So, you like old-school dungeon crawlers and you want to play one on your Android phone or tablet? No problem, one of the best games of this kind is clearly QuestLord. If you are a veteran player and you probably have played the Lands of Lore or Eye of the Beholder series, you will certainly love this game and feel nostalgic. It is a retro-style RPG with pixeled graphics and great gameplay.
While you are sleeping a strange creature called ValKin visits you and speaks to you about a great evil that is coming over to your realm, sending your land into chaos with evil spreading throughout the kingdom. The realm is in need of a QuestLord… you must follow your destiny!
It is common for this type of game to have a very simple story, thus from the very first moment you begin your quest inside some village but you know pretty much nothing about your path. You only hold a weapon and you are wearing your clothes. It will not be long before you realize that you are the infamous “QuestLord.” Your task is simple: protect the citizens of the realm and fulfil errands for a lot NPCs, while you explore a vast area of dungeons, forests, mountains and islands. Kill enemies with weapons or magic and discover the full story, talking to inhabitants of the Shattered Realm.
There are three races to choose in QuestLord – human, dwarf and elf. Each of these races has its different starting point on the map of the Shattered Realm and gameplay varies. As a human from the beginning you don’t have the ability to cast spells and you need to find a spellbook. The spellbook is far away from the starting point and you concentrate only on mêlée fighting until you find it. As an elf, you begin your adventure next to the spellbook and you are casting spells immediately. As a dwarf you can also not capable of spells from the beginning. Regardless of the race you choose, the gameplay is pretty much the same. You explore, kill enemies in turn-based combats, gather loot, buy armour, weapons and potions, complete quests and increase levels. This may seem boring, but it is not. There are over 150 levels and over 100 NPCs, and a lot of quests to complete. The game automatically saves your position and every time you die you resurrect near a shrine statue, assuming of course you have dropped some food as an offering. There are a lot of them scattered around the Shattered Realm. The controls are intuitive and the interface only lacks strafe buttons. You swipe to attack your foes and you use a shield or spells at the same time. When you press the map button, you have access to your quests and spells, and also to a map of the whole area. The inventory controls are clear and fast, and you can grab, view or sell an item just by moving it to the appropriate action. It would be easier for the player to have a fast travel system, but no harm done, as this is only a small flaw.
The graphics are pixeled in retro-style and they do their work just fine. The game is enjoyable on your Android phone’s small screen and it can also be played on tablets with bigger screens. It also has some good environment animations apart from the characters. The sound is pleasant – there are many sound effects and good ambient sounds from nature. The monster sounds are funny and there is great music when you begin a quest. There is no speech as expected.
QuestLord is very funny to play. There are a lot of humorous moments throughout the game and the dialogue is smart. It will remind you of the golden era of role play games and it will reward you with great moments. Just remember to play this game on a smaller screen to have a better experience.