Developer Background
Notorious Studios is an independent game development studio based in Irvine, California, founded by former Blizzard Entertainment developers who contributed to legendary franchises like World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch. With a global team of 30 passionate developers, including remote talent from around the world, the studio is dedicated to crafting immersive, player-focused experiences. Backed by venture funding, Notorious Studios aims to build rich, community-driven worlds that evolve over time.
Gameplay & Design
Extraction shooters have surged in popularity ever since Escape From Tarkov set the standard for the genre. As with any groundbreaking game, it didn't take long for others to follow suit, each trying to put their own spin on the formula. Legacy: Steel & Sorcery is one such title, but instead of a military setting, it transports players to a dark fantasy world filled with warriors, magic, and mythical creatures. Right away, this fresh take on the genre is intriguing, and credit is due to the developers for trying something different. However, innovation alone doesn’t always translate to a flawless experience.
From the moment you load into Legacy: Steel & Sorcery, the game sets up promising foundations. The tutorial drops you into a small, controlled map as a warrior class, armed with default weapons to get you accustomed to the mechanics. At first, it’s exciting—there’s an initial sense of curiosity and adventure. Your first match is a simple yet satisfying experience: spawn in, battle a few enemies, gather loot, and extract. Success! That felt good, right?
Encouraged, you load into another round, ready to explore further. But that’s when the cracks start to show. You wander in a different direction, expecting more encounters, more challenges… but there’s barely anything there. The map feels sparse, with little to do between brief, avoidable fights. You might go an entire round encountering only one or two enemies, and while some players might appreciate a lower-stakes approach to extraction shooters, the lack of dynamic encounters removes much of the tension that defines the genre. The heart-pounding fear of being taken down by another player while hauling valuable loot—one of Tarkov’s defining thrills—is largely absent here. In Tarkov, extracting with a powerful new weapon changes the way you play future rounds. In Legacy: Steel & Sorcery, the rewards feel underwhelming in comparison. Finding a new weapon doesn’t have the same weight when most enemies can be easily avoided, and the gameplay loop risks feeling empty as a result.
That’s not to say the game doesn’t have strong ideas. The fantasy setting gives Legacy: Steel & Sorcery a unique identity in a genre mostly dominated by modern military aesthetics. The potential is there—melee combat, magic, and high-fantasy creatures provide an exciting foundation. But to truly stand out, the game needs more than a novel setting; it needs a sense of tension, urgency, and meaningful rewards that make each extraction feel like a hard-fought victory. Right now, while Legacy: Steel & Sorcery takes a bold step into uncharted territory, it has yet to fully capitalize on the potential of merging classic fantasy with the high-stakes nature of extraction shooters.
Feedback
I can’t help but wish this game didn’t feel so empty. The way enemies behave makes them almost irrelevant—since they only attack when you’re right in their face, they’re incredibly easy to avoid. In fact, unless you’re forced into combat while looting a building, you can usually just walk past them without consequence. When enemies are roaming the open fields, they pose little threat because they rarely catch up to you.
A simple fix could make encounters more meaningful: either make enemies faster than the player when in pursuit—at least until combat is engaged—or ensure that all enemies have both ranged and melee attacks. Right now, some enemies do have ranged attacks, but once you close the gap, they become helpless, like deer caught in headlights.
Another crucial improvement Legacy: Steel & Sorcery desperately needs is better weapon variety. And not just more weapons—distinct attack styles. One axe should have wide, sweeping strikes, while another could deliver heavy, overhead chops like splitting wood. The upcoming Wizard class will introduce some variation, but without diverse melee options, combat risks feeling repetitive.
However, the most important thing this game needs isn’t just more weapons or enemy tweaks—it’s the ever-present tension that defines the extraction genre. Every match should carry the weight of potential loss, the fear that one mistake could cost you everything. Until Legacy: Steel & Sorcery captures that sense of risk, its world, no matter how intriguing, will continue to feel hollow.
Verdict
Legacy: Steel & Sorcery brings a fresh fantasy twist to the extraction shooter genre, stepping away from military realism in favor of warriors, magic, and mythical creatures. The foundation is promising, and the setting alone makes it stand out from its contemporaries. However, while the concept is intriguing, the execution falls short.
The world feels empty, with enemies that are too easy to avoid, stripping encounters of any real threat. Combat lacks variety, and without meaningful weapon diversity, engagements quickly become repetitive. Most importantly, the game struggles to capture the core tension of the extraction genre—the ever-present fear of losing everything.
There’s potential here, and with the right tweaks—more dynamic enemy behavior, diverse combat mechanics, and a greater sense of risk—Legacy: Steel & Sorcery could evolve into something special. But as it stands, the game’s world, much like its battles, feels hollow.
Legacy: Steel & Sorcery is available now in Early Access on PC via Steam.
