For context, I reviewed What A Legend v0.1 some time ago and gave it four stars out of five on the grounds that while the game did have a lot of strengths it was far from perfect.
So the main selling point of WaL is the visual side of things. You can see the screenshots for yourselves. Rest assured that the game is animated nicely as well, and not only when it comes to sex scenes. A lot of game screens have some animated elements that really liven up the overall feel. Character design is also very well done. Where a lot of games limit expressions to facial features on a static doll, WaL actually does full body movement ans some animation loops, which is really good for character expressions. And, get it, moving elf ears! Like do you even know how rare is it... ahem. Anyway, moving on.
The writing is solid. It's more on the lighthearted side of things, with a lot of jokes and visual gags sprinkled around. When it comes to the meat of the plot the game doesn't drown you in boring infodumps, a very common sin nowadays. Basically, a princess shows up, gives an epic quest, doesn't take no for an answer, and then gives a magical kick in the butt to provide the MC some good initial velocity. All that? Done in maybe a couple dozen short dialogue lines. Speaking of the main character, he's kinda a lovable idiot. We do have an abundance of sex-obsessed reprehensible idiots as protagonists, it's the good-natured goofiness that is actually rare (and obsession with sex is a necessity, duh). So, good job here as well.
Sex scenes is where 0.1 had failed pretty hard; one could say that there was no writing there at all—unless you count a collection of onomatopoeias as writing. Rejoice, for v0.2 has fixed this problem, and it's important to emphasize that 0.1 scenes have been re-written alongside with some non-sexual dialogues. The dev's willingness to go back and perfect some 'old' content is exemplary. Well, I hope that trend continues because there is always room for improvement.
There are however some fundamental problems that are harder to address in a single release. The game attempts to create a world of an epic scale, as well as dip its toes in more mechanically advanced gameplay than mere linear point and click adventure. And with only two people working on it, I can't see it happening any time soon. If the devs don't keep addition of new characters in check, it could be years before we have a single character arc complete. Alternatively, the game may stop introducing new characters at some point in the near future but that would mean the majority of the world that would become accessible thereafter will feel bland and lifeless without female population. Now, this isn't necessarily a flaw of the game in general, but more of a flaw of the game as it is right now; and I'm a firm believer in rating things in the present and ignoring any "potential".
The most important conclusion about What A Legend v0.2 is that it has actual improvements in areas where v0.1 was most lacking. This means the dev does listen to constructive criticism. And it means that if you're not providing any, you're making a disservice to the game and the community.
And yeah, let's tentatively give it 5 stars this time, because improvements. There's a huge asterisk to that, though. The game is quite short, and one would have a greater experience playing a more mature future version rather than consuming it piecemeal after each update. YMMV, of course.
