Xathrodox86 reviews: "Warhammer Quest" for Steam

Let's be honest, this blog has not been kind to Warhammer Fantasy lately. I've decided to change that, so it's time for me to review a game that is pretty much old school Warhammer to the core... with a few bumps along the way.

I've never played the original "Warhammer Quest", the boardgame from 1995. I do however posses a bunch of figurines from it, including the Amber Wizard, the Bright Wizard, Warlock (or maybe Necromancer, who knows?) and a few more. They are really neat, despite their age and I plan to use most in my Empire army.

The game's artwork has also aged rather well, if you ask me

Anyway, "Warhammer Quest" was a big thing back in the day. It was a successor to "HeroQuest" and "Advanced HeroQuest" and took place in the Old World (R.I.P). Basically it was a very unforgiving dungeon crawl. Kinda what WFRP would be, if it remained more similar to Dunegons and Dragons, instead of Call of Cthulhu. So how much of that old Warhammer atmosphere remains in the "Warhammer Quest" video game?

"What's in the booox?"

The answer is: a lot. "Warhammer Quest" is a very solid title, albeit one that only the veterans of the old Warhammer Fantasy will fully appreciate. The atmosphere kicks in right from the title sequence with an excellent, eerie music that gets even more "hammery" in the main menu. Soundtrack from this game is great, even tough it consists only of few tracks. I know that any Gamemaster running a WFRP adventure would love to use it, as it perfectly fits into the dark melancholy of the Old World (R.I.P). That said the sound in general is done reasonably well, with slashes, strikes, grunts and even footsteps echoing across the endless dungeons, being believable and having the inended depth and impact on the listener.

"Warhammer Quest" was originally released on iOS and then ported to PC. This was done fine and without any major incidents, altough I've been told that early versions of the game were prone to many bugs and crashes. The version that I've been playing has been, fortunately, free of them. For an iOS port this game runs smooth and the graphics, altough simple, are pleasnt to look at and evoke the fell of classic Warhammer Fantasy. My only problem was with the town's background screen, as it is always the same one, no matter if you're in Altdorf or some Sigmar-forsaken hole in Stirland.

The dungeons, the essence of this game, are varied and posses plenty of details. From esoteric symbols, scribbled on the floor, to Warpstone-laced walls and tables filled with carefully arranged bones and skulls, the main element of "Warhammer Quest" is a feast to the eye.

A typical dungeon

Same with characters, as both the Heroes and monsters are detailed and memorable in their own, distinguished way. Norse Marauder has a tiny eight-pointed star on his pauldron, while almost every Orc looks differently from another. It's worth mentioning that we can see the different weapons and pieces of armour, which our heroes are using, as they change them during the course of the game and let me tell you, there are a lot of them. From magic swords to various kinds of ammunition and plenty of potions and scrolls, this game is really offering all players a plentiful opportunities to arm their band of misfits in many, different ways. There are even legendary weapons, like Sigmar's Hammer and the Slayer of Kings, altough some of them are DLC-exclusive only.

The main theme of Warhammer Quest is, of course, combat. It's bloody, unforgiving and surprisingly tactical for a game that has its roots on Apple devices. Combat and normal movement, are all turn based and allow players to perform many actions during each round. For example if a Hero swings his sword, he can no longer move, but can shoot, provided he has a ranged weapon at hand. Using special abilities and equipement items from your belt does not prevent heroes from moving or fighting, but can cost them their power/faith/resolve points, which are generally randomised each turn. It's worth remembering that, as your healers can have 12 magic points one turn and 0 points during another. It is also impossible to grab the items from backpack during combat, so heroes must rely on their pockets and belt pouches.

Every adventurer's best friend

Creatures usually attack in number and it is not uncommon for computer to spawn even a large horde of top-level fiends, such as Rat Ogres or Orc Warbosses (yes, WARBOSSES) at the beggining of each combat, or sometimes as reinforcements. Yeah, I should mention that this game does not like slackers. The longer the player wander around dungeons, seraching rooms, the bigger the chance for them to get attacked by monsters or have one of random encounters, which are usually nasty, resulting in Heroes getting Nurgle's Rot, getting their ribs crushed or being digested (partially) by some acidic ooze. This can even happen in cities, as an army of pickpockets and racketeers will descend upont the players to relieve them of their hard earned cash. This is the game's way of saying: "hurry the hell up, will you?". This builds a kind of tension that works surprisingly well, especially when playing the storyline missions which are clever and written by someone, who obviously knew what Warhammer Fantasy is and how it should be presented. I liked the Reikland quests the most, as they've centered around a Skaven conspiracy and sometimes felt like playing a video game version of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, one of my favorite RPG's of all time.

As you can see, so far I've written mostly positive things about "Warhammer Quest". Unfortunately this game has a few issues that can dissuade players from completing it fully. Firstly, this game is really repetitive. It's a dungeon crawler through and through and don't excpect anything else. I've tried to avoid the sidequests as much as possible, so as not the get bored, but even then, when you've seen one dungeon, you've seen them all... even if they are varied and nicely modelled. Then there's the very annoying tendency of computer to completely ignore characters skill levels and have them being pathetically ineffective in combat from time to time. When my level 7 (very high) Witch Hunter constantly missed all his attacks, trying to hit a lowly Clanrat, or my Shadow Warrior missed all three shots from his magical bow, as he was doing his damnedest to hit that Goblin Shaman, something was very, fucking wrong. I'm not talking about isolated incidents as well. Many heroes, even when they're high level, can't fight or shoot for shit. This is doubly frustrating when the enemies constantly hit you with their attacks. So you want to tell me that a Shadow Warrior from Nagarythe is less accurate than a goddamn Arrer Boy? Bullshit.

Clearly a master marksman right there

There were also minor things, like quest descriptions, which were repeating themselves a bit too often, sometimes in funny ways. Once I was looking for a magical chalice, bu the text at the beginning of the dungeon told me that the chalice was actually... a blade. Main quests did not had that problem however, but it would still be nice for the makers of "Warhammer Quest" to type a few more phrases for their dungeons.

Now let's go to the reason why this game recieved a lot of hate when it was first released. I'm, of course, talking about DLC's. There are a lot of them and to be honest, playing without them is pointless. Not only do they provide most of the characters and items, they are also the source of two additional enemy factions, namely the Undead and Skaven. Without the DLC's your Heroes will duke it out only with Greenskins and critters (spiders, rats and bats). It's a shame that there are no Chaos enemies, like Beastmen (who are mentioned sometimes during loading times) or even good, old Chaos Warriors. Given the ammount of chaotic symbols in every dungeon, that's just strange and not in a good way.

Of course, the dependence on DLC's, means that soon the cost of all necessary expansions will be higher than the core game itself, and this really, really sucks. Still, nowadays this is getting more and more normal and even mandatory, as we can clearly see on the example of such titles as Payday 2, Battlefield or Call of Duty. However I can understand it in the case of big titles, like the aformentioned three, but not when it comes to a game ported from a fucking iPad. My advice for potential "Warhammer Quest" players, is to wait for some kind of sale, during which you'll be able to grab the game and all additional content for a relatively small sum of money, just like I did. Without all the DLC's, playing this game is a waste of time, but buying them all for a full price is also not a wise decision. Just wait for a sale, grab it and then play it to your heart's content.

Most of these guys are not in the core game

So did I liked this game in general? Yeah, I did. Despite its repetitivity and DLC bullshit, "Warhammer Quest" is a great forage into the Old World (R.I.P), definetly worth it for any fan of the, now dead, classic fantasy setting. Rodeo Games, the team behind this title, clearly knew Warhammer Fantasy well enough, to make a game that feels just right and evokes the fantastic and dark atmosphere of that setting. Try it out and you won't be dissapointed.

Pros:

-Climate and atmosphere of the source material.
-Fantastic soundtrack.
-Nicely done graphics as well as dungeon and character details.
-Fights are both visceral and demanding.

Cons:

-Occasional ineptitude on the side of player's Heroes.
-DLC's are a must, if the game is to be fully enjoyed.
-Only four enemy factions, two of which are available exclusively through paid expansions.
-Random dungeon descriptions are few and repetitive.

So there you have it, my first ever video game review. There will be more to come, especially since I'm kinda in a mood lately for reviewing stuff. Who knows, maybe I'll even look back to the glory days of "Shadow of the Horned Rat" and "Dark Omen"?

Oh and I know that this post was supposed to be about the "End Times", but... well, I just couldn't do it. I'm getting closer tough, so keep your fingers crossed.

Until next time!

Xathrodox86