Swag and Sorcery

After the success of Graveyard Keeper last year, developer Lazy Bear Games and publisher tinyBuild had a lot to live up to. The game got a lot of praise for its graphics and dark humor. Earlier this month, the duo brought out a new game called Swag and Sorcery. Got your attention with the swag, huh? Anyway, expectations were high, and if we’re looking at the ratings Swag and Sorcery is getting on Steam so far, it feels as if the game is not delivering what players were expecting. We thought we’d take a look ourselves and see what the mixed feelings are about.

• Addictive: Truth be told, the game is quite addictive, definitely in the beginning. I kept wanting to see what was coming next, which kept me playing. You know that feeling when you’re watching Netflix and you’re saying ‘just one more episode’ and you end up watching five more episodes? Yeah, I had that in Swag and Sorcery since I kept saying ‘one more quest and I’ll start writing the review’. LOL at me (but I did start, and you’ll find out why in the mixed section).
• Soundtrack: It’s not like the soundtrack is anything super special, but it’s enjoyable without getting too overwhelming. The best kind of music a game like this can have is one that is cute and in the background without getting in the way of your gameplay. This was accomplished perfectly here. Sometimes I didn’t even notice the music because I was busy focusing on playing the game, while other times I could just enjoy some sweet music in the background while having a lesser focus on the game itself.
• Graphics: The trailer and preview screenshots already revealed that this game was going to be a hit when it comes to the graphics. Fans of the pixelated style sure have enough games to choose from nowadays, and this one is definitely one to look for. The colors may not be very bright, but the art of the game is still on point.
• Fighting: I enjoyed the fighting quite a lot, even though you’re not actually fighting yourself. For a grinding game, you can take a little control still and I liked that. For example, you can retreat at any time if you wish to. You can also just continue working in your village, or you can watch your team (or villager) go to battle. It’s actually up to you! And if you’re worried your team might die on the way, you shouldn’t. Even when you’re working in the village, you can keep track of the health bars of your little warriors you can make them retreat in time if needed.

• A lot of grinding: Swag and Sorcery is a grinding game, and that’s fine. But at times it felt like this is all there is to the game, and that’s a little bit of a shame since it does feel like this game has a lot more potential. And we know the developers at Lazy Bear Games have potential as well, so I’m a bit disappointed here. Nevertheless, this is in the mixed section because it’s not THAT bad. I do enjoy a good grinding game and admittedly, this is a great one.  
• Fashion shows: I honestly don’t know what those random fashion shows are doing in the middle of the game. I do not feel like they belong there? I mean, sure it’s a nice twist and distraction, but it’s so totally random and I don’t feel like it really added any value to the game so they might as well not have added it to the game.

• Why are there cutscenes: The overall story of the game doesn’t seem to mean anything when you look at the gameplay. So that means that the cutscenes with little pieces of the story feel out of place and just plain boring. If you play this game, you’ll probably start skipping them after a while (thank god for that possibility).
• Mobile game: Even though Swag and Sorcery is a fun game, it feels like it belongs in your App Store or Google Play. It’s not that it doesn’t work on PC, because it does, but it feels like this may have been meant to be a mobile game first.

★ Score: 65% 
Now I get why this game got mixed feelings because it does have it’s good but also mixed and bad points. Maybe the developers released this game too soon and it should’ve been in Early Access so the public could’ve given their feedback. This aside, Swag and Sorcery is still a fun game with some smashing graphics. You may not want to finish the whole game because of the excessive grinding, so I recommend buying this during the sale if you’re not sure!

Developer: Lazy Bear Games, Uroboros Games Publisher: tinyBuild
Played on: PC
Perfect for: grinding fans
Steam Game Store link: Click here