game introduces has mechanics that the player can quickly learn, and it's rewarding when they do the mechanics properly. It even makes sure to incorporate snowball throwing when applicable.
Now that we have tackled the game's combat, let's go to the actual bulk of the game: the puzzles and platforming. I am actually very much in love with the game's puzzle system. This isn't because of the difficulty, but in how it was introduced. Whenever I play games, I prefer it when they teach me a mechanic, and I am given the chance to try the mechanic immediately. Then, when new mechanics are introduced, I get the chance to try those out, and then combine everything I learned for a more difficult puzzle. Song of Nunu has some great puzzle gameplay that is easy to understand, and very satisfying to do.
An example of this is when you have to use Svellsongur to lower a platform, which Willump can get on. This allows him to reach a climbable wall, which leads to a hanging rock with a climbable surface. You then rotate said rock, so that Willump can jump onto it and reach the other side. The game is filled with puzzles where you combine all of the mechanics you have previously learned. That is a very good game design, and something I really enjoyed while playing this game.
Of course, even if Song of Nunu's gameplay is pretty good, you're not just playing it for that. You're also playing it for the story, which we will talk about now.
Song of Nunu Story
Don't worry about spoilers in this section, as I won't be diving too deep into the story. I just want to talk about how well the game manages to sneak bits of story and lore into the gameplay, as well as how well they characterized their characters in obvious and not-so-obvious ways. Let's first talk about the lore and story itself.
As mentioned above, the game is about Nunu and Willump's journey to find Nunu's mother. You actually start the game off with Nunu's mother's voice, telling him about something called the Heart of the Blue. You don't know what the Heart of the Blue is, and neither does Nunu or Willump. In fact, finding the Heart of the Blue isn't even Nunu's main priority, even if it looks that way at first. Nunu's actual goal is to find his mother, and he thinks that finding the Heart of the Blue is the key to doing so, and this makes sense. Nunu is, at the end of the day, a small child who got separated from the rest of his tribe. Of course, he would want to look for his mother and his family first.
Willump also helps a lot in the game's storytelling. Thanks to Willump being a, well, a yeti, he has no idea what the Notai tribe is, as well as their customs and beliefs. This gives Nunu an opportunity to explain to him, and in turn, the player said customs and beliefs. What's even better is that, since Nunu is just a kid, his explanations are very easy to understand and digest. Take for example that one time when they discovered an abandoned Notai camp. Nunu is quick to explain that, judging from the fact that the caravan was spread out, they were planning to stay in the area for a while. These small nuggets of lore make sense in the setting where a small kid is teaching you about it.
The game also did a really great job of giving Willump a wide range of emotions. Whenever Willump communicates with Nunu, you can actually hear emotions in his grunts and noises. If that's not enough for you, the game's subtitles also show just what Willump feels at certain times. For example, you see subtitles like [Uninterested] or [Dismissive] whenever Willump “talks”. This elevates him as just an exposition tool, to an actual part of the conversation.
Of course, Nunu and Willump are not the only characters you will see in the game. Early on, you will meet Braum, and he is every bit as kind, gentle, and muscular as I expected him to be. I especially loved how much Nunu adored Braum, especially with how happy Nunu was to see him. I also liked how encouraging and gentle Braum was, which is a perfect complement to his large, muscular frame. It was great to see some of my favorite League of Legends characters in locations other than Summoner's Rift. You also meet other characters in the game, like Ornn and Lissandra, but diving into their role in the story would be spoiler territory.
What I will say, however, did a great job of humanizing its characters. Whenever I played League of Legends as Nunu and Willump, I would always laugh at their interactions, and be sad during their death animation, where Nunu slowly reaches for Willump while calling his name. After playing this game, I realized just why their character dynamic was like this. Nunu was on a journey to look for his missing mother, after what appeared to be a bad incident that separated the two. You can hear the pain in his voice whenever he recalls his mother, and you can see how much Willump cares whenever he tries to comfort Nunu.
Songs Of Nunu, through its story, was able to make me care even more about characters I already liked before. The additional lore, as well as their lines in the story, made them feel more relatable and made it even more fun to play as them, both in this game and in the MOBA.
Song of Nunu Review Summary
Song of Nunu is a must-play for League of Legends players, and an enjoyable game even for those not familiar with the MOBA. From its gameplay to its story, Song of Nunu has the makings of a pretty decent story-based puzzle game and platformer. One of its downsides, if not the only one, is in its combat, which can feel restrictive and slow after a while. However, if you look past that, you will find a game that has lovable characters, a pretty good story that's sad at times, and a lot of puzzles that are satisfying to solve.
Song of Nunu Review Score: 8/10
Editor’s Note: ClutchPoints received a PC review copy of Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story to allow us to cover the game. This copy did not, in any way, affect this Song of Nunu review’s verdict.
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