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Genre: Action platformer
Developer: Creative Game Computer Graphics Corporation
Publisher: Neon Doctrine
Release Date: November 1st, 2021
Edited by AlexKnight2005
Legend of Tianding is a side-scrolling action game based in Colonial Japanese Taiwan in the early 20th century. The player plays as the Robin Hood-like folk hero Liao Tien-ting that was against the occupation from Japan. To the Japanese authorities, he was just a wanted criminal that went on a crime spree. Over time he became a legend to have a temple dedicated to him near his birthplace in Taichung. His impact, while he was alive, carried in his death against the occupation Japan had. The player plays as the folk hero in an action-based romanized version of his legend.
Gameplay will feel familiar if you have played side-scrolling action games as there are some platforming with simple but fast-paced combat. The game’s difficulty comes from timed dodges, maneuvers, and using the weapons stolen from enemies. The player has a knife they can always use and their sash. The knife is a quick but light attack while the sash is button prompted to steal weapons and use it for some maneuvers in platforming. Progressing through the story gives more kung-fu-like moves and actions that make the game more fun. Perfectly timed attacks and some moves can knock projectiles and bombs to enemies. When making an enemy lose their balance, you can steal their weapon to use in combat with a limited number of uses on them. Weapons stolen can range from guns, swords, and what the enemy had in their hands—the gameplay rewards disarming the enemy while using these weapons fluidly. More weapons and mechanics in combat come into play as the game goes on. The player can also equip items of different values that can add a small extra, like an extra jump in mid-air or more uses of weapons before they break—dodging traps as you go through the areas. At first, the game can feel not as fun in the first stage, but as more options open up in combat, it becomes fun and enjoyable. Side content can feel lacking as it mainly involves a jump puzzle in the city or replaying the dungeons over in search of an item.
The Legend of Tianding is divided into episodes that start the player roaming the city and town and then in a dungeon-like zone that ends in defeating a boss. The city and town have some side missions to get bonuses, upgrade your base weapon and allow you to spend more money for random upgrades by donating to the poor. Upgrades stack and are dropped from hidden treasures within the dungeons and rare drops from enemies. The upgrades seem small, but as you get more of the same type, they carry on through the game paying off. Save points scattered through the dungeons, refill your health and refill the bun consumables you can eat to regain some health. When you die, you start back at your last save. The punishment for dying is losing some money. This mostly becomes harmful when you die constantly. There is an easier mode the player can switch to, but I felt the normal difficulty is on point. From damage dealt by enemies and damage done, I felt the game was well thought out. I thought it wasn’t too fast or too slow. Length of combat on bosses and difficulty felt on point.
The story of The Legend of Tianding uses the source material well while doing a nice balance of adding unrealistic elements for gameplay and fun. An example of this is the first boss battle as the giant statue tosses bombs and shoots with a machine gun. The vibe of the setting isn’t broken from the sort and adds to it. The entire setting from the colors art style is done like a comic book, from the effects in combat to the page turn effect from area to area to add to the comic aesthetic. Cutscenes enforce the comic vibe by how they are done. The style it is done flows nicely together. The game runs very well, but I do recommend a controller. I had no issues with bugs or crashes as I enjoyed it.
Overall this is an excellent game in a place rarely used with a legend many may not have heard of. Fans of side-scrolling action games will find enjoyment with the game playing it, though entirely despite the lack of extra content on the side, even if they can’t make a game with the same character. I can see them using the same gameplay and style to do another game, building on what they have on this one. Hopefully, this good one will make others try to do legends and stories outside what we usually see. The devs created an excellent balanced side-scrolling actions game and hope for more in the future.
Pros:
- Comic book style works great
- Great side-scrolling combat
- Great use of source material
Cons:
- Side content is lacking
FoxieEXE gives The Legend of Tianding for PC a Drastik Measure of 8.8 out of 10 (88)
