They say your taste buds change every 7 years, and I’m inclined to agree. There are a ton of foods I love that I absolutely hated years ago. I’m beginning to think this applies to our taste in games as well. I’ve always loved “middle of the road” games. You know, not too hard but not too easy, not too complicated but not too simple. If a game did too much hand-holding or didn’t provide enough for me to do, it was a hard pass. So I was surprised to find myself loving Swag and Sorcery.

Swag and Sorcery is an RPG from the developer of Graveyard Keeper, Lazy Bear Games. It’s much simpler than most RPGs but is so addicting, I couldn’t put it down. There’s not as much for the player to do combat-wise, but the story, crafting, and village-building more than make up for it.

In SaS you are a hero, trying to find the King’s missing suit. Yes, you read that correctly. The king loves his suit and wants it found. Oh, there’s an evil villain you must foil as well. To find the suit and foil the villain, you must develop and improve your village, hire and upgrade your heroes, complete quests, and collect swag while exploring various dungeons.

You start out by hiring a hero at the Guild. You do not get to choose the hero, but you do choose how to develop them based on the gear you equip them with and how you develop their stats. Want an archer? Upgrade their Agility, craft and equip them with a bow. Want a mage? Upgrade their intelligence, craft and equip them with robes and a wand. So how do you do all of that? You begin by building facilities and developing your village.

Facilities are super important as that is where pretty much everything takes place. When the game begins, the village consists of the Guild, a Stable, a Spa, and a Church. The Guild is where you hire heroes. The Stable is where exploration happens. The Spa refills your Mood and the Church refills your health. As time goes on you’ll unlock more Facilities like a Blacksmith for smelting ore and crafting weapons and metal armor, a Hunting Lodge for processing hides and crafting leather armor and bows, and a Laboratory for crafting potions and accessories.

The first Facility you’ll build is the Training Camp. Here, you’ll level your heroes as a whole, and upgrade their individual stats. Of course, a hero’s stats will improve when you level them up. However, being able to upgrade individual stats allows you to customize their class and turn a generic hero into an archer or mage, for example. It’s important to note here that there’s no EXP in Swag and Sorcery and heroes don’t level up from battles or exploration. The only way to level them is to spend gold at the Training Camp.

To build Facilities or to craft anything you need materials and gold. Both are gathered by exploring the different areas (7 in all). Exploration is different than in most RPGs and occurs on a side scrolling panel. In Swag and Sorcery, your heroes are fiercely independent and require almost no input from you. As they travel through the area they will encounter gather spots or enemies. When they approach a gathering spot (tree stump, rock, or bush) they will automatically pull out the necessary tool and gather that resource.

When they encounter an enemy they will automatically pull their weapons, and a turn-based battle will begin. Each hero will attack – first the “front line” right most hero, then the “backline” left most hero; followed by the enemy. If your hero’s health is low, and you have equipped healing potions to them, they will drink a potion instead of attacking. Again, none of this requires any input from you.

This doesn’t mean you can run to the bathroom or otherwise leave them unattended. See, there are 2 things they require your assistance with – casting spells and retreating. If you have built the Laboratory and Library your heroes can cast spells. Learning spells is done by researching them in the Library. Spells also require Mana, which is crafted in the Laboratory. You cast spells by clicking the spellbook at the top of the screen, clicking the spell you want to cast, then clicking on the enemy.

The other thing your heroes need your assistance with is retreating. If your heroes die they lose all of the Swag (gold, materials, and items) they have gathered that run. If their health is low, you can click the retreat button (white flag) on the left and your heroes will be transported back to the village, with their pocket of Swag still intact.

There’s more to Swag and Sorcery, but I don’t want to give too much away. Normally, the “hands off” approach to exploration would have been a turn off for me, but I truly enjoyed SaS. The story is cute and genuinely funny. The mouse-only controls make it accessible to most. The village building and crafting provide the strategic aspect most RPG lovers crave.

If you’re new to RPGs, this is a great game to use to dip your toes into the genre. If you’re an RPG veteran, this is a great game to chill with at the end of a long day. If you’re a gamer who loves humor and great stories, this is for you too. I hope you give Swag and Sorcery spin. Let us know how you liked it in the comments below!

A PC review copy of Swag and Sorcery was provided by tinyBuild for this review.

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Swag and Sorcery

$12.99

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Funny Story
• Fun and Strategic Crafting/Village Building
• Controls Accessible For Most
• Lots of Hero Customization

Cons

• Hands Off Combat
• Can Get Repetitious