‘Quest For Infamy’ Review (Nintendo Switch)
Broken Sword, Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Syberia, Clock Tower. All classic games. All classic point and click adventure video games. But I haven’t played any of them and I’ve been playing video games for a very long time. I’m trying to think as I write this but it’s been at least thirty years. And in all those years I have never played any point and click games. It doesn’t seem possible with all the consoles and all the games I have played. But here we are with Quest For Infamy, at the age of 39 and I’m playing my first one.
Thankfully Quest For Infamy, even before you start the game, has a handy guide on how to play it. There’s a quick explanation that helps beginners like myself with the basics of how to play the game and where to head to at the start of the game. It’s a welcome and nice touch to proceedings. Not only that but there’s a ‘hints’ option which comes in very handy if you either haven’t played the game for a while or are just forgetful!
Quest For Infamy blends the point and click style with fantasy adventure games and of course RPGs. You can play the game as three different character classes – brigand, rogue, or sorcerer, each with unique storylines. Your character enters a new town, meets people, makes friends (and enemies) and explores the world. Puzzles need to be solved, battles need to be fought and treasure needs to be found.
But what sets Quest For Infamy apart from many other games is its humour. Of course, comedy is subjective but this game is very very funny. I’m not sure I’ve ever actually chuckled away to myself while playing a video game but I did again and again with Quest For Infamy. The insults and witty one-liners were my favourites but the storylines and many characters have some great lines. Not only that but the voice acting is really fun too and absolutely suits the style of the game here. As do the graphics, which have a classic early to mid-nineties style of those point and click adventures of the era.
This is a surprisingly long game too, with plenty of longevity to cover more than one playthrough. With over 50 NPCs (non-playing characters) and 200 rooms to explore there’s plenty to discover.
I did have a couple of problems though. The controls on the Nintendo Switch do take a bit of getting used to. There are a lot of options and the menu screen has a lot going on. To be fair, after a couple of hours I did feel like I had, at the very least, the basic idea of what most things do. But I imagine if you leave the game for a while and then come back into it, it won’t be as easy to just pick up and play again. My other main complaint is that I did find Quest For Infamy quite difficult but this might be in part to being a newcomer in the genre. The combat felt a bit awkward at times and the puzzles were difficult. Just going about simple ‘tasks’ didn’t seem very easy and I was often getting lost. Of course, like with the controls, once you spend a bit of time getting used to everything, this does become simpler but it almost became a chore before that.
Will Quest For Infamy inspire me to go back and play the classic point and click games I missed the first time around? Maybe. Fans of the genre will no doubt enjoy this one and the comedy will win it many fans. It’s a fun game but one that you can also play for hours and the Nintendo Switch feels like a good home for it.
*** 3/5
Quest For Infamy is available on the Nintendo eShop now.