In 2019, League of Legends (2009) celebrated its 10th anniversary, and with it came a plan to broaden the brand of both League and Riot Games. That’s how we got the tactical shooter Valorant, the outstanding animated show Arcane, the promising but yet to release fighting game Project L, and much more. One of the more underrated creations of this initiative is Riot Forge. A publishing arm that funds indie developers to fund smaller games set in the world of Runeterra, often focusing on the stories of individual champions. It’s a genius idea that no other studio the size of Riot Games seems to have had yet. People adore the personalities of League of Legends’ (2009) champions, and giving them the spotlight they deserve in their own games created by often already respected indie studios makes for some great experiences.
Song of Nunu is the latest game coming from Riot Forge. It’s a third-person puzzle adventure game developed by Tequila Works, focusing on the titular notai boy Nunu and his adorable yeti friend Willump, as they traverse through the land of Freljord in an attempt to find the heart of blue. On their adventure, they come across some other familiar faces from the Freljord, like Braum, Lissandra, Ornn, and Volibear, some of whom will become cherished allies and others menacing foes. If you aren’t familiar with League of Legends (2009) and the world of Runeterra, this paragraph might have read like a bunch of gibberish, but don’t worry, if there’s one thing, Song of Nunu has plenty of it’s exposition. So. Much. Exposition.
We need to know an important piece of background information? Nunu will mention it in a random conversation. We need to understand the motivation of the villain? Lissandra will monologue to nobody but the player. We need to know what to do next? Another character will tell us what to do. And if there’s no other character around at the moment, then a dream sequence in which Nunu’s mom tells us what to do next will work as well. Exposition is a common technique in storytelling, and almost every game does it to some extent. But the amount and execution of it in Song of Nunu is egregious and feels incredibly lazy.
And it’s not like the story is anything crazy that’d require deep knowledge of everyone’s full character. Nunu has a vision of his mom telling him to go to the winged mountain and find the heart of the blue. Despite having no idea what any of this means, Nunu grabs his best friend, and last of the yetis, Willump, and goes on a journey in the hopes of reuniting with his mom. On their journey they meet different legends of Frelojord that each teach them some valuable lesson, and at the same time Lissandra is overseeing this all because she has her own plans for the heart of the blue. It’s some really basic by the numbers storytelling that doesn’t surprise or delight in the way a children’s fairy tale like this should.
In terms of gameplay, Song of Nunu is a 3D puzzle adventure with pretty middling puzzle design. Built around Nunu’s flute and the songs he plays with it, that he can use to interact with the environment. Most commonly, that means transforming true ice into an essence of magic that Willump can carry around and manifest in places where its power is needed, usually working as a switch to lower a bridge, or open a gate, or something like that. These puzzles get tiring pretty quickly as they tend to be very similar to each other and are all very simple. The gameplay features some other elements, like some simple platforming and climbing along ledges, combat, snowball fights. But they’re all similarly simple and appear much less than the puzzles do, making for an overall rather monotone experience.
The graphics aren’t exactly the most stunning thing you’ve ever seen either. Somewhat decent art direction makes up for it to a degree, but it’s not a pretty game. As weird as this comparison might sound, looking at it, I had to think of the Skylanders franchise. Decent games that I loved as a kid, but nothing out of the ordinary. Song of Nunu both looks and plays a lot like those. Except without the fun of swapping between your little toys every couple of minutes, here you’re just stuck with Nunu and Willump. To be fair, you could be stuck with a lot worse.
If you’re a fan of League of Legends (2009), or the world of Runeterra in general, you will find some fun in exploring a new adventure with some of your favourite champions of Freljord. But sadly, Song of Nunu is a very underwhelming experience and probably one of the worst pieces of League of Legends (2009) adjacent media Riot has released in a while.
Nairon played Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story on PC with a review key. Song of Nunu is also available on Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
