RPGolf Legends Review

Developed By
ArticNet LLC
Published By
KEMCO
Genre
Sports, Action RPG
Platform
PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Nintendo Switch™, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Steam™
Our Score
2.5

Golf games are always in a weird place for me; if they are too realistic then I’m probably not into them that much, but if they are bright, colorful, and have some different mechanics then I’m all for them. One of my most played childhood Game Boy Color games was Mario Golf made by Camelot Software Planning. I loved how bright and colorful it was but my main draw to the game was the RPG Club mode where my character could interact with all the different characters. Fast forward 20 plus years later and not very many other golf games have piqued my interest. I was excited to learn about RPGolf Legends, a golf game on the surface that has a lot of interactions with other characters. Sign me up! I started digging into the game and I learned that there was a dungeon crawling in it too.

Created by a small team over at ArticNet and published by Kemco, RPGolf Legends is a follow-up to RPGolf which came out in 2018. RPGolf Legends builds on the previous installment by expanding on pretty much everything that that title had to offer. Does this title sink a hole-in-one and make me relive my memories of my previous golf games or does it double bogey right from the start? Let’s get into this.

The people of RPGolf Legends are in danger! Some evil force has blocked everybody from doing their favorite sport, golf! The evil force has sealed the holes with magical barriers and it is up to your character to break these barriers and bring golf back to the people. It’s not an easy journey as you’ll have to fight your way through many monsters to do so.  Don’t worry because you’re not alone in this, you have a partner that is a magical golf club to guide you on your journey. As you progress on your journey you can unlock new combat classes as well as meet new friends who will assist you.

The story never really takes itself too seriously which leads the game to have a lot of sections that I found very funny but it never became too goofy to the point where I was taken out of the experience. This world is filled with colorful characters who are pretty fun to interact with. Your character never speaks and your partner, the magical golf club, is the one that does most of the talking. While the story wasn’t super gripping it was enough to keep me occupied to see what happens next. During your journey, you will discover 6 unique environments and find a total of 54 golf holes to play. RPGolf Legends greatest strength is probably its pixel work and soundtrack. I played the Switch version and it looks wonderful. 

The shortcomings of RPGolf Legends are very apparent when it comes to its combat and its golf mechanics. The golf aspect is pretty simple in this game, going for a two-meter shot type and none of the other options that you see in other golf games. There are items in different types of balls that you can use, but I rarely found myself using them because I didn’t feel like I needed to. None of the holes are especially challenging, and given that it’s a top-down style there aren’t any incline or hills that affect you. On the combat side, it’s a little bit more difficult because you have multiple classes. You can unlock different skills so finding which one you like best will help you get through this game. Even with that, combat isn’t that hard.

These are things that I can overlook because it is a pretty unique concept; however,  what I cannot overlook is how grind-heavy RPGolf Legends’ story is. Every hole needs to be unlocked, and it’s not like you need to unlock a hole by completing the other holes. Instead you need to raise a bar full enough to have enough magical energy to unlock that hole. The bar can be filled by either golfing or defeating enemies.  The catch is that golfing is not even guaranteed to give you something that you need to raise the bar as that reward is issued via a roulette system. It’s safer to fight enemies to raise that bar but it’s faster to golf and gamble for it. If the holes were unlocked in a group, where you play a couple of holes and then have to unlock more holes, then I’d be more okay with it. But every single hole having to be unlocked in that way makes the gameplay of RPGolf Legends feel like a chore. While it didn’t happen often, there were times when the game would soft lock itself and I would have to restart. One of those times happened to me in one of the first dungeons for a quest. I reached the boss room when the boss was there but the event did not trigger correctly and I was just stuck standing there.

RPGolf Legends is pretty ambitious in what it attempts to do. However I believe it’s poorly balanced in terms how much of a grind is required. I don’t believe that either the golfing or combat are truly bad but they lack anything that’s truly innovative. If you’re looking for a game that combines golf and RPGs then you will have an okay time with this title. For people looking for more in-depth golf or RPG game, I don’t believe this title is for you. This is the second title in the series and I do believe that ArticNet does listen to feedback and makes each follow-up title even better. If another title in this series is released I would be happy to play it.

RPGolf Legends Review
RPGolf Legends Review
If you're looking for a game that combines golf and RPGs then you will have an okay time with this title. For people looking for more in-depth golf or RPG game, I don't believe this title is for you.
Pros
Beautiful sprite work
Wonderful music
Cons
Each hole needs to be unlocked
Heavy grinding
Gameplay that is too simple
2.5
Score