So here we are again, with me indulging in my Kickstarter habit. We are here with a charming little 2D explorative open-world adventure game from the French studio Nevermind: Little Legend. I have simply fallen for this fantasy world and the protagonist of the game, Pimpim. The world makes me think of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland: very crazy looking, but also beautiful in its own right. For the full details, you can check out the Kickstarter page here.
Story
“Pimpim is a teenager living on an isolated island with her adoptive grandfather. During the day, she works as a waitress in the unique inn of the island and never misses a bit of the stories told by the fearless Adventurers passing by.
By night, she looks upon the sky and wonders about her unknown future.
It should be noted that Pimpim is one of a kind. She has got supernatural powers which allow her to control some forces of the nature.
Despite the reluctance of her grandfather, Pimpim decides to leave on her own for a long journey to discover The Grand Continent, searching for answers about her past.She reaches the Capital City of Lancis and joins the Guild of The Explorers on the advice of The Countess.
One of the goals of this community is to retrieve artefacts from the past, scattered everywhere because of the ever changing world, in order to preserve and keep track of their History.Working with the Guild is the perfect opportunity for Pimpim to bring together her desire to discover the world and to search for her origins.
As time will pass, the connection between Pimpim and the Countess will evolve into a mother-daughter relationship, until Pimpim discovers the true reasons behind the Guild expeditions …”
Pimpim Is Unique
Pimpim is different from most, as she has the ability to use magic. This ability is called Magicraft. This allows for two elements to be combined to make a magic ability. These combined elements will make something new that can be used for defence or to move around the land. Once the ability is obtained, it is never forgotten. Most elements are found from the environment but at times there may be different sources, such as fire attacks from an enemy or dust after an in-game event. Also, there are hidden elements that will need to be found throughout the world. Some only appear for a limited time, while others only appear during a certain in-game event – keep an eye out for these. Each magic ability will grow and evolve in different ways as Pimpim can encounter the same elements throughout the world.
Transformations
Pimpim can, with her power, transform herself into a magical weasel. Yeah, you read that correctly. It might sound odd but, in truth, it is pretty cute.
The weasel can also fly while outside, making traversing part of the world faster and allowing access to higher areas. It can also fit through small gaps, opening up new areas of the world that would have been otherwise inaccessible in human form. In weasel form, you can still use defence magic. Lastly, she can talk to other animals and plants.
Being super cute and being able to fly does come with drawbacks, unfortunately. Monsters don’t care that you are cute as they will still attack you on sight and, as you are smaller, you are also weaker and most attacks are instant kills, so you need to be extra careful. The form also won’t last forever; use it too long and it will run out. Who knows the trouble you could get into.
Companions
Pimpim has one more skill up her sleeve – the Summoning of Spirits of Nature called Companions.
Using her magic abilities and the correct resources, Pimpim can give life to an inanimate bit of the land, such as vegetation, and make a companion who will travel the Great Continent with her and augment her abilities. Along with a shiny new friend, Pimpim will gain insight into the past and the history of the world.
If you are like me and love lore, then I hope the history will be vast and interesting, and not something that is tacked on.
The Magic of Combat
Combat in Little Legend is different than most other games. While out in the open world, you will come across monsters that will attack you. Pimpim has two choices: to avoid them or to defend using magic abilities.
Defending is the focus here and Pimpim can amass a number of magic abilities to use, but these are not weapons. Instead, Pimpim will need to find a way to incapacitate the monsters. To do this, the right element will need to be used. Once incapacitated, the monsters will ignore you. Be warned, some magic abilities have no effect on monsters while others will have some interesting interactions with monsters.
Monsters do not drop money, that has to be earned, but if you find a way to get loot from monsters, this would be most beneficial to Pimpim.
Jobs
The only way to earn money is to sell goods.
You need money to:
⦁ Buy exploration objects (map, tools, Music Player)
⦁ Open access to some locations (Bookstore)
⦁ Buy exclusive resources for the Talisman craft and Companions summoning
⦁ Eat and sleep in town to get temporary bonuses
⦁ Buy food along the journey
⦁ More if some of the Stretch Goals are reached!
Talismans and Photographs
One of Pimpim’s hobbies is crafting Talismans, which she can sell for money. A Talisman is made up of three components: the chain, the clasp and the ornament. Each individual component, depending on its rarity, defines the value of the Talisman.
Once a Talisman is made, Pimpim can go to town and use her Magic Scarf to display the talismans and sell them. Each individual Talisman will have a set price which can be augmented by gaining knowledge from books and talking to merchants. To make specific ones, the required components may all be found around the city.
As the world is such a beautiful place, photographs are another way to make good money, and citizens are willing to pay a good price for a negative of some beautiful scenery. Luckily for Pimpim, there are books that will show her where to go and get the best pictures. Some citizens can also point you in the right direction.
The Grand Continent
“The Grand Continent is a land in constant change, orchestrated by two giant Goddesses. High in the clouds, the magnificent City of Lancis, once destroyed for having being built higher than The Goddesses themselves.
The Goddesses redesign the mountains and the lakes with their hands, and they create passion as much as they divide. Some people talk about a new era of rebuilding. Others sense the coming of a time of chaos and destruction.
The governing authority, upon the wise advises of The Countess, announced the «Conservation plan» and opened the way to a new gold rush for Adventurers and Explorers.On The Grand Continent, waters are floating up in the air and the skies, in perpetual motion, host various universes. Snowflakes are warm and the sand becomes pink with the cold. Trees migrate when the Goddesses close their eyelids to shroud the woods with darkness.
Despite the danger isolated roads represent, some farms and villages can be found along the way. Among the landscape, you can find a ravine, a never ending waterfall, a path to the unknown and roads to the past of this world.”
A Night Under The Stars
Little Legend will have a day and night cycle. At night time, Pimpim can pitch a tent… a Magical Tent, which will allow Pimpim to save the game, summon companions, and heal herself if she has food. If Pimpim sleeps, time will move forward and it will be morning when she wakes. Sleeping in a bed will give a temporary bonus.
At night, there will be different monsters out. Not only that, but the landscapes can also change overnight, allowing different routes to be found which could lead to some interesting new parts of the game.
Little Legend Has Voices
Little Legend will be fully voice acted in French by professional voice actors from films and video games. Adeline Chetail is Pimpim and the French voice of Ellie (The Last of Us) and Zelda (Breath of the Wild); and Juliette Degenne is The Countess and has done French voice dubbing for Uma Thurman and multiple characters in Skyrim.
My Thoughts
If the game keeps going as the developers say and they make sure all the mechanics and the abilities are working fine, then it is looking like a good game in my eyes. I just hope that the game is long enough, as I have a feeling that most of the game’s length will be down to the player and how much they want to make and explore. With this being an open world, you can go off and find loot and wander about the world, and I am going to assume it will take a sort of Salt and Sanctuary approach with branching paths, allowing for quicker traversal of the world. My other hope is that the lore of the world is not just a quick skim over and there has been serious work put into it.
Exclusive Interview With Nevermind
Hello, can you please introduce yourself and your game?
“We are Fawzi Allouache and Maxime Poutiline, co-founders of Nevermind, a French video game studio. Fawzi is the creative director and composer of the game and Maxime is the art director.
Little Legend is a 2D side-scrolling adventure game taking place in a dreamlike open world. You play as Pimpim, a young girl with supernatural powers who sets off to explore the world. You craft your own magic abilities, use them to explore a huge captivating world, and follow a captivating story about the rebuilding of the universe.”
Where did you get the idea for Little Legend?
“At first, the project was a shoot’em’up with role-playing game elements. A few years later, we met in Montreal and the project evolved to become an open world adventure with a strong story and a “Magicraft Mechanic”. There’s lot of “Metroidvania” style games and we wanted to let the player explore a beautiful world made of skies and flowers. The idea of enclosing the player between 4 walls was simply unacceptable: the 2D open world was obvious to us. With the Magicraft Mechanic, we wanted to reproduce the same feeling of satisfaction as the one you get when you use a glitch in a video game to your advantage to reach the highest platform or pass through a closed door. We like when the player feels smart about discovering how to overcome an obstacle using its own way and not the one that was thought for him by the creators of the game.”
What games are your main influences?
“Vanillaware games for their beautiful graphics, Subnautica, recently, for their incredible feel of discovery, and I think a bit of Half-Life 2 for the physics-based gameplay.”
How big is the Development team?
“We were only 2 for the majority of the work. At the end of the year, we have been joined by a developer and by an animator. Most of the members of our team had already worked in the video game industry on mobile, PC, and console games. Another part of the work has been made by external hands. We plan to recruit more people if the campaign succeeds.”
In your opinion, how far long is Little Legend at this point?
“We’re at the end of the pre-production. All of the gameplay aspects run well and we’ll need a big year to finish developing the game. The money raised with the Kickstarter campaign will help us to earn the confidence of funding bodies, like banks, to recruit more people and accelerate the production.”
Lastly, Is there anything you would like to say to our readers and potential backers?
“Your support is essential for the success of this campaign, we count on you to spread the word!”
I hope that reading this has you excited to check out the Litte Legend Kickstarter. If you liked the look of this Kickstarter, feel free to check out these already funded campaigns:
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