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

Wizard of Legend 2 is about nearly 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 really enjoying Wizard of Legend 2.

The unique Wizard of Legend, developed by Contingent99, shortly amassed a cult following, attributable to 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 Useless 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 Collection 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 struggle your approach by way of a sequence of dungeons, getting stronger as you go. Even lots of the similar spells have moved nearly 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 model paying homage to a graphic novel. There’s one thing resembling a story now, replete with voice performing and character designs and quippy dialogue. Trawl the sequence’ subreddit and also you’ll see no scarcity of followers weighing in, on either side, about these modifications. A standard chorus? Many seek advice from it as “Hades lite” (derogatory). One other frequent chorus? Many seek advice from it as “Hades lite” (complimentary).

The comparisons are honest, if a little bit apparent. However Wizard of Legend 2 has one factor Hades lacks: co-op. Actually, co-op is arguably your entire level of Wizard of Legend — the distinguishing function it thrives 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 enjoying 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, in a position to customise builds and select new power-ups, whereas the opposite can not. In different cases, if one participant is shifting their character, the opposite participant can not. Over the previous week, I’ve been in a position to get the sport to operate correctly a grand whole 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 companion choose a handful of spells. Possibly one individual opts for fireballs, whereas one other chooses a set of big 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 objective 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 for those who defeat the ultimate boss, you and your teammate change into wizards of some form 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 yet another time.”

With every run, you’ll earn a foreign money that lets you completely unlock extra spells, opening up much more customization for builds. OK, so fireballs and that big stone fist don’t mesh effectively collectively. However what if one individual 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 along 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; just a few hits and also you’re down for the depend. Well being can be vanishingly uncommon, showing simply as soon as per stage (and infrequently at an quantity that’ll totally heal you). Whenever you run out of well being, you change into a ghost, but when your teammate can defeat sufficient enemies, you’ll come again to life. The message is obvious, at the very least in multiplayer: You may’t get by way of this alone.

Most roguelikes solid you as a singular savior, a near-godlike entity tasked with saving the world/underworld/universe/you identify it. These video games offer you superpowers or tremendous weapons. However they overlook 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 possibly can finally overcome any adversity — even a multiplayer mode that solely works 0.0017% of the time.