Today I Went on a Quest

"Today I went on a quest" is a simple and short game about a dungeon delving adventure... except that has a modern setting! Oh yes, the plot is pretty simple: Ryno works in a fast food restaurant, and together with his two coworkers Cas and Lestir he will investigate some strange happenings. Why their colleagues never go home? Why they became aggressive and is there a curse that is affecting the restaurant?
You will see... if today you'll go on a quest (that took me about 25 minutes to complete fully, yes, it's less that half an hour)!

The game starts with our trio entering their workplace and soon they'll be attacked! They start with... nothing! So the first priority will be scavenging some equipment: weapons, drinks and other useful items. No need to pay, it's all there to be looted freely!


Of course NOT, we're the heroes! Also, there is no shop in this game, so no use for money at all!

Cherry Cola (that also removes the "Hot" condition that otherwise constantly drains health) and various food items like chicken nuggets can be used to heal the party members, even if for some reason Ryno is also healed using cups of ice unlike the other two (no well there IS a reason: Ryno is obsessed with ice! Really!), while normally ice can be used to revive the fallen allies. Another difference is that Ryno is faster and Cas tougher, and they both can dual wield two different weapons (some like the knife boost attack only, others boost defense and others a bit of both), while Lestir prefers using weapon and shield (well he uses a drink tray). Anyway there are also some weapons that require two hands to be used, but do not forget to equip also some armor (the most efficient ones also reduce attack power, so make your choice!). Oh and you can also wash your hands in some places to heal completely the party (but since there is an infinite quantity of cola and ice it's not exactly obligatory).

Oh and all our three heroes are totally normal guys so they have no special attacks at all! Only a normal attack with the weapons equipped... IF you find any, that is! For the opponents it's not ther same: for example Josh the Grillmaster has fire attacks (thanks to the Spatula you can get from his cold dead hands once defeated), Nick the Freezer Boy has instead cold attacks, and so on. Enemies are all visible in some cases technically avoidable, but are VERY fast so it's unlikely (but it can be done). Some rooms and areas are totally optional and will provide extra encounters and (often better) items, but you can skip them. You can save the game at the savepoint halfway (and you can go back, enemies do not respawn!), so pay attention because the first time I played I missed some equipments and my team was defeated by the third enemy... and I had to restart from the beginning (the weird thing is that the next time I was able to avoid the enemy that defeated me, skipping combat entirely)!


Unsurprisingly the Grillmaster has the power of Fire. We have the power of beating him three against one!

Oh, I forgot an important detail: there are NO experience points, no levels, no abilities to be gained or gold (only items), so avoiding combat when possible (you must be skilled at dodging those fast moving sprites!) is suggested, at least in those rooms that works as connections between an area and the other.
Looking for loot is the priority since equipment will make the difference, and consumables... are free! So take those 99 cokes, you don't have to pay for them!

Visually the game is interesting: maps are made with a mix of custom graphics and edits (charsets are obviously Rm2k3 characters modified), battlers and enemies seems original, like the backgrounds (that are edited real life photos), and I do not mind if they are not animated, it's ok. There is also a peculiar use of colors, each room or corridor has its own palette, and also each character has a dominant color. Anyway check those pics and you will understand what I mean, the final result is a surreal setting, even if pretty realistic. I mean, mapping is good, the size of the rooms is what you can expect in a restaurant, composed of the dining area, kitchen, cold storage, and so on. This means that it's also a pretty linear place to explore, but hey, it's a modern dungeon, not a fantasy one, what do you expect? The only weird choice is that the places in front and behind the counter are treated as two different rooms with two different palettes (so the counter an the items on it change color too!)... well it's trippy!
The music is veeery strange, and I notice that it's AI generated, in any case not bad, really peculiar (and towards the ending also a bit unnerving... ehe well for my taste of course!), as the aestetics. But as I've said this is not your typical dungeon delving adventure.


Ok, this guy must be defeated to proceed. I may be short but I'm a badass and a mop does not impress me, even if it's a MOP!

Final Verdict
It's another short dungeon adventure! Well this is very short, but still not so easy. Anyway it all relies on the player's scavenging ability plus some little strategy, combat would be probably more interesting if characters has some kind of special move(s), just to add little variety to the combat encounters (instead of attack - attack - attack - drink coke to heal - attack - attack - attack... etc. At least they have different stats and equipment!). Final combat was also pretty difficult, but I was able to win so it's definitely doable, and despite the shortness of the game there are many things that can be missed or skipped if you do not take your time.

There's also not so much story (I summed all in the first lines of the review), but I admit that the exchanges between the protagonists and the numerous interactions with the items and objects are sometimes amusing. I only wished that the ending was somewhat longer and explained a bit more of the curse, anyway it's ok, who knows maybe there will be a sequel or maybe not! I expected some kind of twist or surprise, while there IS *something* it's not exactly world changing. But I liked a lot the aestetics of the game and the simple concept (also no typos, errors or bugs, so it's fine).
I just wished for a more complexity in combat and story, but in the end not bad at all!