What parents need to know
Noob – Les Sans-Factions (also known as Noob – The Factionless in English) is a turn-based role-playing game (RPG) that takes place in the universe of the French web series Noob.
The game takes place shortly after the events of the series and takes place on two levels: mainly in the virtual world of Olydri, in which the avatars of the protagonists evolve, and some episodes in the real life of the four founding players of the Rush guild.
Baster the neogician and Drek the berserker dream of becoming pro-gamers and, inspired by the adventures of the Noob guild, try to join the elite of players of the MMORPG (massive multiplayer online roleplaying game) Horizon. They quickly team up with Logs the elementalist and May the cartomancer to found the Rush guild, to face Olydri’s journeys, to complete multiple quests, and to reach the famous level 100.
In Noob – The Factionless, you are invited to explore a vast world, to customize the avatars of the four players with various equipment and weapons, and to interact with many colorful characters (whether in the virtual universe of Olydri or in the real lives of the players). It goes without saying that the iconic characters of the Noob series are met during this adventure, whether it is through their avatars in the game Horizon or in the French city of Toulon.
This is an RPG with a very colorful visual signature, good storytelling, and a relatively simple combat system.
The game was provided by the publisher for review. This does not influence our opinion.
Details
Level of experience required
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Evaluation
Characters, creatures, and enemies have cute chibi-style appearances. Themes such as conflict and competition are addressed, but the narrative tone is light and fairly humorous. There are no particularly scary or violent scenes.
There are no particularly suggestive themes or sexual content. The characters are always dressed and their appearance is pixelated. There are some allusions to alcohol.
The characters of Noob – Les Sans-Factions have an extensive vocabulary and, in the French version, they can use expressions that are more common in France. Still in the French version, some anglicisms relating to the field of video games are used. The majority of the dialogue appears only in text, so it must be read.
Some enemies can make light threats, and a few insults without obscenities can be read.
The narrative context of Noob – The Factionless is quite light and humorous, and it invites to adventure. Player-controlled characters usually have to collaborate with each other and with NPCs to solve problems and to progress through the story. Quests are fairly linear and do not present questionable moral choices.
Once the player gets used to the controls, it is a pretty easy game. The movement keys and the interaction key are the most used. In the exploration phase (the majority of the game), they are used as their names imply: to move and to interact with characters and objects. In turn-based combat, they are used to choose between characters’ abilities and to launch attacks.
However, it is worth noting that Noob – The Factionless is a game that is played without a mouse and that the default interaction key is C. It is with this key that you will be able to make a selection in the main menu, and it will be up to you to keep the default control settings or to change them in the options.
Acheter une fois
Buy the game once.
We did not encounter any microtransactions in this game.
Local game modes
Noob – The Factionless is a single-player game that does not require internet access to play.
Online Game Modes
There is no online mode.
Expansions/Add-ons (DLC)
This game has no expansions.
Our opinion
The universe of Noob – The Factionless faithfully follows that of the Noob series, but it is also a refreshing tribute to classic RPGs and to MMORPGs.
On one hand, fans of the series will undoubtedly be delighted by the many appearances of Noob characters and by the narrative tone built around the concepts and events of the series. On the other hand, it is far from necessary to be a fan or even to have watched the Noob series to enjoy this game.
The quest progression is quite linear, but it allows the player to be immersed in the world of Olydri and to explore again previous areas, which sometimes even leads to new quests to complete.
It is nice that the four founders of the Rush guild have their own personalities and objectives while their characters in Olydri have very complementary skills and evolution options.
A downside that we encountered is that the interaction key is by default the letter C, which takes effect in the main menu and without notice (because the main menu is obviously encountered before the tutorial). However, since it is possible to see all the controls and/or to customize them in the options, this does not impact player experience once it is a known fact.
Inventory, character sheets, equipment, talents, skills, quests, and other in-game menus can be viewed from a single key and can be navigated between one another using movement keys. This creates a rather easy menu navigation, but we noticed the lack of a map, which remains after one of the characters becomes a Cartographer.
The absence of a map that would provide an overview of the current area can add a level of difficulty to missions such as “talk with A” or “go to place named B”, but it can also add to the immersion since it becomes a necessity to explore well the cities just entered by the player.
In summary, Noob – The Factionless is an original and light RPG, which will appeal to players of all ages because it offers an interesting narrative, a fairly simple turn-based combat system, a pleasant soundtrack, and a nice visual signature.
Our rating : 17 / 20
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