I’m back at it again with yet another indie game review. This time, I found myself exploring a point-and-click adventure game by the name of Rogue Quest: The Vault of the Lost Tyrant. Sounds interesting right? I thought so too, which is why I set myself the task of playing it. I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I delved into this one. It could have been another one of those hidden gems, which is what I hoped as I loaded up the game for the first time. I was excited by the pixelated artstyle and I also love a point-and-click adventure. So, what does this game have on offer?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEJZw-bZgo0
Storyline
You play as Cassandra a member of the Rogue’s Guild on the hunt for long lost treasures. In her travels, she has found her way to the vault of the Lost Tyrant. Once known as the most fearsome tyrant in all the land, all the remains of his legacy is his vault of treasure. Which, in all honesty, is just a small chest with some gems in it. However, upon Cassandra’s arrival at said Vault, she is accosted by two rapscallions, The Pinnazza Brothers. The not-so-fearsome duo. Due to their untimely arrival however, you all get trapped in the vault and therefore must discover a way out and stop a great evil from escaping.
I didn’t mind this story too much but it felt very weak. The entire game revolves around you escaping a vault. Although, this did offer some fun little puzzles, left me feeling a little disappointed at the end. It wasn’t a bad story but it was certainly a short one. It took me a little over an hour and a half to complete and that was with me eating dinner part way through and not closing the game. As I say, not bad, just not overly fulfilling.
Gameplay
The gameplay for Rogue Quest was fairly straight forward. This game was very clearly influenced by Ron Gilbert’s games and that was nice to see. I appreciate it that indie developers don’t have all the resources but nine times out of ten, they always put love into their games. And, the same goes for this one. Anyway, as you might expect from a point-and-click adventure game, you find your way around the different environments to solve puzzles. Along the way, you will pick up various seemingly irrelevant items which will ultimately help you to conquer said predicament.
I have to admit though, the puzzles felt fairly simplistic and were really easy to solve. Every item you picked up was fairly simple to figure out where to use it. As well as that, there were clues as to what you could look at in the room. That being said, it made it easier for me to know where I could use certain items rather than just spamming my inventory on every clickable thing in the room. That being said, I could see this game appealing to people who perhaps have never played a game like this before. It would certainly make a nice jumping off point for anyone new to the genre.
Graphics & Sound
I really love the pixel art style. And, I have to say, this one my favourite thing about the game. The characters were fairly funny and they’d clearly try to add in humour but it didn’t quite gel with me. That didn’t make it bad but it often just felt a little cheesy. Anyway, the graphics style I liked and they made good use of the music. It isn’t easy for every indie developer to produce their own music so I understand why they didn’t for this game. But, nonetheless, the sound effects were good and the music was very fitting. Sadly, there aren’t any voice overs in Rogue Quest but it didn’t really need it I don’t think. Perhaps, if they make another game, they can look into it. The dialogue often felt clunky but I would guess that is because English isn’t their first
language.
