Quest for Infamy (Hands-On) (PC) Preview

By Chris Leebody 11.06.2014

Review for Quest for Infamy (Hands-On) on PC

Point-and-click games have been receiving something of a revival over the last few years in the gaming world. Having suffered an immense fall from grace, they have become remarkably in vogue these days, most notably thanks to developers such as Telltale Games, as well as the recently updated remake of the Monkey Island series, bringing a whole new generation of fans back to this once adored genre. The generation of gamers who were once delighted by the humour and characters in these games have grown up to become the future developers, and Kickstarter has been their tool for re-launching them, which is what developer Infamous Quests has done with its nostalgic return in Quest for Infamy, which stormed past its Kickstarter goal in 2012 and is now very close to release. Does it match up to the high standards of some of the most loved games of the past?

One of the most important facets in any point-and-click game is the characters and Quest for Infamy does not disappoint in this regard. The characters in the game are silly; they are funny, vibrant and full of life and play to all sorts of stereotypes. The voice acting portrays this excellently with a whole array of world accents voicing every character in the game. It might not seem fitting to have an American-voiced butcher and his wife next door to a theatrical English wizard in the medieval based town, but it is all part of the remarkable charm of the game.

It must be emphasised that the standout voice talent in the game goes to the narrator, who comments with laugh out loud wit whenever taking any point-and-click action, such as picking things up or looking at things, or just his comments during the story on events. Indeed, with all these remarkable voices, it is only a slight shame that the main character, William Roehm, has a fairly bland voice that does not portray his cavalier and swashbuckling nature very well.

Screenshot for Quest for Infamy (Hands-On) on PC

His actions through the game, however, do give life to this character. Roehm is not a Guybrush Threepwood who will go down in videogame folklore, but he is a unique take on an anti-hero. Indeed the reason he finds himself in the game's starting town of Volksville is due to his womanising with the daughter of a wealthy Baron and he is not averse to getting into trouble, nor lying, cheating and even killing to get his way out of it.

In fact, the word "Infamy" is well placed in the title because players are able to shape just how 'infamous' Roehm will be by making player controlled decisions. One such example early in the game involves choosing whether a defeated townsperson is allowed to live, or brutally executed. By choosing one particular side, players change how the story plays out as well as NPC's reactions to Roehm in the world.

Speaking of executions, Quest for Infamy is positively adult. There is no shortage of swearing in the game, as well as the previously noted violence, with there being two execution scenes in the space of the opening 20 minutes. However, none of this feels gratuitous and it all adds to the story.

Screenshot for Quest for Infamy (Hands-On) on PC

The story in the game is an intriguing one filled with plenty of mystery such as monsters and cults and magic going under the surface and also has plenty of scope for player choice and, thus, replayability. For example, players have the choice very early in the game of one of three classes to align Roehm to, the Rogue, Sorcerer, or Brigand. Each of these classes has their own quests and story and also radically affects combat. The graphics in the game also complement the story with beautiful and varied hand drawn locations and character models that are reminiscent of Monkey Island.

Quest for Infamy is a nostalgic game, but it has modern touches that make it perfectly acceptable to today's players and combat is one such touch. The game employs a turn-based combat system that has players and enemies given a few seconds to choose an action between different sword attack stances, using a magic spell or blocking, with the player either damaging the enemy or more likely missing when first starting out. Each of these are tied to specific stats and it encourages stats to be built up through battles as there is a tangible benefit, with deaths in battle at the start of the game a very regular occurrence.

Screenshot for Quest for Infamy (Hands-On) on PC

Along those lines, it should be noted that Quest for Infamy is not a game that holds hands too much. Despite the modern allowances of a clean, easy item and inventory interface and save system, the game sparks memories of all the hardest adventure games of the past. There are no quest markers and players are encouraged to search every inch of a large world, which requires a very observant eye.

New players to the genre are also warned, the game will allow death outside of combat just by interacting with something dangerous, forcing a return to a previous save. Additionally, the game will also allow crucial items to be missed or items to be combined incorrectly that will render quests unfinishable. It is, therefore, advisable to follow the developer's sound advice to "save early and save often."

Screenshot for Quest for Infamy (Hands-On) on PC

Final Thoughts

Quest for Infamy is a game that comes highly recommended both to players who have longed for the return of their favourite point-and-click style adventure games, and also new players to the genre who wish to experience them. The game has a great story that is backed up by a quite simply brilliant voice cast and an exciting, engaging story and it is all the more impressive coming from a small Indie team who received just over $63,000 on Kickstarter to fund it. This is a game to buy when it comes to Steam, GOG and Humble Store on 26th June.

Developer

Infamous Quests

Publisher

Phoenix Online Publishing

Genre

Adventure

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  8/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date None   Australian release date Out now   

Comments

Steve (guest) 12.06.2014#1

Thanks for the awesome preview!  Just to note - in the game details, the developer is Infamous Quests and it's published by Phoenix Online!  Thank you!

Hi Steve - are you perhaps a member of Infamous Quests? If so, what was your role in the adventure?

I've updated the Game Page details for you; apologies for that Smilie

I'm really hoping that people pay attention to this. My concern is that some may look at the graphics - just like with Blackwell Epiphany that I reviewed recently - and just be turned off immediately.

Personally, I'm really looking forward to trying this. Chris - who previewed this - will be covering the review, but I'm definitely hoping I have chance to try it as well. I'm just about to start Memoria, which looks pretty cool.

Adam Riley [ Director :: Cubed3 ]

UNITE714: Weekly Prayers | Bible Verses
James M (guest) 12.06.2014#3

I think if people are put off by hand drawn art, then they shouldn't be playing the game! Thanks for the kind words!
The Narrator Smilie

Hello!  Yes, I'm the writer and director of Quest for Infamy and co-founder of Infamous Quests! (Steve)  No problem, thanks for the update!

Yeah, we're fans of Wadjet Eye Games, too - Blackwell Epiphany has been great so far, though I've yet to finish it! Probably after I get QFI out the door! An interesting thing to note here, too, is that there aren't any dead ends (at least intentionally) where you can miss items, or combine the wrong ones - the puzzles in the game all have multiple solutions and if one apparent way looks like it won't work, there's always an alternate.

If you ever have any questions about the game, feel free to hit me up!  I'm glad Chris enjoyed it so far.

~Steve

aka

Bt

Hey guys, Chris Leebody here who wrote the preview.

Thanks for taking the time to read it. I really enjoyed the beta build I had to run through for the preview and I'm really looking forward to playing and reviewing the final completed release.

You guys have managed to capture the essence of the old essence of some of the most loved point and click games which really struck a chord with me and the game really is genuinely funny.

Just on the puzzles and dead ends. Maybe this was my fault and I hadn't done something (although I really couldnt find out how) but it was actually on the early beast killing quest, I had the beast head, the knight's helmet and I thought I could fill it with the guy's blood and I did. Prospero took the beast's head but he refused to take the helm full of blood. I then looked on the guide you guys supplied and found the blood should be in an empty glass. So I tried interacting the helm against the empty glass but nothing happened. Nor could I get more blood from the guy's head. I just decided to reload and make sure not to fill the helmet and it was all good.

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