Riot Forge has been busy diversifying its game portfolio based on the lore of the extremely popular League of Legends MOBA. Its latest release, Convergence: A League of Legends Story, is a Metroidvania set in the steampunk city of Zaun, featuring a wisecracking young inventor named Ekko. Ekko can go back in time a few seconds using his Zero Drive technology, helping him keep the locals safe from the local gangs. He meets an older version of himself who tells of dark events that occurred in his timeline, leading him to try and stop the calamity before it happens. Together they battle for a better future, while Ekko learns from his older, wiser self.
Convergence has a solid, predictable narrative with a likeable protagonist and his supporting cast. The gameplay is traditional, featuring a sprawling map filled with platforming challenges, collectibles, and brawls. The game is more linear than other Metroidvanias, making for excellent plot and gameplay pacing. Ekko’s limited time manipulation powers create cool ways to tweak gameplay, such as rewinding time or creating a localized time field.
Upgrades don’t break the game but meaningfully alter both combat and exploration options. You can craft gadgets at workbenches to grant Ekko boons or pay for permanent upgrades granting useful moves like a parry or a ground slam attack. Convergence’s visuals feature a hyper-stylized, comic book art-style fitting for its protagonist’s personality. Unfortunately, the frame-rate performance is subpar on the Switch version.
In conclusion, Convergence is a well-designed Metroidvania game with a cool visual style, fun time-bending action, and thrillingly well-paced adventure. Though it is short, it more than makes up for it with a story that will likely hook you until the end. If you are interested in playing it and own other more powerful platforms, it will be best to buy it elsewhere. However, if you don’t mind the performance, this game is definitely worth checking out.