As I stared down the lumbering troll that stood before me, overlooking a deep chasm on rickety old bridge, I thought to myself: I could just give this troll a bunch of gold and be done with it, but after a quick scan of my inventory, I knew I could take it.
Sol Invictus Review: Storygame Is Heavy On Story, A Bit Lacking In Game
I do wonder how things would have played out had I opted to pay the pitiful creature - one that received such an ass-whooping from my Magic-based character that its ancestors felt it. Alas, my road was forward. The road in DestinyQuest Infinite, while not quite endless, is certainly filled with many shifting paths to take. The new game from QuestForge and Adventure Cow - the first Act of a planned trilogy - is a fine example of the storybook genre that remembers to give you a fun game to play alongside its narrative.
Your character, a nameless wanderer, awakes amidst the remnants of a massacre. He (or perhaps she) is without memory of what happened or who he even is. The only link to your past is a fatally injured young soldier, who confides in you his own reasons for being on that battlefield. With no other direction in your life, you take up the boy's mission - become an apprentice to legendary soldier Avian Dale - and make for the man's castle. Along the way, as these adventures are wont to do, you end up in a town, Tithedale, and there have many adventures of varying difficulties.
The Princess Bride iOS Game Review: So Good, It's Inconceivable
DestinyQuest Infinite is the digital adaptation of the RPG of the same name. It prides itself on being basically Fighting Fantasy with Diablo-esque loot and abilities. Much like Diablo, the game is simplistic but deep. Players can choose from amongst four abilities: Speed, Brawn, Magic and Armor. Various items will boost your abilities and determine how you engage each encounter. While both Brawn and Magic play effectively the same in attacks, what you focus more on will matter more in the end than it does during the majority of Act 1.
The small backpack forces you to shed items as you collect new ones, preventing the traditional 'hoard, hoard, hoard, sell!' of dungeon crawlers. In fact, there is very little gold to be had to purchase what fine armor and weapons the shops sell. One hopes more sales options will be available in the next chapters.
The quests can be completed in any order and the only real barrier for entry is the Speed recommendation for battling the monsters. Further playtesting would have to reveal if the game actually changes based on the order of events, but it appears that each quest has little effect both on the town of Tithebury and the other adventures (save the sweet, sweet loot you receive as a reward). There is no sense that you're changing a world or a story, you're simply making a series of Yes/No decisions that affect the current path you are on.
A new monster every few minutes, a narrative that's easy to follow along yet has some genuine surprises in it, and a simple but effective combat system is enough to wash over DestinyQuest Infinite's missteps. The game does not reinvent the storybook, though it can go toe to toe with many other offerings. The First Act ends with the storyline about to go all to hell - quite literally- and I look forward to seeing where Ward and the crew over at QuestForge and Adventure Cow take this in the coming months.
-----------------------------------------
DestinyQuest Infinite was reviewed on both PC and Mac using a developer code. The first Act of the game is available for $5.99 on January 21 from the Official Site, and you can purchase the full story for $14.99. Acts II and III will release in February and March.
