I'm going to have to look up what the deal is with this SteamWorld franchise. There are several games in it, but they're of different genres. It's odd to build a fanbase around an theme and style, but not any particular kind of gameplay. I played SteamWorld Dig 2 two years ago; an action-packed metroidvania platformer. And now I'm playing a turn-based deckbuilding RPG that doesn't seem to have any connection to the characters and events of Dig 2. 🤷‍♂️

SteamWorld Quest is the first dedicated deckbuilding game I've played. Slay the Spire remains a long-time resident of my Steam wishlist. I assume “Quest” is a decent example of the deckbuilding genre, but I've only played a bit of Hearthstone's Battlegrounds and Mercenaries modes. “Quest” seems mostly well-designed, but there are some aspects I wonder if other deckbuilding RPGs may have done better.

When I decided to purchase and play “Quest”, I'd meant it as a brief diversion. My main game is still Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which has become a chore and a slog to play. “Quest” was meant to be a break for 8-12 hours.

“Quest” ended up being another slog. It took me about 35 hours to complete.

The game is definitely fun and satisfying. The card designs are excellent. I always felt like I could build a deck/party/equipment setup to make effective use of any card. Moving through levels, choosing when and where to fight, was an unexpected bit of freedom that I enjoyed.

In the end, “Quest” has the feeling of tedium about it. To deal significant damage requires combining the right cards, which can take several turns to draw. This design makes sense, considering that even playing card games like Blackjack, Poker and Solitaire are about combining the right cards. You're not trying to whittle down health bars, though.

Battles can reach a point of inevitability where I can't lose, but it still takes 5-10 turns to end the fight. A regular trash mob fight can take nearly ten minutes.

There's a "new game plus" mode, but I don't like how it's implemented. Rather than NG+ mode making it easier to gain the huge numbers of resources needed to continue upgrade cards and equipment after completing the story campaign, NG+ resets all values for resources, gold, character levels and EXP gains back to the very beginning. I keep my cards and equipment, but I can't level them up until I basically get back to the end of the game. The grinding potential is so very high, and that's not what I'm looking for.

“Quest” is not a time-efficient game, but I wonder if that's just an inescapable aspect of deckbuilding RPGs. I'll have to check out some other deckbuilders to find out.

Had a great time with SWQ. The story is very straightforward, but the typical Image and Form humor comes through well without getting too corny. Per usual, the character designs are a gem. The card system was easy to grasp and there was some opportunity to set up different combos or different teams. The game has a couple options for endgame challenge, which I did not fully complete, but otherwise has a reasonable run time and I beat it in just about 11 hours playing on the normal difficulty. There's also an option for new game plus if you want. Normal was pretty easy except for 1-2 fights (the ones you start poisoned particularly) so I would recommend starting at least on Normal if not Hard.

The enemy variety was somewhat lacking, and there weren't any options to customize the look of your characters. No hats! The maps were alright, but the "overworld" sections felt utilitarian. There are hidden treasures you can hunt for in the map, but going back to an earlier chapter requires playing the chapter over again, which was a little tedious combined with the slower fights.

The balance was mixed - you have 5 possible characters and 3 slots but the combat heavily prioritizes healing and sustain: I found myself prioritizing a couple of characters and abilities with good healing. Some cards are clearly better than others, and the various item upgrades are simple. Card upgrades had a nice resource system, but the upgrades themselves were often very minor (an ability going from 100% damage to 105%, for example). Each character only contributes 8 cards to your overall deck of 24, so you do have to make some hard choices about what to include. Coupled with the system of generating steam points from certain cards, your options are more limited than they appear at first. Lastly, I did find the combat a little drawn out in a JRPG kind of way, which dissuaded me from pursuing the bonus arena content.

All in all good time! I hope I&F come back to a sequel and improve on this one like they did for Dig 2 and (seemingly) are doing for Heist.

Played on SteamDeck.

I don't know what it is about this well made game, but it's so whimsical and nice. I feel really good now i just completed it. I can't put my finger on it but something about this game is just the best. Good job.
If i was a kid, it would be up there in my top 10 games. A living childrens book, but a book that fights back.