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

Wizard of Legend 2 is about pretty much as good as roguelikes get. It’s a disgrace then that I’ve spent extra time attempting 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, as a result of charmingly minimalist vibes and a deep, artistic fight system. For the sequel (that’s additionally a remake), Contingent99 stepped again from the collection, passing the buck to Youngsters of Morta developer Lifeless 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 Sequence X.

The bones of the sport are almost an identical: That is nonetheless an isometric motion roguelike through which you select a collection of assaults (within the type of magical spells) to combat your means by way of a collection of dungeons, getting stronger as you go. Even most of the similar spells have moved virtually one-to-one from Wizard of Legend to Wizard of Legend 2.

However the sequel has acquired 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 collection’ subreddit and also you’ll see no scarcity of followers weighing in, on either side, about these modifications. A typical chorus? Many confer with it as “Hades lite” (derogatory). One other widespread chorus? Many confer with it as “Hades lite” (complimentary).

The comparisons are truthful, if a bit apparent. However Wizard of Legend 2 has one factor Hades lacks: co-op. In actual fact, co-op is arguably the whole level of Wizard of Legend — the distinguishing function it prospers 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 evaluations 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 attempting 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’t. In different cases, if one participant is transferring their character, the opposite participant can’t. Over the previous week, I’ve been in a position to get the sport to operate correctly a grand complete of [checks notes] thrice. (I’ve misplaced rely of what number of tries it took.)

However when Wizard of Legend 2 works, it works.

Initially of every run, you and your co-op accomplice choose a handful of spells. Possibly one particular person opts for fireballs, whereas one other chooses a set of large stone boxing gloves that go thunk thunk thunk if 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 attempting 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 develop into wizards of some type 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 strive yet another time.”

With every run, you’ll earn a forex that lets you completely unlock extra spells, opening up much more customization for builds. OK, so fireballs and that enormous stone fist don’t mesh nicely collectively. However what if one particular person 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; a couple of hits and also you’re down for the rely. Well being can also be vanishingly uncommon, showing simply as soon as per degree (and infrequently at an quantity that’ll absolutely heal you). While you run out of well being, you develop into a ghost, but when your teammate can defeat sufficient enemies, you’ll come again to life. The message is evident, a minimum of in multiplayer: You possibly can’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 title it. These video games offer you superpowers or tremendous weapons. However they neglect 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 ultimately overcome any adversity — even a multiplayer mode that solely works 0.0017% of the time.