Lesson Learned by Gaming Factory S.A. is your classic tower defense game with a nifty history-themed twist.
You will help the main character, Frank, to save his friends from a daydream land where they fritter through historical time periods and fight against well known historical figures.
In typical tower defense fashion, you will gather resources, construct towers, and face off against hordes of enemies. The enemies in Lesson Learned range from cavemen to French soldiers and they come in various shapes, sizes, and possess different abilities.
Frank’s classmates, once saved from the clutches of the bosses, join in on the battlefield as minions who are useful in collecting resources and delivering them to your base. Once delivered, the resources can be used for constructing towers and upgrading them.
Where exactly does Lesson Learned excel? Where’s does it blunder? Let’s explore.
That looks and sounds pretty cool
The cartoonish art-style in Lesson Learned is pleasant on the eyes. It looks like it was derived directly from the back of a bored student’s notebook. The background music fits well and reminds me of the mischievous moments in child lead movies like Home Alone , Dennis the Menace, or Problem Child. Gaming Factory S.A. doesn’t exactly shoot for groundbreaking visuals here but, Lesson Learned does well in selling its theme both audibly and aesthetically.
Is Simplicity a detriment?
Overall, Lesson Learned is not a difficult game to master. There aren’t many mechanics to learn and the one intriguing mechanic, stunning some enemies with your slingshot, is simple enough to grasp.
While the slingshot is a decent addition, it adds to the arduous list of duties you must fulfill, especially when playing in single player mode.
Lesson Learned would benefit greatly from some quality of life touches in the single player campaign. Traditional tower defense games allow for the player to sit back and watch as their towers tear through hordes of enemies. That’s not the case in Lesson Learned.
Instead, you’ll find yourself running around endlessly gathering resources to build with, delivering resources to your base, and delegating tasks to your minions. Everything requires you to run to it and interact with it. Even a task as simple as canceling what your minion is doing requires you to approach them directly to cancel their delegated task.
Another drag in quality of life is, you and your minions take an eternity to gather resources! From chopping wood, to picking at rocks, to delivering those mined resources to your base, there is simply no option available for enhancing the speed in which you mine and deliver resources. The worst part is, your base moves further away from the starting point after a certain amount of waves are completed.
Being overburdened is truly detrimental to the potential experience because watching the towers attack is very satisfying.
“Hey, wanna be my partner on this?”
Thankfully, there is a way to eradicate your laundry list of duties and that is, play with friends! In cooperative mode, you are able to delegate tasks with much more purpose and your play time, as a result, becomes much more enjoyable. Lesson Learned is the epitome of a game that should be experienced with friends.
Verdict: “QoL?” Absent!
There is only one complaint to be made about Lesson Learned and that is, Quality of Life missed single player class on the wrong day! If you manage to ignore your tedious to-do list while in single player then there is much fun to be had. Moreover, cooperative mode is where this game packs its biggest punch. Gaming Factory S.A. has provided a fun experience with Lesson Learned and despite some missing improvements, it’s worth trying out.
Lesson Learned was reviewed on Xbox Series X. It is also available on PC, PS4/PS5 and Nintendo Switch.
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