Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story review for PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch

I should admit that I went into Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story with absolutely no prior knowledge of League of Legends. Like, literally zero – until I started writing this review, I was under the impression that LoL was some kind of MMO, and I only discovered how wrong I was when I went to double-check that before writing this review. In other words, my impressions of the Song of Nunu were based entirely on what’s in the game, rather than any carryover feelings I might have about LoL.

And you know what? That’s all you really need to enjoy Songs of Nunu. Even if, like me, you go in just knowing it’s a 3D puzzle-platformer about a boy and his yeti, that’s enough to make you fall for the game.

Of course, it helps that the game is absolutely adorable – particularly, the yeti, Willump, who manages to be both believably terrifying (when he’s fighting off evil wolves and other monsters) and delightfully cuddly (when he’s helping the boy, Nunu, get around the snowy, frozen world of Freljord. The game does a great job of building up their friendship, so that even if you know nothing of either coming into the game – or of the world they inhabit – it doesn’t matter all that much.

Similarly, you don’t need to know anything about League of Legends to get the most out of Song of Nunu’s gameplay. I mean, I’m sure it helps in places, since there are lots of (what I assume are) Easter Eggs scattered throughout the game, and you’ll probably have that added thrill of discovery when you find them. But for the most part, all you need to have fun here is a fondness for puzzle-platformers. Nunu and Willump compliment each other well in this frozen world, with the former adept at squeezing through tight spaces, playing his flute and throwing snowballs, and the latter perfect for bashing through bad guys and scaling enormous cliffs. Add those two talents together, and you have a recipe for puzzle-platforming gameplay that works well consistently throughout its 7-8 hour runtime.

Mind you, I did have some minor quibbles. For one thing, the combat can start to feel a little repetitive – while the finishing moves Willump uses look fun, to build up to them you mainly just need to bash away. For another – and more seriously, I think – there are plenty of moments where you may find yourself wishing this was a two-player game. After all, Nunu and Willump spend the entire game helping each other out, so it would be nice if you go to do that with a friend, rather than relying on the game to fulfill that role. Don’t get me wrong, it works just fine, but sometimes the CPU is no substitute for the real thing.

But even as a single-player adventure, Song of Nunu delivers. It may or may not be a faithful representation of the League of Legends characters, but it says a lot about the quality of this game that none of that really matters.

Riot Forge provided us with a Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story PC code for review purposes.