"Fantasy Quest" review: Viscerally powerful little sparrow

When we see the keywords pixel style and Roguelike, the first thought that comes to mind should be the gameplay of the screen, and this golden rule has made me dig a lot of treasures on the savage planet steam. Today's review game "Fantasy Quest" is no exception.

Of course, the pixel Roguelike game is quite popular among independent games, and for the independent game neighborhood, "like me die, learn from me live" is an absolute concept, "Fantasy Quest" naturally has his unique features in the game, in order to be alone in the rolling wave of independent games.

It has to have a distinctive name

First of all, it should be clear that doing gameplay innovation in the field of independent games is equivalent to engaging in a picture competition in the mainstream 3A herd, which belongs to cutting-edge competition. The concept of Roguelike has been grafted onto a plethora of gameplay and genres since its inception, from top-down action dungeons to tower-climbing DBGS, and even open-world RPGS and video games.

Of these, the "Action Dungeon" and "Pan-climbing Tower" DBG(which includes deck and character building) are the most common.

The former, in particular, is ubiquitous across multiple platforms. Although the initial experience is really fun, but the advantages of the sense of operation can not stand a large number of homogenization experience, although every advantage of the game is worth being valued by the producer, but people are always animals, even if you change the method of fried rice, the best result of the old do not change the ingredients is only the old do not go, the new do not come.

At first glance, it doesn't seem that bright

To be able to find a game like "Fantasy Quest", in the gameplay of the independent game works, for some taste tricky game lovers naturally is a blessing.

Something you can't hate

Since it has been offending this part, then "Fantasy Quest" certainly does not belong to the "Into the Dungeon" such an action dungeon game, strictly speaking, he belongs to the "pan-climbing tower" class Roguelite.

For example, the nameless Strike of the Minaret, such games often use different paths and various rooms to form a "map randomness", using the loot in each room, cards, items, skills, random events, etc., as a "build randomness".

Finding the author's memes in rooms and monsters has always been my favorite part

Both will maximize the difficulty of generating the best solution for the player in the construction, thus further improving the sense of accomplishment when the routine is formed. Play well, but also to catch the coincidence, both my life by my sense of participation, and by RNG(random number) dominated by the process of shaking M mood, this is the core charm of this kind of game.

This slot machine can be judged by the naked eye

All of the above naturally applies to Fantasy Adventures, and they share many similarities in the main frame of the Roguelike. Horizontal and vertical, flat the tower becomes the map route in "Fantasy Quest"; From left to right, left to west and right to east, the protagonist is naturally a passer-by hero who launched an expedition to the east. That sounds pretty neat.

All the way east

As the name suggests, "Fantasy Quest" tells just such a simple and clear story. Players play as adventurers in a world where swords and magic, the brave and the demonic coexist. Since you were born in the sun, you have to obey the oracle of your immediate superior, the angel, slaughter the demon along the way, and finally, slay the demon woman.

I don't know what day (Gong) Ju Jiao (Ren) son

The opening animation is too clean and neat, and even makes me have a joking sense of "the brave crusader is just a different position of good and evil". Looking at this infinite white space, a minimalist opening without a script, I can't say whether this is caused by poverty, or the producers intentionally create absurd effects, so that people are very imaginative about the direction of the whole plot, but in view of the current game plot is still stuck in the first three chapters, so this aspect of the first more evaluation.

Notice this Switch is all his fault

At this point, it seems like Fantasy Quest isn't that different from most Roguelike indie games. In fact, it is true that either capturing a game or Ba Ba is You, mature game mechanics are not a penalty in any way, and Fantasy Quest, with its versatile gameplay, is at least a pixel-like game that most Roguelikes enjoy.

The game's actual combat graphics are well modelled

Here is a wordy word, IGN and other media often give some unpopular independent games a sky high score, but also because the ecosystem of such independent games is too closed, so the score has to produce a corresponding evaluation system according to its game type, coarse, there is a little pure to see the meaning of editing mood. Speaking of this step, the game "Fantasy" in my personal opinion, is already an independent game without merit, on the line.

There's no end to the technical stuff

What? Picture, sound effect? Let's just say that mosaics and pixels are the source of all beautiful fantasies, and don't find yourself uncomfortable, the look and feel of "Fantasy" is still commendable.

Tell me, what's so cool about it

Do not rule out that I have little contact with independent games, at least I have seen Roguelike games, real-time battlefield strategy as a form of combat games is rare. That's right, it's not cards, it's not turn-based, it's not battle chess, the combat in Fantasy Quest is real-time strategy.

For me, who fantasized about having an "Eagle group" as a child, rather than becoming a Garzi, this battle to lead followers into a head-on battle with the demon army has always been a dream game experience. This genre of war chess games is not without, but as a war chess game, the focus of portrayal will always fall back to the individual, "Fire Emblem" is an example, the battlefield atmosphere is basically in a lively state.

The feeling of two armies against each other

In order to have a battlefield atmosphere, the units must first be depersonalized and the narrative perspective focused on the player. Second, the game must have a battlefield environment with basic simulation elements. "Fantasy" does both.

First of all, the player in the game is a hero leader, even their own do not deserve to have a name, at any time will encounter a strong enemy generously die, your team is naturally some dead alive tool people. There are battles that mean casualties, and for the player, the dead team only means pulling the coffin to the priest and counting 100 resurrection coins, and even the process is reduced to the post-war data settlement interface.

Let's start over, warrior

In other words, the entourage in the player's hand is actually equivalent to another form of skill and hand, which can be obtained by fighting the demon. Three minions of the same quality can be combined to increase their level, and special blessing rooms appear on the map to strengthen individual minions and give them additional passive abilities. The routine sounds familiar, doesn't it, but this is where the point of divergence begins.

Poor but clear UI interface

Fantasy Quest has a real formation system, not just to connect with the class of minions to gain gains, the player's formation choices will be fully reflected in the real-time battlefield environment. If you choose to upgrade and merge the three hoplites, it means that the rear door is wide open, and the advancing demon can quickly rush into the vulnerable cover, mage and auxiliary lines to wreak havoc, resulting in gameover. If you are a fan of real-time strategy games, you should understand the importance of formation cards.

Move to gain Boss skills, and certain battlefield weather can also affect combat

In this way, there is a fundamental difference in the composition pattern of minions and skills and cards, and the battle in the game is more like a miniature battlefield simulation, rather than players simply playing cards with the computer to fight whose little brother's ass is the biggest attack. The existence of the front and back rows provides a strong sense of battlefield strategy, which is quite new in roguelikes.

Legacy system in the game

If that's not enough, how does the arch system, charge and trample, and skirmish tactics sound? All of these strategies can be implemented in Fantasy Quest, and while all the player can actually do is press the command button to move his minions in one direction, this simple action is often decisive when facing enemies with non-directed attacks. When the cavalry barreled back and forth under the bombardment of the other side's soil artillery, and the core members of the team passed by the powerful BOSS mechanics, I often had a feeling that "I pressed the key button that determines the situation of the battlefield".

Due to the poor speed, there will be a phenomenon of cavalry "rear"

Of course, these are just personal experiences, and the hero leader who also exists as a tool man in Fantasy Quest is also the core gameplay of the game. The four heroes in the game are completely different from attack means to skill mechanism, there are demon hunters who are good at control, brave men who are good at close combat, holy women who are good at range attack, etc., each of them will make the bottom construction of the opening completely different, and add a layer of consideration for hero skills on the basis of the original, at this time players in the force lineup and strengthen their own choice, It will also face problems such as resource tilt.

God of thunder and lightning, Mom usually doesn't have to worry about me flipping the car

Build, a combination of hero skills and random items, can actually unfold more content, but this part is not an irreplaceable game experience, its interest comes from the randomness inherent in Fantasy Quest as a Roguelike game, which is excellent in the system.

And the reason why "Fantasy" can let me play for 7 hours continuously under surprise, or because of the kind of "Saint who does not want to be a good commander is not a good brave" wonderful atmosphere.

finally

As a recently opened pre-test game, although the current gameplay of "Fantasy" is quite complete, but no matter how good the dish, if you can only eat a bite of the size of the nail, obviously will be very disappointing, with the existing content of "Fantasy" is also very support for a long time of repeated play, so if you are a one-step player, Maybe the game doesn't smell so good.

At present, the game is still in an orderly update

The good news is that Fantasy Quest already has a very fun base, and if you can polish the game and add enough content to it, it is possible to create a Roguelike that is fun to play. As for whether the producer takes the influence route of expanding the hero's skills, or the route of strengthening the presence of the battlefield, it will be carried out at the same time, and the results may be very different.

After all, with such a diverse system, it is only natural that unexpected things can happen.