The Lost Legends of Redwall: The Scout Anthology Review: Creative Yet Slow Stealth (PC)

The Redwall series makes the jump from book to video game with The Lost Legends of Redwall: The Scout Anthology. You follow the adventures of original characters Liam and Sophia as they are recently inducted into their local scout team. However, an attack from seafaring wererats disrupts the celebration, forcing the new scout into action. Along the way they will make allies, sneak to new locations, and repel the wererats back to the seas.

This is an original story, meaning you don’t need to be an existing fan of Redwall to jump in. However, enough exposition is missing that you likely won’t understand what is going on unless you were an avid fan. The UI is also not great, with some of the game’s more interesting concepts difficult to utilise. It’s also easy to see that some of the graphics have fallen behind with noticeable flaws.

The Lost Legends of Redwall: The Scout Anthology will delight fans of the series who want to jump into a new adventure. However, for fans looking for a stealth game that challenges them, you may want to look elsewhere. The story’s main draw is the Redwall adventure, and its strongest appeal is to fans of the series. Everything else could have been better.

The Lost Legends of Redwall: The Scout Anthology is available on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox for 24.99 USD.

Story – The Rat Invasion

The Lost Legends of Redwall: The Scout Anthology begins with either Liam or Sophia, an engaged couple who are taking on the scout induction. Whichever character you choose becomes the inductee, while the character you don’t choose is the mentor. Upon completing your scout training and formally joining the team, you have a celebration. That celebration is interrupted by a sudden wererat invasion, disrupting your once-peaceful life. It’s now up to you to rally all your allies and repel the invaders before it’s too late.

The descriptions are great but you might not know much about the food.

The story combines three acts which aren’t very long individually. It won’t take you more than a few hours to get through everything. Redwall is a children’s series and the length makes sense, not trying to extend the story and be too confusing for the audience. The plot is also simple, with almost no serious storylines similar to Cuisineer. It’s perfect for children or fans of the series.

Unfortunately, one of the game’s biggest weaknesses is its reliance on exposition. While some story concepts are explained to you, it’s not uncommon for new players to get lost in the story. It’s not inviting for fans who haven’t heard of Redwall before and want to try a new take on the stealth genre. That doesn’t inherently hurt the story but it makes it hard to grasp. It’s not hard to figure out that mice and rats don’t get along. But it is difficult to grasp just why the rats are antagonistic and well-organised raiders. You normally handwave this as a children’s story, but older and/or new players might get confused.

Targeting – For Fans or Young Children

The story isn’t poor per se but it does expose how much of it is aimed at children. Most of the details are handwaved to make sense and you must take the story as it is. That’s not wrong for a children’s story because going into unnecessary detail makes things too confusing even for them. But it does hamper your ability as a new player to fully grasp what’s going on. Eventually you might find yourself doing a task just because, rather than immersing yourself in the narrative.

You learn the rats are evil but never know why they are the bad guys.

If you are a child or fan of the series, it’s easy to overlook the story, jumping in like it’s an interactive novel. For players unfamiliar with the series or older players, it’s not an easy narrative to stay with. Unless you are still in touch with your inner child, it can be hard to stay with the story.

Gameplay – Sneaking Your Way Past Enemies

Unlike stealth games such as Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, there isn’t much combat or focus on fighting. Your goal is to get from one area to another, distracting enemies as you go. It’s a stealth game that involves some puzzle-solving. Locations are guarded by enemies who are constantly looking for you. Fortunately, this game doesn’t punish you for failure. If you are caught by surprise, you simply start at the beginning of the section before you are caught. It’s a good way to make the game accessible without being overly frustrating. There are few optional objectives; you often sneak your way through and get out unscathed.

Knowing where to go is a constant struggle because your map doesn’t help.

Most of the game’s concepts are designed to challenge. You emit a scent that enemies can pick up on, forcing you to watch your positioning. Enemies also emit scents along with the objects you must find, allowing you to locate them. This helps figure out your timings as well as ensure you pick up the correct item.

As much as the game tries to keep things simple, the game is much harder than it needs to be. Scents mix and blend, making it hard to find the source. Enemies have extremely good noses and sight, catching you without you knowing why. It’s frustrating not to know how you got caught, resulting in several redoes.

There are few indicators of where your objective is. Without good eyesight, it’s possible to get lost or miss objectives because they aren’t marked. Even your map doesn’t show your location, forcing you to guess your position. It’s often more frustrating than fun.

Some spots are too dark and don’t help you at all.

Audio & Visual – Monotone Mice & Graphic Faults

While it’s always hard to imagine what book characters sound like, the characters in the game sound monotone. Expressive moments don’t sound too joyful or emotional. It sounds like lines being read off a script rather than speaking from the heart. On the other hand, this is a story being narrated by an old mouse which may explain the lack of emotion. But it does make it hard for emotional moments to carry their meaning.

The visuals also suffer from some noticeable flaws. It’s easy to see when tails pass through walls or when bodies fit through gaps by going through walls. You can also find yourself in dark places without lighting, making it hard to see where you are going. Everything looks good on the outside, but the details give it away as you get closer.

The Lost Legends of Redwall: The Scout Anthology was reviewed on Steam with a code provided by Forthright Entertainment.