Wizzerd Quest

WIZZERD QUEZT IZ GOOD

Honestly - really fun short game. Gave me the vibes of old RPGs which is what you were aiming for. I found this game because it appeared on my steam main page, as the second instalment is coming out. Will 100% play the next part!

"Wizzerd Quest" is amazingly a genuinely made game here in the free section of Steam Direct that isn't complete garbage. This is a retro RPG with a comical theme. I guess it's best to think about this as a cheap, modern knock-off of The Elder Scrolls: Arena, only with less content, less playability and less depth. And while it's commendable that this game isn't a toxic microtransaction trashheap, a mobile app, an asset flip, or a 2D retro pixel student platformer, we must take into account the fact that the kinds of games this is ripping off, like, you know, The Elder Scrolls: Arena, are already on Steam and are much better than this. So if you really did want a retro RPG experience, go play one of those. But you'll soon find out that, sadly, you can't go home again. If you still insist on trying, this isn't the right way to go about it. The developers got the aesthetic mostly right, but it's still a bit mismatched looking. It does feature co-op, which the OG games don't, but this isn't exactly a great idea and it doesn't work very well (or at all, sometimes). The graphics aren't great, as mentioned they're both retro but also mismatched and inauthentic in some places. You also have to remember this was released in 2024 alongside games like Wukong and Hellblade 2... and then there's this pixelcrap mess. That's understandably a turn off for a lot of gamers, and it's a big contributor to the failure of the game to attract gamers despite having no up-front cost. Gaming is a primarily visual medium, and if developers want to succeed, they must understand that it's not an area for compromise. You deserve better than compromises. Insultingly, the developer insists that you should play this with a console peasant children's toy gamepad instead of KB+M. Developers should try to be aware which platform they're designing games for. It's the responsibility of the developer to ensure the game runs well on the platform they're selling it on, with the primary peripherals that PC gamers use. Now on to pricing and value for gamers. Most "free" games on Steam aren't really free. There's usually some kind of monetisation, from nasty mobile app cash shops, or content locked behind DLC, or donations being requested, to any other number of shady pricing schemes that could mislead gamers, but in this case I'm glad to say this really does appear to be a fully free game. Nothing demonstrates a developers belief in themselves and their work than giving it away without any remuneration. This is a service to themselves, and the gaming industry, and should be applauded. Of course, just because something is free, doesn't necessarily mean it's valuable, or something you might want to spend your time on. In terms of public reception, this failed to appeal to the 130 million+ gamers on Steam. SteamDB showed the game peaked at just a dozen or so concurrent players, and now there's basically nobody playing it. Even though it's free. This is a dismal public reception, but it's easy to see why gamers rejected it. Bearing in mind that free games don't add +1 to your game collector count, should you bother adding this to your library and downloading it? This is a "maybe" experience... if you have a lot of free time on your hands and nothing else to do, why not? But for the purposes of a review, this isn't something I can say everyone must try. It's not quite there. Valve doesn't give us a "maybe" option in reviews, but if they did, that's what I'd choose for this. Having said that, The Elder Scrolls Arena is also free on Steam, and that's the real deal. There's also a number of other OG RPGs on Steam from decades ago if you want to go on an archaeology expedition.