The animations are basic but adorable, particularly the wide-eyed expression the foxlike Orik is prone to and everything involving the tough, ax-wielding Tarah and her little brother, Thayne, who peeks out from hiding behind her back to attack enemies with a dagger and dark magic.Īdd in some surprisingly good plot twists and emotional arcs and SteamWorld Quest is a game that storied RPG developers like Atlus and Square Enix could be proud of.
#STEAMWORLD QUEST BUILDS SERIES#
I rolled my eyes at the laziness of a late game sequence that forced the heroes to do battle against a series of previously defeated bosses, but the humorous payoff at the end was well worth the repeated fights. At one point I was infuriated about the difficulty of navigating a level that always seemed to lead me back to the same place, but when I realized that I was dealing with a riddle rather than a maze the rage was quickly overtaken by delight. It’s hard to stay frustrated with something this lovable, though.
#STEAMWORLD QUEST BUILDS FULL#
The AI is depressingly dumb with enemies often wasting turns healing when they’re at near full health, a system meant to let you sneak up on opponents is frustratingly clumsy and vague about where exactly you need to be to trigger and ambush, and fights can turn into a slog where the outcome is clear but you still need to spend round after round dealing enough damage to bring the bad guys down. Still, SteamWorld Quest has some bigger flaws. But players who are less enamored with CCGs likely won’t share those frustrations. That would be balanced against the risk that you won’t see a card you really need for several turns because of your oversized deck. There were plenty of cards I wanted to use but just couldn’t justify devoting a slot too with such tight constraints. Expanding beyond eight cards would make players really consider how many copies of each card they wanted in their deck and which effects were worth having just on the chance they’d be useful. All of that comes on top of standard RPG considerations like wanting to hit opponents with attack types they’re weak against and balancing your gear between offensive power and protection.Īs complex as the system is, I felt constrained by the small deck size and wished Image & Form had let me tweak it. There are also numerous cards that change these base rules by letting you play, draw, or exchange extra cards. Meanwhile, some cards have bonus effects if a specific different character also played a card that turn. The game often deals out new cards at key plot moments which makes it feel like the characters are growing in power and complexity as the story goes on.Īdding even more to the complexity is the fact that you gain powerful kicker effects when the same character plays three cards in the same turn. Armilly can buff and heal herself with cards like Aspiring Hero and Bravado while the streetwise orphans Tarah and Thanyne share their evasiveness with the group through the card Against All Odds and can even use Sleight of Hand to slide a bad card into an opponent’s deck.
Cards are also divided into a upgrades and basic attacks that give you gears, and more powerful moves that cost those same resources.Īlong with forcing strategic decisions the cards also help develop each character’s personality. The decks belonging to each of your three active characters are shuffled together, randomizing what you’re capable of when. Those play out through collectible card game mechanics, with each character having an eight-card deck that you build and customize throughout the game. It’s extremely goofy and good-natured, populated by characters who are a delight to spend time with and combats worth getting excited about.
That scene sums up everything great about SteamWorld Quest, the first roleplaying game in Image & Form Games’ SteamWorld series. The good news is that they’re going to get to fight another dragon. The bad news is that the group’s going to have to keep looking for the Necronomicog. The extended gag ends with Armilly summing things up. From there, Armilly shouts back asking for a description of the magical relic, kicking off an Abbot & Costello-esque routine where the stoic samurai Orik describes the Necronomicog and Armilly describes what she’s encountered, which is obviously something entirely different. Adorably geeky alchemist Copernica encourages everyone to come up with a plan of attack, and the impulsive knight Armilly pulls a Leeroy Jenkins, running off screen. About two-thirds of the way through SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech, its party of misfit robot heroes thinks they’re on the verge of recovering the game’s MacGuffin.
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