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[h1]📑 Overview[/h1]
[b]This game was given to me as a review copy through my curator, Bog Boy. [i]This will not affect my opinion of the game, and I am not being otherwise compensated for this review.[/i][/b]
Lion Quest Infinity is a mix between a puzzle platformer (both 2D and 3D) and text-based office life visual novel. It's a strange combination, but it works very well to create a funny and strange world for the game to take place.
Lion Quest Infinity was released on March 5th, 2021 and was developed by Dracula's Cave.
[table]
[tr]
[th]🟢 Pros[/th]
[th]🟠 Cons[/th]
[th]💾 Hardware[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[th]
- The dialogue is fun.
- Relaxing vibe that makes the game fun to chill out to.
- Many extras that get unlocked as you gain score in the main game.
- Great soundtrack that sets a tone for the game extremely well.
[/th]
[th]
- Awkward controls in some situations.
- The minimalist worlds can get a little samey after a while.
[/th]
[th]CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1060 3GB
RAM: 16 GB
OS: Windows 10
Display: 1080p 60hz[/th]
[/tr]
[/table]
[h1]📖 Story[/h1]
Lion Quest Infinity is split into two segments - day and night. During the day, you're an office IT worker. At night, that IT worker dreams of the Lion Quest world and whatever wacky misadventures that that world entails.
As the IT worker, a new girl has recently started working at your office. It's immediately apparent that this job is very true to life -- the 3 owners of the business are terrible at doing things, and a lot of the responsibility to keep business running falls upon the only other 2 employees. The brunt of these segments are banter between the protagonist and the new coworker, and it's fun to read as the situations presented in this banter are often humorous in nature.
The main gameplay of Lion Quest Infinity comes at night, when the protagonist dreams of the Lion Quest world. In these sections, the player controls a lion named Jethro and his friends. Jethro steals an antique grandfather clock, and this somehow causes a time paradox where Jethro is being sent back in time and he needs to figure out how to stop it. The story is incredibly silly, and that's fine -- the game has a chill vibe that makes it very obvious that it doesn't take itself too seriously, and that's what makes this game pretty refreshing.
[h1]🎮 Gameplay[/h1]
During the day, the player controls an office IT worker. There's not much to talk about in terms of gameplay here; you go to work, talk to your coworker about whatever wacky thing there is to talk about that day, and then you go home and sleep. You'll also occasionally get called by your sister, who is a wacky and strange character in herself. It works, I guess.
The "actual" gameplay happens when you go to sleep and you dream of the Lion Quest world. This segment is a platformer, and there are two "types" of platforming. In 2D platforming, you can only move the character along one axis and you can jump. In 3D platforming, you can move in all directions as well as jumping. I noticed that more puzzle-oriented levels tend to use 2D platforming, while more platform-heavy levels will use 3D. I think this mechanic is fine. It adds an element of variety to the platforming that would otherwise probably get a little stale after a while.
Another important mechanic of this segment is the ability to hot swap between different characters on the map. For example, if you are stuck behind a laser wall as the lion, you can swap to the bear to turn off the laser wall from another part of the level. There can be up to 4 different friends per level. I like this mechanic, because it's satisfying to see a goal, like a button or pressure plate, and work out who needs to go there in order to help the other friends move on.
Speaking of friends, each friend has their own unique power up. These power ups include double jump, high jump, dash, and more. All of these power ups can help make levels more fun to traverse and add some variety to solutions. I do have on complaint, however. It's not about power ups as a whole, but one specific one: that one being dash. The dash power up is a little painful to control. You see, in Lion Quest Infinity, you can right-click to have the mouse control the camera. The dash power up works by clicking and holding the left mouse button and choosing where to dash. However, this only works when the mouse is in camera controlling-mode, meaning that I often try to dash and the camera will whip around. It's disorienting, and while I kind of got used to it, I feel like there's gotta be a better way to control it so that the camera and dash are not mapped to the same thing.
All in all, the gameplay is pretty fun! Each level feels unique, and the solutions feel natural, while also often being a little weird. The controls themselves are alright, barring a few odd camera control choices.
Something worth mentioning is the extra content this game has to offer. There's an extras menu on the main menu that has 5 bonus games. These unlock as you gain score from the main game, and provide an incentive for getting more of said score. These bonus games are pretty fleshed out, including a battle mode, a platforming challenge, and a short standalone 2D platformer. The extras were fun to play through and added a lot to the game.
[h1]🕵 Audiovisuals and Performance [/h1]
The graphics are interesting, as in they are very simple yet pleasing. The game overall has a minimalist style, as made apparent with the clean UI and the flat colors of the world. It has a retro feel, yet looks modern. I have no complaints with the visuals, other than it does get a little samey after a bit.
However, the best audiovisual aspect of this game is the soundtrack. The music is very relaxing, and sets a chill tone for the game. Few levels share a song for their soundtracks, and that makes it so every level has it's own vibe that is predominately set by its score. It really makes you want to chill out for a minute at the start of each level and just listen for a bit.
[h1]📗 Closing Opinions[/h1]
FINAL VERDICT: GOOD
★★★★☆
A fun experience that doesn't take itself seriously, which allows its levels and ideas to go wild. Dialogue segments are fun to read, and the platforming is interesting and fairly unique in respects. The soundtrack is the most standout part of this game, with a very chill score that helps make Lion Quest Infinity a very relaxing game to play. It's a game worth experiencing for its unique vibe.
