Dungeon Quest

Intro

"Dungeon Quest" is a short adventure game created by Mr.Nemo using RPG maker 2003 that's a throwback to old school gaming. And I truly mean old school since this plays like a game that came out in the PC glory days before home consoles were really even a thing. As a result you'll probably either enjoy this game for it's simplistic nature or hate it for being a throwback to a bygone era that relies on highly dated mechanics and is so lacking in terms of depth when it comes to combat that it makes the basic mechanics on display in "Final Fantasy" look like an ocean in comparison to the dirty mud puddle this game has.

Story

You can play as one of four gallant heroes who've gone on a quest to save the beautiful and nameless princess of Thornwood from the evil Serpent King Xargaraxaz.



And that's all the setup we get and all we really need considering it takes about five minutes to conquer the dungeon and save the princess. Though the ending you'll get is based on your hero and can range from a traditional ending to an ending that makes me raise an eyebrow and wonder if I'm supposed to laugh.



I suppose some would argue I'm being high strung, but as I've gotten older rape jokes have gotten a lot less funny in my opinion.

Gameplay

You run around a dungeon that has set pathways but the enemies that appear are randomly generated. This means you can map out a route that maximizes your likelihood to run into things like healing wells which will fully restore your life as well as increase your maximize number of lives by one. This is useful since you'll need to attack the final boss multiple times and being able to take a lot of punishment will be very useful. You can also collect keys, potions, magic scrolls, and swords in chests or by slaying enemies as you advance. You obviously can use keys to unlock doors and use potions to heal yourself. You can use magic scrolls to instantly defeat most enemies while swords will give you an attack bonus if you attempt to take down an enemy using a physical attack. Though fighting enemies directly is risky since you might sustain a hit which will reduce your life count and if it reaches zero it's game over. So your amount of lives is more like a life bar since in most games you don't instantly lose if you lose your final spare life.

Though where the true simplicity comes through is the combat system which is initiated when the player interacts with an enemy. When the player does so they are presented with the option of melee attacking the enemy, throwing a magic scroll at them (wizards are immune), or running away. Albeit that last option is only useful if you accidently chose to interact with an enemy for some reason. A mistake I can't imagine most players would make more than once, but I was curious to see what would happen if I chose to back down. And apparently the game will call you a coward for doing so. So it basically tries to goad you into fighting the enemy if you run away. And since combat is super simple and usually lasts only a single round. You'll be able to advance through the dungeon rather quickly via ignoring enemies at times as well as taking them out when necessary.

And your starting tools and abilities are influenced by your chosen hero. So depending on your play style some of the heroes will be easier to beat the game with than others. Though I think the dwarf's ability to instantly defeat goblins is pretty over powered in comparison to the other considering how common goblins are in this game.

Graphics

Graphically the game looks very simplistic which fits in with what the game is going for in terms of style. So there isn't anything to complain about here beyond certain maps containing too many copies of the same object. Admittedly the game is probably trying to get across how many heroes were felled before you showed up, but by the time I reached this room I had already died twice due to running low on resources since I hadn't found the best possible path forward just yet.



Sound

The game runs one song on an endless loop which gets old even before you've beaten this game. Which is saying a lot considering this game takes around 5 to 6 minutes to beat if you get lucky on your first attempt. It only gets worse if you suffer a few deaths and have to listen to it for the better part of 15 minutes.

Conclusion

This is a very old school game and your ability to enjoy this one is going to be highly relative to the individual. As such, I'm not going to recommend for or against this one since those that will enjoy this game probably know who they are. And those that will hate this game on sheer principle probably know who they are as well. Though, I'm definitely taking a point off for that lesbian rape ending the sorceress gets.