Roehm is a bit like the Note from The Big Lebowski, only in a medieval fantasy world. He just wants to follow his path, accompanied, if possible, by wine and female company. He discovers in the Quest for Infamy review why this adventure game is less conventional than it seems.
It’s been a long time since I made up my mind to stop starting my adventure story writing with the state of the genre. Talk about the glory of yesteryear, that they are no longer what they were… etcetera. However, it continues to surprise me, and for good, that some publishers are rescuing niches to attract it to the main consoles current. This is good news and what has happened with Quest for Infamy, a graphic adventure inspired by Sierra’s classic Quest for Glory, which arrived in 2014 after a kickstarter and now the editor Ratalaika has brought it to PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. I played it at the time on PC and I have chosen the Switch version to give it a new twist that also makes all the sense in the world.
Because Quest for Infamy is not the most conventional adventure of all, and neither were the Quest for Glory. If you think this is a point and click of those of a lifetime… well, it is; but so many mechanics are added to its approach that someone can catch you by surprise in the case of a graphic adventure. For starters, this is a hybrid with an RPG, so you can expect not just puzzles, but combat mechanics, class specialization, and experience points, for example. One of the first choices we will have to make is whether we want to become a rogue, wizard, or fighter. But what is Quest for Infamy about? It is without a doubt a classic bet with a twist towards acid humor. Our heroe”, William Roehm, he is caught red-handed in the bedroom of the daughter of a noble lord, and has to get out by legs first, and donkey legs later, straight to the Lonaria Valley where he will find shelter in the small town of Volksville. That’s where our adventure really begins, hopelessly getting into a plot of dark gods, corruption, curses and sects, while our protagonist only seeks to be left alone and, if possible, win the favors of some other girl along the way. It is not the most successful story and it rushes too much in the last third, but the interest is maintained more thanks to the humor of our protagonist and the way he deals with all situations.
Although I don’t normally talk about translations, since I understand that especially many independent companies don’t have the budget for it, I’m more scared in the case of this game, since it was promised. Translation into different languages, including Spanish, was one of the goals to be achieved in the Kickstarter that was reached and, unfortunately, the promise was never fulfilled.
The infamous anti-hero
After supporting the Kickstarter, when I played Quest for Infamy the first time I was surprised, and this second play reaffirms those feelings. The work of infamous quests, Led by Steven Alexander (who, unfortunately, has had many health problems since the launch of the adventure and they have not allowed him to continue developing his activity normally), he mixes a refined classic style with nice sprites and hand drawn backgrounds, deepening and expanding the mechanics of the hybrid Quest for Glory, although also noting the lack of experience. It is noticeable in the work of the perspectives, the connections of some maps and, above all, in the different portraits of the characters, very unequal; some, drawn with a style that seeks less realism and others being the result of photographic digitization.
It gets along well because, truth be told, fans of the genre are so hungry for these experiences that they tend to give more value to what works. And it is that Quest for Infamy is a more complex adventure than it seems. To those role-playing mechanics, we add some survival, with a day/afternoon/night cycle that changes the routines of the NPCs, events of the map itself, as well as the need to rest and eat from time to time so as not to fall down.
A story that entertains thanks to the humor and cynicism of the sagacious RoehmTo all this, we must add the variety that the different paths give. The settings and story may be the same, but there are differences between being a rogue, a mage, or a warrior. In my first game I went rogue (this class always beats me) and now I’ve gone the mage route. Apart from the fact that the choice of your teacher and the objectives that he sets for you change much of the second arc of the adventure, the way you travel the path does as well. In the first game I had to use the stealth steal in the face of a shortage of coins, infiltrate houses and use cunning. As a magician, on the other hand, I have had to learn all the combat and environment spells, use them later to get distant objects and reach unreachable places, as well as use ingenuity to achieve my objectives.
It’s not the game where I’ve seen the puzzles change the most depending on your class (I’d give that honor to a title called Mage’s Initiation which I also recommend to fans of Sierra’s adventure), nor is it the game that takes the most advantage of temporary mechanics (that honor would go to another great unknown such as Hero U: Rogue to Redemption, from Corey and Lori Ann Cole, the original creators of Quest For Glory, also on Switch); but Quest for Infamy does a good job of combining all of these systems and mixing it up with an entertaining story thanks to the humor and the cynicism of the sagacious Roehm.
Point and click on consoles
Normally I would say that these adventures, drinking from the classic style of the 90s, are timeless, since they depend more on whether you know the interface and the game system and adapt to it or not. But, being a console version, there are obviously some changes. The interface has had to change the mouse for the stick and it is something to take into account, because, although it is perfectly functional, you do not achieve the speed and fluidity of movements that you achieve on PC. Added some shortcuts to rest menu, spellbook and game options which helps; I still find something more uncomfortable, however, making use of the most basic options such as walking, looking or interacting with the stage. Especially here where the classic Sierra system is expanded with stealth, running, and swordplay options.
the switch version can help and if in doubt would be my recommended platform of all consoles. Two main reasons: this is a pixel-art adventure done in old-fashioned low resolutions, 320×200 if I’m not mistaken, which isn’t the best display for your 55-inch 4K TV. However, the quality of the backgrounds is better on the reduced screen of the Switch, and I have only seen it surpassed by the test of the original game on the Steam Deck screen, which, also thanks to the touchpad, allows you to have the best of both. worlds. Not only that, the Switch offers the possibility of touch control and, although it relies on the buttons for some actions, it is useful to move quickly in a game that has a larger number of rooms due to the need to open spaces for combat.
The jump to consoles is a good opportunity for it to be released to more peopleThe version that Ratalaika has adapted is the updated 2.0 that on Steam can be enjoyed by accessing the Beta tab of the program. This version includes the demanded 16:9 aspect ratio (although it is actually a little less), scrolling when necessary, although sometimes cutting some parts of the stage. It also fixes errors and bugs in some puzzles. In addition, in the console version some extra options are included in the menu such as some small (tiny) clues about what to do next, which are added to the advice of the fortune teller that the game already had. It doesn’t matter much, since the interesting thing about Quest for Infamy is that the puzzles have a fairly measured difficulty with few situations that really resist us. There’s also an option to highlight hotspots on the map with text, which can be useful considering there’s some pixel hunting and it’s not as smooth a task as a mouse can accomplish.
I feel somewhat reluctant to say that Quest for Infamy is a recommended game for fans of classic adventures and, above all, those of Sierra. Because, probably, if you belong to that niche, you already know it. I think that the jump to consoles is a good opportunity so that this very classic style of PC gaming in the 90s is made known to more people than, precisely, it is not the fan that is already interested by default. It’s still a quirky adventure and has some problems in the logic of the puzzles that show the lack of experience of Infamous Quest. Luckily, deaths in combat affect less than before and have fewer consequences, but it is mandatory to save game frequently before other unexpected ones that I think, beyond the tribute, were not so necessary. And yet is full of charm, love for the genre and hard work to create a more complex experience than many classics. And I have laughed; sometimes quite. That alone, in an industry as intense as the current one, already deserves my attention.
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