Game: Quest Hunter
Genre: RPG, Action, Adventure
System: Nintendo Switch (also on PC and Xbox one)
Developer|Publisher: 2 Zombie Games
Age Rating: EU 12+ | US Everyone
Price: UK £17.99 | EU € 19,99 | AUD $29.99 | CAD $26.24 | USD $19.99
Release Date: July 12th 2019
Review code used, with many thanks to 2 Zombie Games.
Dive into the dungeons
One of my favourite niche genres in gaming is the top-down dungeon crawler. There’s really nothing quite like running into dungeons and searching for loot inside while taking on all sorts of beasties. Go alone or bring some friends to increase the fun; it’s all good. And the Switch just seems like the perfect platform for it too, as you can prop the system up on a picnic table in a park, throw a controller at someone (with a heads up, though), and play outside while dog walkers look at you baffled.
Quest Hunter is a title which aims to bring dungeon-crawling fun to the entire family. Let’s explore whether this is a gem worth digging up or if it should remain buried.
A quest of many choices
You start the game by creating a character. There’s a small selection of cosmetics to choose from, like your hair, goggles, and outfit. Of course, being me, I went for a character with the biggest beard possible. A notable omission, though, is that you can’t play as a female character—kind of a shame since the entire story is text-based.
You soon learn that the Sun has been stolen. The story evolves into a variety of quests and you getting to the bottom of this big mystery to overcome the darkness that has taken over the land.
There’s an impressive amount of dialogue choices. When you take on and complete quests, you’re presented with various options. Sometimes it feels like you can respond sarcastically or somewhat heroically. Depending on how you read the sentence, a question mark or an exclamation mark can make a big difference.
There’s no moral system so don’t fear choosing some of the more negative responses or getting things wrong. In fact, we found while playing this in multiplayer that choosing some of the more odd responses set our game on a different course and even helped us learn more about the Sun disappearing compared to sticking to the usual polite responses. With all these options, it does make Quest Hunter a game well worth replaying to discover the different outcomes of the choices you make.
Dark but colourful
The graphics are simple but colourful 3D models. There’s a wide variety of enemy designs, and it’s refreshing to start a dungeon crawler where the very first enemy is not a rat. In fact, here it’s a weird blob creature with an extraordinary nose.
While the world is covered in darkness you spend a lot of time in nice green outdoor spaces. But don’t worry, there are also plenty of stone dungeons to explore and discover the treasures within. The music has a nice folklore-inspired theme to it, which compliments the art style nicely.
Remember to block
The game plays as a fairly slow-paced isometric dungeon crawler. There is a emphasis on blocking with your shield so make sure your finger is hovered over the right trigger to deflect incoming enemy attacks.
You can find new weapons and shields, as well as a selection of hats which act as armour. You’ll probably notice early on in the game that you can destroy most things, like trees and rocks, to collect resources. These resources can later be used to craft new weapons and shields, as well as upgrade your current ones. You can also upgrade your carrying capacity, something that seemed quite essential considering there are so many items to collect in this game.
There are also a variety of secrets to discover in every area. These are either hidden in the level or you can dig them up with your handy shovel. A small dig icon on the right of the screen indicates when you are standing on a sweet spot of loot. Finding secrets was very satisfying, especially with friends; and I loved how when you open a chest, your character appears to simply feel it until it unlocks.
You level up by completing quests, and you can increase your character’s stats according to your preferred play style. Skills, however, are unlocked by leveling and also finding various coloured crystals.
The tennis effect of difficulty
I played on mixed difficulties; there are three settings on offer. I started the game on the medium setting but often found the enemies were still pretty tricky. I would die over and over again, lose some loot, and restart at a nearby checkpoint, try to reclaim my lost loot and proceed. I did like that you leave a little gravestone each time you die.
When I dropped it down to the easier setting, the game soon became a little too casual for me. So it became this tennis game effect where I was consistently switching between these difficulty modes.
With more players, it appears that more enemies are added and the difficulty is increased. As a team we played on the medium setting. We died (a lot) but all still had a great time playing.
Play with anyone on almost any system
One of the biggest features of Quest Hunter which deserves a lot of praise is that you can play online and cross-platform with PC, Xbox, and Switch players. This is a huge deal and definitely under-praised.
For this review my wife was able to play on the Switch in handheld mode while my friend from America and myself were playing on PC. We were able to set up a private game with a password, save, and enjoy the game together. Not only was it simple to set up but the game ran well across all systems.
I loved searching for treasures and then stopping now and then to do a little dance with the various in-game emotes. This game will easily hold a special memory for me because of these small quirky moments.
A quest enjoyed together
Quest Hunter is a fun little dungeon crawler. I enjoyed it alone, but playing with friends across other platforms really brought this game to life. Hunting for treasure with friends never felt so good. Now where did I leave my shovel?
Final Verdict: I liked it a lot
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