Dive into Noob – The Factionless, a game that pays homage to the many RPGs we grew up with.
If you’re reading this, then it is most likely that you grew up playing video games. For many, video games offered us a chance to escape from our lives and gave us a chance to experience things that we could have never imagined; this can especially be said about RPGs, with expansive worlds and characters that we still remember so fondly. It only makes sense that these games hold a special place in our hearts, and Noob – The Factionless pays homage to all things RPG, from the questionably dressed characters of Final Fantasy to the former adventurers of Skyrim, if it was an RPG, Noob has it.
The creation of Noob – The Factionless is quite a complex and interesting story. Three studios – Olydri Games, SneakyBox Games and Blackpixel Studio came together and poured their collective love for the RPG genre into their latest release, Noob – The Factionless. As for the background of the Studios, Blackpixel Studio is based in Nimes, France, and doesn’t appear to have much of a background in terms of gaming.
They did bring the comic strip British Gangsters to video games… But that’s really it. As for the other studios behind the game, SneakyBox Games, which is based in Kaunas, Lithuania, is mostly known for their reimaginings of classic shoot em’ ups such as Caverns of Mars Recharged and Missile: Command Recharged.
This does, however, become interesting with the game’s third and final developer, Olydri Games, which doesn’t appear to have any former releases in gaming. Despite this, Olydri also happens to be the name of the world in which the story of the game is set! Well, not Noob – The Factionless‘ story but rather the story of the game that our characters play. You see, Noob – The Factionless is a bit of a confusing game to explain.
The game is based on the Noob web series, which is published by Olydri Games’ parent company Olydri Entertainment. In Noob – The Factionless, our characters want to become the number one players in a video game called Horizon- No, not that one– Horizon 4.2. Essentially, this is a bit of ‘gameception’, where you play a game about people playing a game while you play the game that the people are playing.
For the sake of clarification, in this review, when referring to “the game” we will be referring to Noob – The Factionless unless stated otherwise. Now that that’s out of the way, onto the story. The game’s story begins with two of our protagonists, Adam and Martin, chatting about eSports at an internet café. Both Adam and Martin dream of becoming pro eSports players.
But sadly, Martin, in his own words, is a “Noob” and lacks the gaming skills to actually stand a chance. One of the nosy café attendants, Max Middle, happens to eavesdrop on their conversation and suggests they check out the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fanta- I mean Horizon 4.2, which is apparently going to be entered into eSports with the release of Horizon 5.0.
After a quick impulse buy, our heroes venture forth into Horizon 4.2 on a quest to reach Level 100. Now, right off the bat, you will immediately notice that Horizon 4.2 has a ton of references to most RPGs that have been released during the past two decades, heck, even the character models featured in the game seem to reference early 3D Final Fantasy Games on the DS such as Final Fantasy IV. This isn’t even the only reference to the critically acclaimed JRPG series as the battle system in Horizon 4.2 seems to be ripped straight from FFIV as well. Martin’s character known as Baster, can acquire a suspicious gunblade shaped sword.
As you progress through the story of Horizon 4.2, Adam and Martin will eventually meet a full party of interesting people with just as interesting classes. Martin’s character, Baster, plays a Neogician, a cyborg tech wizard that gets a cool set of robo-arms; Adam plays as Drek, the berserker; Leo, who plays as Logs, the multifunctional elementalist and finally Sarah, who plays as the lovely May, a cartomancer that mixes sorcery with card-play.
Now unlike typical RPGs, you don’t get other Characters in Horizon 4.2, and what characters you have, you can’t really change their classes either; you do however, get to change their subclasses, which only really changes their passive abilities. Except for Logs, who changes what element he uses when you switch his subclass.
Aside from subclasses, each of the characters can take on two jobs. These secondary classes unlock a whole new variety of gameplay to Horizon 4.2, such as unlocking beast taming, cooking and even the ever in demand feature of fishing; yes, there is fishing in Horizon 4.2. Thanks to these classes you will practically be rolling in resources that you can either use in combat or sell for a few extra coins.
Now you’re probably thinking, “Wow, Horizon 4.2 sounds like a phenomenal game!” Well, that’s the thing it’s not. If Horizon 4.2 was to be considered a proper RPG, it would actually be an absolute cakewalk. There is no over-convoluted plot or complex narrative to follow; heck, you don’t even have to grind that much in order to level up. To some, this may be seen as a bonus but each to their own.
These choices are, however, intentional. You see, you’re not playing Horizon 4.2; our protagonists are; we’re playing Noob – The Factionless and Horizon 4.2 is just a part of the narrative. You also can’t separate the two games as Horizon 4.2, despite being an entirely fictional game in Noob – The Factionless, is where the game gets all its gameplay from, and you can’t talk about one without talking about the other.
Even then, the gameplay is just really fun; yes, it’s not the greatest RPG to exist, but it is a fun one and incorporates as many aspects of our favorite RPGs into it as possible and tries to pay homage to all the joy they brought us. From the ridiculous naming conventions to often redundant quests, Noob – The Factionless is a giant love letter to all the things we both love and hate about the role-playing genre and if you’re a fan, you will greatly appreciate all it has to offer.
Noob – The Factionless isn’t an award-winning RPG, it’s simply a love letter to a genre that holds a special place in the hearts of many. It is definitely a game you play for the story, which is about a group of gamers who have dreams of making it big and who make a few friends along the way. A must play for those who grew up on the role-playing games of the last two decades.
