Developer: Brain Seal Ltd
Publisher: Brain Seal Ltd
Platform: PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: Switch
Dark Quest 3 – Review
Developer Brain Seal Ltd has been entertaining us with new adventures within the Dark Quest franchise for a pretty long time now. Before this title, there was Dark Quest 2 and more recently Dark Quest: Board Game. And that last one is particularly interesting because at one point they decided to release the game on consoles and change the name into… you guessed it: Dark Quest 3. The name change did come with some rebalancing of the abilities, though it didn’t completely fix the issues we had with this game, as we found out when we tested the Switch version.
Story
During the intro of the game, there’s a bunch of optional text that sets the stage for the adventure we’re about to go on. A long time ago, a young boy finds a magical book and sets out to unlock the mysteries within. This passion soon starts to become an obsession, and with nobody to stop him, the boy-turned-wizard opens a tear in the veil. This tear allows horrific monsters to slip into the human world and unleash destruction. Another wizard calls upon a party of heroes to do something about this tragedy and make sure good prevails over evil. As far as fantasy stories go, this is a pretty predictable one. But since each adventure plays out differently and is procedurally generated, the backstory is really just some flavor for the tale you get to tell while playing. It’s nice, but nothing mindblowing.
Graphics
Dark Quest 3 thrives on its beautiful and unique visual style. The art is absolutely gorgeous and perfectly sets the stage for your dark fantasy adventure. There are plenty of areas to discover, all of which look different and have their own unique vibe. The game goes very far to visually mimic the feel of a tabletop RPG, for example by having the characters appear and move like figurines on a map. Another example is how in the main hub, the wizard seems to hover over your party like a DM hovers over the table when playing. They’re nice touches that make the game feel less bland.
Sound
Like its predecessors, we can’t complain about the soundtrack of this game. We’re going to go out on a limb and say the same composer returns because there’s definitely a familiarness to the music. The music perfectly fits the dark fantasy atmosphere too. The game also gets to boast some top-notch voice acting for our wizard friend who narrates the entire adventure. Once again it enhances the tabletop game atmosphere in a very enjoyable way.
Gameplay
Dark Quest 3 is a rogue-lite board game adventure with tactical turn-based combat. It also borrows heavily from deck-builder games. At the start of the adventure, you create your party of heroes by picking four characters. There are twelve heroes in total, each with their own strengths and weaknesses which you can also consult in the form of their decks. Anything from a strong melee sword fighter to a ranged archer is represented, and trying to balance your party well is the first important thing you’ll have to do. Once you’ve got your crew ready, you head out into the great unknown. You trigger encounters by drawing a card from a deck. These encounters are mostly random and are what makes every run unique. Sometimes they’re fights, but they can also be friendly NPCs, story beats, or surprise loot. You often are presented with multiple choices in each encounter, allowing you to steer the course of the adventure.
Battles are the main event of the game. They take place from an isometric point of view on a map made of squares. In a turn-based fashion, you control each member of your party against the enemies of the encounter. Aside from a normal attack, each party member also has a bunch of special attacks and skills in the form of cards you can play during their turn. Some strategic insight will be needed to win; since the battles (and the game in general) gradually get harder and harder as you progress.
You won’t be expected to win with your starting setup forever though. Aside from the expected healing items that you can use between encounters to restore health, you’ll find a bunch of handy loot to make your party stronger. Mostly we can divide the loot into two categories. Upgrades are what you’ll use most to make your party stronger, either by passively raising their stats or by upgrading a specific card in their deck. Sometimes, you can also upgrade a hero to add new cards. Then there are special items. These can come in the form of runes or one-off cards that you need to activate before an encounter and will only be useful during that fight. These items are rarer but can be decisive in battle. The latter is especially true since a lot of Dark Quest 3 regrettably still comes back to RNG. Dice rolls can be in your favor or not, but sometimes the randomness does mean even a good party falls for no reason.
Conclusion
Overall, Dark Quest 3 offers a satisfying mix between playing a video game and playing a tabletop RPG. While the mix between tactical combat and randomness can be a bit frustrating, every adventure ends up being a unique and fun experience that has us craving more. Even when the game had us start from cratch many times, we came back for more.
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