As Riot Games expands its biggest megahit League of Legends from a popular MOBA into a fully-fledged universe of characters, games like as part of Netflix Games, however, its initial launch on consoles and computers cast it in a poor light. With unfortunate progress gating and an overly simplistic gameplay style, it just doesn't feel like an experience that requires an entire living room setup.

Hextech Mayhem focuses on Ziggs, an animal spirit mage with a love for explosives. Players propel Ziggs through a cityscape with the help of his bombs and precise button presses times to music. There are only three types of "notes" to hit, and the songs that comprise each level never stretch beyond the average length of a pop hit. There are three stages in each world, and players eventually run into boss fights that provide a small bump in difficulty, but not by much. Unlike some of Choice Provision's previous work, Hextech Mayhem feels designed for all skill levels, which fits in with the overall goal of attracting even more players to the world of Runeterra.

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Thanks to each level's short length, Hextech Mayhem is easy to pick up and play, and the presentation remains minimal to keep everything moving. The music is catchy and it's always satisfying to hear it kick into high gear when the combo meter crosses a certain threshold. In a way, it combines the precision gameplay of the team's Bit.Trip Runner series with the mental bliss of performing a Guitar Hero number at peak efficiency. Add in secrets that require hitting "hidden notes" in the songs and an enjoyably colorful world to blast through, and Hextech Mayhem initially provides a thrilling package with hours of fun.

All this does leave the in-game narrative rather lacking, which could be a disappointment for any fans of Ziggs looking for something a bit more substantial than the lore written alongside a new skin release. However, those who know Ziggs aren't likely to be Hextech Mayhem's target audience at all. By focusing on two cartoonish of the evergrowing roster of League of Legends heroes, the game tries to capture a more casual market that wants responsive gameplay and a system that ranks their performance every few minutes. Choice Provisions offers up to three "gears" on each level, although that is merely one factor in a more complicated high score system. This does provide a good incentive to keep going, and completionists will need to hit every note with perfect timing and keep up their combos to unlock new Ziggs skins and higher-level ratings. Unfortunately, they won't be the only ones working to climb the leaderboard.

Hextech Mayhem's greatest fault is that, rather than offering progression from level to level based solely on progression, Choice Provisions gates progress to future stages based on performance in past levels. If players don't collect enough gears by the time they finish one level, they have to go back and replay stages until they earn more. Inevitably, this leads to sessions where players go through things they've already seen all to earn a few more minutes of new level and another brick wall preventing them from continuing. It does significantly extend the overall length of the game, but not in a way that's fun for anyone playing.

While Hextech Mayhem: A League of Legends Story provides a great experience in short bursts, none of its levels feel as replayable as the best of the developer's past work or the best of the rhythm genre. This is a fatal flaw in a game with gated progression, and there are no supplementary modes or other features to distract from it. As it stands, the game's mix of mobile mechanics makes its release on traditional platforms baffling, and only those who are immediately intrigued by Ziggs in a game outside of League of Legends will get something substantial out of the final product in its current available forms.

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Hextech Mayhem: A League of Legends Story is available now on PC and Nintendo Switch, and will release on mobile via Netflix Games in the future. Screen Rant was provided a PC copy of the game for the purposes of this review.