Redshift is a small publisher/developer from Hungary. Even though it's not released on Steam, their main major release was known as The Legacy. The Quest was initially planned to be the sequel to their freshman game, even its working title was The Legacy 2, even though that was scrapped in the end. The company has been around since as early as 2001, developing games for palm, pocket, and Symbian OC devices before switching to iOS in 2008.
Don't let that prior paragraph turn you off, The Quest is far from a "cheap mobile port" even if it did originate on a smartphone operating system. This game feels every bit as solid and fun as any Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, or old-school PC grid-based RPG, much akin to the Might & Magic and Wizardry series', while keeping a very Doom, Wolfenstein: 3D, and Hexen engine. Keep in mind that unlike Grimrock Legend, The Quest is a turn-based grid movement RPG; the action does not happen in real time.
Within the story, you are a Kingdom Agent who knows little about their past. You've been sent on a special mission by King Mersant Orasare, and your task is to figure out what has happened to the governor of the Island of Freymore. The hitch is, you're not allowed to let anyone know who you truly are, or what your quest actually is; that is, unless they're a confidant for the King. However, it's going to be a while before you actually get on with what you were sent to Freymore to do, because everyone and their brother has a task waiting for you to help with; 57 quests, in fact, including the main ones.
The character creation part of The Quest is minimal but effective, offering a small, standard selection of classes much like any old-school game. These are the priest, thief, ranger, fighter, mage, and battlemage; there are also five different races to choose from, each of which will start you out at a different part of Freymore, and with different armor. At this time, I can definitely say that the battlemage is overpowered once you learn a good amount of quests, and if you choose the Rasvim race, which is an undead one, you will have access to even more spells to unleash upon your foes. Being a mage, or a ranger, also reduces the frustration that can come from the game when enemies choose to back away from you once their health has been reduced as you can hit them from a distance.
Although the character selection is small, the ways in which you customize your character is definitely not. Each time you level through gaining experience points, you are given a certain amount of points to put into attributes (strength, dexterity, intelligence, personality, and resistance) and skills, of which there are a multitude; dual wield, block, light and heavy weapons, light and heavy armor, mind magic, undead magic, protection magic, alchemy, stealth, disarm, and the list just goes on and on. As well, you can improve your skills outside of leveling by finding and/or buying books, then reading them. There are also books that are in the game just to add another immersive element, as you can read them for fun and they usually have nothing to do with the story at all.
Further customization elements include the massive selection of armor and weapons, which can either be bought in shops or found off of enemy drops, in dungeons, or as quest reward items. Each piece also has a "fashion" rating, which can help your character in certain situations so that NPCs will respect and trust you more. Fame also plays a part in this, and you can gain fame by making virtuous choices and helping people, or loose fame by killing innocent people and making evil or selfish decisions. Some armor and weapons can only be equipped if you have a certain alignment, so once you choose your route you should stick to being either good or evil.
Much like older grid-based movement RPGs of yore, The Quest dumps you into an unknown land without any hand holding whatsoever... and hey, that's perfectly fine. You will spend large, copious amounts of time exploring the island and uncovering all sorts of dungeons, towns, buildings, people, and new areas. With that being said, there are also a lot of cryptic quests that take either luck, extreme old-school game smarts, or a guide to figure out; this means both solving the quest itself, or even getting to the point of starting one. Some NPCs and doors can only be accessed during certain times of the day, and some events will only be triggered if you have a certain skill to a specific level or above, With that said, there are also a decent amount of missions available that can be started by simply talking to people.
Towns are littered with citizens, all of whom you can converse with; although most of them will have the same script to feed you. It's only the NPCs that don a name, or shopkeepers, who will actually have something important to offer. A hefty 90% of the game is comprised of side-quests that have interesting little stories to them, some more memorable than others; such as one quest where you must exorcise a demon from a nun. The main story line missions are very few and far between, and even if you wanted to rush to do them, the difficulty level of the areas that they are present will prevent you from doing so. As such, the side-quests become less "side" and more "mandatory", as they offer not only the experience from killing monsters along the way, but sometimes spells, armor, weapons, and gold.
The world of Freymore is a beautiful one, that's filled with illustrious hand-drawn content. The foes that you will encounter are full of vibrant detail, and it's safe to say that they never become boring to lay your eyes upon. Many enemies have different incarnations based upon their toughness, for instance the Mugger will later become the Outlaw and the Highwayman the further that you progress through the island; to tell them apart, their color schemes are different, and this also goes for most of the enemies such as the Shaman, Elder Shaman, Archer, Expert Archer, and so forth. The environments are just as richly detailed, and even though you may start off in a wholesome area with green grass and fir trees, there's a poisonous swamp, foreboding dark woods, dreadful dungeons, water-filled temples, treacherous caverns, and gruesome gore filled chambers for the exploration. No two areas look even remotely similar, even though their inhabitants may be.
Not only do the visuals suck one in to a deep world of immersion, but the fantastic soundtrack is equally as captivating; even though the battle music stays the same throughout the entire game. Almost every area has a different, and long, song to be played, usually one that has a superior piano melody laid over a set of Sega Genesis styled chip-tunes. These two complimentary elements, along with fluid controls where the game can either be played solely with a mouse, keyboard, or even a combination of the two, as well as amazing optimization that saw my FPS sitting at 144 at all times, kept me playing this game for 9 hours straight. In fact, I didn't even realize what time it was when I finally stopped playing; it's been a very long time since I've been this deeply immersed in any video game.
I will say that my review has not done justice to The Quest, the game is far more in-depth than what I can even begin to put into words since Steam has a review cap. In all honesty, this is one of the best $10.99 CAD that I've ever had the pleasure of spending on a game. Redshift have put so much detail into this title, be it aesthetic or mechanic, and it's absolutely outstanding. Although my playtime shows 9 hours, I am only about 20 quests in to the game, with only about half of the map cleared. I cannot recommend or praise The Quest enough, it's a no-brainer purchase.
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