League of Stickmen is a Windows 10 game that should appeal to those who prefer games with a fast pace and a lot of action. The gaming title has you taking charge of a group of warriors, the Stickmen, who must wage battle with the Shadow Minions who have plunged the world into darkness.
Graphics for League of Stickmen match the mood of a battlefield where you face off against a range of shadowy foes. Gameplay is quick and if you are not careful, the Shadow Minions can easily overtake your heroes and end the game.
Reminiscent of Dark Lands, League of Stickmen is an enjoyable combat game to spend a little time with. Along with being available for Windows 10 PC and Mobile, League of Stickmen is also available for Windows Phone 8.1.
League of Stickmen opens up to a modest primary menu that provides you options to jump into gameplay, access the settings and navigate to gaming features for character development. Settings are minimal with options to mute the sound and music.
Character development features include viewing your character profiles where you can equip them with gear, upgrade their gear and improve their skills. There are also options to view any unassigned gear, buy treasure chests full of equipment and visit the gaming store to buy gems and coins that are used to upgrade equipment, enhance skills and unlock warriors. Gems and coins are also earned during gameplay, but the in-app purchases can allow you to get a jump on character development.
Across the top of the menu screens, League of Stickmen displays your coin and gem totals along with your gaming experience/power. If there are any free opportunities to pick up additional gems, notification for such offers also appear on this statistic's header.
Gameplay is separated into two modes: Dungeon and Boss. The Dungeon Mode is a multi-chapter story mode with each chapter having multiple levels of play. In each level you face a hoard of lesser enemies that progressively become more challenging, ultimately leading to a boss fight.
The Boss Mode becomes available once you complete the third chapter of the Dungeon Mode. It is also a multi-chapter mode with each chapter having multiple levels, but instead of a Minion army you face more powerful bosses.
Gameplay with both gaming modes is consistent, and when you first jump into gameplay, League of Stickmen sends you through a tutorial on gaming features. Movement is handled through directional arrows located in the lower left corner of the display and your attack controls are positioned in the lower right corner. There is a primary attack button that is surrounded by specialized attacks based on the warrior you are controlling. The specialized attacks have a little more gusto and, once used, require a few seconds to recharge before being used again.
There is also a Switch Button located above the movement controls that allows you to switch which warrior you control. Warriors have varying skills and abilities that include special attacks, and switching between warriors allows you to maximize your efforts based on their skills and the enemies you face.
You begin gameplay with the Guardian warrior and quickly unlock a second warrior (in my case, it was the Berserker). The pre-game menus allow you to choose your warrior and, in many cases, you can send multiple warriors into combat. Warriors that you do not directly control move in the same direction as your primary warrior and attack enemies automatically.
As you slay enemies, a variety of loot falls from their lifeless corpses, including coins, gems and weapons. You need to run your warrior across these items to collect them. The downside is that you need to hustle up and collect this loot as you finish a level because, once the scoring summary appears, anything left on the battlefield stays on the battlefield. It would be nice if the loot was automatically collected as it settles on the battlefield.
The pace of gameplay with League of Stickmen has a bit of zip to it. Enemies appear in waves that become more intense, and if you stop to scratch your nose, you may find your warriors knee deep in Shadow Minions without any hope for survival. There is a progress bar that runs across the bottom of the gaming screen to give you an idea on how much longer you'll have to endure the enemy attacks.
I liked the dark graphics of the battle with the more colorful backgrounds. This combination offers a nice contrast that appeals to the eye. My only nitpick with League of Stickmen is that there were times when gameplay became so intense that it was difficult to distinguish the characters doing battle. There will be times that you blindly tap the attack button, hoping that your character is the one doing the most damage in the pile of characters grouped together.
Available for both Windows 10 PC and Mobile, as well as Windows Phone 8.1, League of Stickmen is currently priced at $0.99. While some may balk at the lack of a trial version, the price point is budget friendly and the game is packed full of action. If you like fast-paced adventure games to waste some time with, League of Stickmen is worth the price of admission.
Download League of Stickmen for Windows 10 PC and Mobile
