Someone should tell the author that there is a whole subclass of Warlock based on melee combat…

Who doesn't love a good old-fashioned Pact of the Blade?

And then, just as I thought I was sold on Warlock, the main character pulled out a sword.

Well, to be specific, Warlock's magical protagonist Kaatri conjured a sword. After all, why bother lugging around several pounds of sharpened steel when you can just make one appear out of thin air any time you like? It's silly to carry around a sword that you don't need. Which is precisely why I was dismayed to see one appear in Warlock at all.

Now don't worry, I've not been struck in the head by a magic missile. I'm aware that there are loads of games that feature mages (which is the umbrella term I'm going to use henceforth). They appear in virtually every fantasy roleplaying game ever made. But mages nearly always appear as an option, one of innumerable roles that players can assume. It's far rarer to see games that are purpose-built around wielding the arcane arts.

I'm decades out of date on Dungeons & Dragons, but my impression is that warlocks are kind of about combined use of magic and physical combat.

searches

https://dnd5e.wikidot.com/warlock

It sounds like this "conjuring a weapon" thing is sort of intrinsic:

Pact Boon

At 3rd level, your otherworldly patron bestows a gift upon you for your loyal service. You gain one of the following features of your choice.

Pact of the Blade

You can use your action to create a pact weapon in your empty hand. You can choose the form that this melee weapon takes each time you create it. You are proficient with it while you wield it. This weapon counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Your pact weapon disappears if it is more than 5 feet away from you for 1 minute or more. It also disappears if you use this feature again, if you dismiss the weapon (no action required), or if you die.

You can transform one magic weapon into your pact weapon by performing a special ritual while you hold the weapon. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a short rest.

You can then dismiss the weapon, shunting it into an extradimensional space, and it appears whenever you create your pact weapon thereafter. You can't affect an artifact or a sentient weapon in this way. The weapon ceases being your pact weapon if you die, if you perform the 1-hour ritual on a different weapon, or if you use a 1-hour ritual to break your bond to it. The weapon appears at your feet if it is in the extradimensional space when the bond breaks.

I mean, yelling at the game for implementing a warlock of the Dungeons & Dragons variety in a game called Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons seems kind of unreasonable.

I totally get wanting more pure spellcaster games—if the author hasn't played Noita, I think that that's fun—but this just doesn't seem like the place to raise that issue.

It's like...if you're reviewing Barbie Project Friendship, you don't say "why doesn't Barbie have a Remington 12-gauge shotgun and a variety of camouflage outfits and...honestly, this isn't a good hunting game at all. I like hunting games. What we need is more hunting games." There's a time and a place for an article like that, but not in reviewing a Barbie game.