One of the most competitive and stressful games in the world is about to release a cozy spinoff about farming, fishing, and dancing with friends. That’s right: on February 21, League of Legends is getting the Stardew Valley treatment thanks to Lazy Bear Games, the devs behind Graveyard Keeper. From everything we’ve seen, Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story is shaping up to be a surprisingly intricate and wholesome crafting sim, but that raises an obvious question. Do we really need yet another crafting sim? In particular, do we need this one? Actually, yeah, we kind of do. Here’s why.
League of Legends and Graveyard Keeper Meet in Bandle Tale
League of Legends has a sprawling cast of more than 140 champions, and their lore has helped make LoL far more than just one of the world’s most popular MOBAs. Unfortunately, the competitiveness and toxicity that players associate with LoL have scared many away from the franchise. That prevents them from meeting characters and engaging with a setting they might otherwise love. Runeterra is so expansive that Jinx, Ivern, and Fiddlesticks can coexist without it seeming weird. While games like Legends of Runeterra and Wild Rift have shared the universe with a wider player base, the setting deserves better.
The LoL franchise will be bigger than ever when Bandle Tale releases. That’s a beautiful thing even if you despise MOBAs and everything they represent. You’ll use fish, farm, use yarn magic, and do pretty much everything else you’d expect from a crafting sim. I don’t think anyone believes Bandle Tale is going to revolutionize the genre or dethrone Stardew Valley. It doesn’t have to. If it extends a welcoming hand to players and invites them into a cozier corner of the LoL universe where they don’t have to worry about getting ganked by Nocturne as they grind ranked, that’s enough.
Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story will be available for PC and Nintendo Switch.
