Sword & Sorcery
Sword and Sorcery games are generally fantasy settings with fast paced action. Heroes are heroic but frequently morally ambiguous, such as the hero that saves the kingdom because they're being paid. They're also loaded with archetypes; things like Knights, Wizards, Archers, and Assassins. These are some of our favorite games that play around with the themes of Sword & Sorcery.
Castle Crashers
1 - 4 Players PS3, XB1, & XB360
T for Blood and Gore, Cartoon Violence, Crude Humor
Can't blame the bat for hiding.
If you’re down for your gamers fighting bosses like a toxic pooping bat or a hairball spewing catfish beast, then you’ve come to the right place. Castle Crashers is a cooperative hack slash brawler infused with crude humor, which is all part of its charm. Gameplay consists of hacking your way through hordes of enemies as you try to rescue the princesses that have been captured. Once players rescue a princess they duke it out for the privilege of a kiss. What makes this game neat is all of the different things it tries out; there's a pet system, levels where players are escaping, and a bajillion characters to unlock.
Castle Crashers is a game that's not afraid to try out weird things. It’s a lot of fun, especially if you’re looking for knights and monsters with a different spin on them.
Magicka 2
1 - 4 Players PS4
T for Blood and Gore, Violence
As they always say, where there's smoke there's explosions.
Magicka 2 is a top down cooperative game where you fight monsters with magic to make your way through the various levels. The way that you can mix together different types of magic makes this game super neat. Gameplay consists of casting spells in different ways and combining elements to get unique spells. You may need to throw together lightning and life elements for a revive spell, or throw water and fire together to make steam. There are even different ways of casting the elements, such as in rays, all around you, or even on yourself. If it’s not a healing spell of some kind chances are you’ll take damage. Faulty casting is just as likely to take out the entire party as the enemies themselves are.
Magicka 2 is a game where players can cast just about anything, with the possibility of accidentally killing each other in the process. It is a great game, and finding new interesting spell combinations is a blast, sometimes literally.
Knight Squad
1 - 8 players XB1
T for Violence
This wasn't what I had in mind when I said I wanted to do a garden maze.
Knight Squad is a frantic arena game. Gamers either work as teams or fight in various free-for-all matches. Game modes may be destroying crystals, escaping with the grail, capturing the flag, or all manner of other game modes. It’s easy to drop in and out between games. There are even secret characters to unlock, like the Salmon Knight. It's easy to play with so many ways to play.
This one has long been a favorite of our Teen Room patrons because of the fast play and ease of switching between game modes.
Towerfall Ascension
1 - 4 Players PS4, XB1, & NS
E for Fantasy Violence
Am I desperate enough for arrows to yank them out of the corpse yet?
Towerfall Ascension is another arena style game where players control archers with a limited supply of arrows. Much like in doge-ball players can pick up arrows from the battlefield that have been previously fired, so if you fire off all your arrows chances are your opponent will gather them up and fire them right back. There’s also a cooperative survival mode where one or two players can fight off waves after waves of enemies.
It’s an excellent party game, meaning if you need a game with quick rounds or your gamers love hosting impromptu tournaments.
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris
1 - 4 Players PS4 & XB1
T for Mild Blood, Mild Language, Violence
Doing this just like we learned in Archaeology school.
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris is a top down cooperative dungeon crawler. Players use their abilities to kill monsters and solve puzzles, such as using their staff to raise platforms to get onto higher platforms. It’s very reminiscent of games like Gauntlet or Diablo, but without the Mature content and much more puzzley. It’s so interesting to see what is normally a Sword and Sorcery dungeon crawler, but with treasure hunter and ancient Egyptian trappings. The story is that Lara Croft is trying to find the fragments of Osiris to stop Set, with a rival treasure hunter and two imprisoned ancient Egyptian deities to help. This game is great if you’re looking for cooperative games with problem solving, though the controls take a bit of getting used to.
Stephanie Frey can be found roaming Twitter. She can also be found selling goodies on Society6.
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