The idea behind the is that every Friday afternoon we post the one game that came out this week that we think is worth giving a special nod to. Now, before anyone goes over-thinking this, it doesn't necessarily mean our Game of the Week pick is the highest scoring game in a review, the game with the best graphics, or really any other quantifiable "best" thing. Instead, it's more just us picking out the single game out of the week's releases that we think is the most noteworthy, surprising, interesting, or really any other hard to describe quality that makes it worth having if you were just going to pick up one.
These picks might be controversial, and that's OK. If you disagree with what we've chosen, let's try to use the comments of these articles to have conversations about what game is your game of the week and why.
Without further ado…
The Quest HD
When it comes to mobile RPGs, it's hard to come up with a more classic title than The Quest. It was originally released on the Pocket PC a decade ago, and still manages to hold its own as one of the most sprawling, in-depth, and epic RPGs on mobile... Provided you were willing to put up with the one significant caveat that it very much looked like a Pocket PC game from ten years ago. I could dip into everything that makes The Quest amazing, but our own Shaun Musgrave with one of his first RPG Reloads:
You start off by making your character, with quite a few details to choose, then are dumped in or near the first town with your mission in hand. The governor of this land has disappeared, and you've been sent by the king to find out what has happened. That's your first quest, but there will be many more to come before you get a chance to see it through.
The Quest is more than a little imposing when you first start. It's hard to know where to begin, and it's easy to get yourself into trouble if you wander in the wrong direction. I know the first-person view is a little scary for some, as well, because it's harder to find your way around compared to a bird's eye or even simple behind-the-back view. At its core, though, The Quest couldn't be more simple. It's all there in the title. You need to seek out quests by talking to people, and solve them. Fill your little book with things to do, then start crossing them off one by one. If you can't seem to survive against the monsters you face while trying to complete a quest, or you can't persuade the person you need to, go do something else for a while. It's okay. There are plenty of other quests to take care of. When the quests start to dry up, you know it's time to move on to the next town. If you're enterprising, however, you can always head to the next town early. Nothing is stopping you except some potentially deadly encounters. ...
My chief complaint with The Quest was always that the game was always pretty rough to look at. I'm no stranger to retro games, but The Quest was always a bit too retro for me. It's entirely superficial, for sure, as the game plays the same as it always has, but the HD graphics brought over from turned blocky pixels into beautiful hand-drawn art. The gameplay still holds up, and now it looks as great as it plays.
The developers have been , answering quite a few questions from players. First off, this is just the original, main, super-beefy game without any of the expansions. , getting the expansions HD-ized is a tall order that might not happen as the artist is working on The Quest 2. Also, right now, the game is iPad-only, but they're open to . If you don't want to wait, don't mind super-retro graphics, and/or really want all the expansions, then just grab The Quest Gold [].
For the sake of comparison, here's the trailer from the game when it first came to the iPhone six years ago:
It's really cool seeing such long-term support for such a great game series on the App Store. When it seems like all you ever hear about is classic games getting delisted for one reason or another, it's awesome to see things like The Quest HD hitting the App Store.
These picks might be controversial, and that's OK. If you disagree with what we've chosen, let's try to use the comments of these articles to have conversations about what game is your game of the week and why.
Without further ado…
The Quest HD
When it comes to mobile RPGs, it's hard to come up with a more classic title than The Quest. It was originally released on the Pocket PC a decade ago, and still manages to hold its own as one of the most sprawling, in-depth, and epic RPGs on mobile... Provided you were willing to put up with the one significant caveat that it very much looked like a Pocket PC game from ten years ago. I could dip into everything that makes The Quest amazing, but our own Shaun Musgrave with one of his first RPG Reloads:
You start off by making your character, with quite a few details to choose, then are dumped in or near the first town with your mission in hand. The governor of this land has disappeared, and you've been sent by the king to find out what has happened. That's your first quest, but there will be many more to come before you get a chance to see it through.
The Quest is more than a little imposing when you first start. It's hard to know where to begin, and it's easy to get yourself into trouble if you wander in the wrong direction. I know the first-person view is a little scary for some, as well, because it's harder to find your way around compared to a bird's eye or even simple behind-the-back view. At its core, though, The Quest couldn't be more simple. It's all there in the title. You need to seek out quests by talking to people, and solve them. Fill your little book with things to do, then start crossing them off one by one. If you can't seem to survive against the monsters you face while trying to complete a quest, or you can't persuade the person you need to, go do something else for a while. It's okay. There are plenty of other quests to take care of. When the quests start to dry up, you know it's time to move on to the next town. If you're enterprising, however, you can always head to the next town early. Nothing is stopping you except some potentially deadly encounters. ...
My chief complaint with The Quest was always that the game was always pretty rough to look at. I'm no stranger to retro games, but The Quest was always a bit too retro for me. It's entirely superficial, for sure, as the game plays the same as it always has, but the HD graphics brought over from turned blocky pixels into beautiful hand-drawn art. The gameplay still holds up, and now it looks as great as it plays.
The developers have been , answering quite a few questions from players. First off, this is just the original, main, super-beefy game without any of the expansions. , getting the expansions HD-ized is a tall order that might not happen as the artist is working on The Quest 2. Also, right now, the game is iPad-only, but they're open to . If you don't want to wait, don't mind super-retro graphics, and/or really want all the expansions, then just grab The Quest Gold [].
For the sake of comparison, here's the trailer from the game when it first came to the iPhone six years ago:
It's really cool seeing such long-term support for such a great game series on the App Store. When it seems like all you ever hear about is classic games getting delisted for one reason or another, it's awesome to see things like The Quest HD hitting the App Store.