If there's one thing I love about World of Warcraft, it's Azeroth. A boundless fantasy realm ripe with opportunity, it feels like no matter how long you've been playing for, you'll never discover all of its secrets. But imagine an Azeroth where that's your exact purpose: to loot everything, explore everything, and get out alive. That's Legacy: Steel and Sorcery, a brand new Dark and Darker-style extraction game from former Blizzard developers (some of which worked on iconic WoW expansions like Wrath of the Lich King and Legion), and if you like the sound of it, you can play it now.
As I open Legacy: Steel and Sorcery, I'm asked to choose my character. I'm greeted by four fantasy archetypes; Hunter, Priest, Rogue, and Warrior, all of which I'm immediately intrigued by. After some deliberation, I go for the Rogue, a glass cannon-style DPS that deals high damage, but has a relatively low health pool.
I'm thrust into a lush, foliaged world that immediately reminds me of Azeroth's Elwynn Forest. From here, I begin to explore, uncovering eerie, abandoned churches akin to the ones in Tristfal Glades or, alternatively, Blizzard's action RPG, Diablo.
But Legacy: Steel and Sorcery is neither an MMORPG or a Diablo-style dungeon crawler. Instead, it's an extraction game, with a focus on survival and loot gathering. I quickly rifle through a few nearby boxes, acquiring several resources that I can use to upgrade my character's gear and complete quests.
Before you drop into Mithrigarde – Legacy's sprawling fantasy world – you can choose up to three quests to complete. You'll be rewarded with various goodies, renown, and highly-coveted XP, which you can in turn use to upgrade your character's various abilities. Each class has its own unique skill tree, which allows to refine your playstyle. As a Rogue, I like to sneak in, steal things, and get out quickly, so I immediately work towards enhancing my loot speed and dive back into the fray.
But stealing comes at a price. I'm beset upon by a Hunter, who quickly takes down my squishy ol' Rogue before I can make it to the extraction point. When you die in Legacy: Steel and Sorcery, it's a 'winner takes all' type of deal, and just like Escape from Tarkov, Dark and Darker, or even WoW's Plunderstorm battle royale mode, you lose all of your gear. Kiss those resources goodbye.
On my third attempt, I choose Priest, the class I play in World of Warcraft. Legacy's version of the class plays more like WoW's Holy Priest, providing heals and buffs instead of direct damage (although her smite-style ability is pretty tough). Of the two classes I play, she's easily my favorite, but given I'm a Shadow Priest main that's hardly a surprise.
Legacy: Steel and Sorcery is very much in its alpha stages, so I encounter a few bugs (one of which does boot me from the game after turning me into a wand). But, this is a very early build, so I'm not exactly surprised.
The Legacy: Steel and Sorcery alpha demo will be playable during October's Steam Next Fest, dropping on Monday, October 14. You can dive in here.
In the meantime, however, here's our list of all the free Steam games if you're looking to save some cash.
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