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Staff review by Gary Hartley
February 25, 2012 There seems to be a slowly growing trend in games to present the gamer with the means to be a sadistic overlord, and the aptly-named EvilQuest does its best to promote that mindset as far as it can. It’s the tale of one Galvis, a nasty looking fellow in evil looking armour complete with a villainous cape, and one of those stupid helmets only worn by the truly malicious with worthless horn ornaments and shrouding faceguards that destroy your peripheral vision but cloak your face in ominous shadow.Just because I can’t see you doesn’t mean I don’t hate you.
Galvis, then, is quite the bastard and the game tries very hard to tell you of his dark deeds with a straight face. With all the killing and the maiming and the bathing in the blood, it’s surprising he’s then showcased losing his coup in record time because one of his general wanders off for no other reason than “Screw Galvis, that’s why!” He’ll escape imprisonment in an orgy of betrayal, stupidity and deus ex machina and, if you’ve managed to survive to awful writing up to here, you’ll find the game rewards you for it.
EvilQuest‘s writing often lacks any real direction and doesn’t seem sure of what it wants to be. These opening stages play it so serious, that when it starts to drop in lines of dark humour, it’s impossible to be sure if they’re intentional of simply more bad writing. I’d like to believe the former; the last words of an overly-trusting ally and the reactions of the village folk to Galvis’ escape are hard not to be amused by, but the plot seems to be indecisive at best, never really finding its pace.
So it’s a saving grace that the game itself is put together so well. Reminiscent of 8-bit action RPGs of old, most notably, Crystalis, EvilQuest’s attempt to destroy the world plays out in real time, depicting simplistic battles. Galvis can employ swords, spears and shivs as well as hurl a small variety of magic spells around the screen while you take part in an adventure to destroy the four seals that bar his way into heaven so he can slay God itself.
In doing so, he’ll find himself taking on an assortment of dungeons ranging from ancient pyramids, reeking sewers and lava-filled caves. He’ll need to lay a one-man siege against the local sovereign’s castle, pretend to care about saving a sacrifice from the unholy claws of a local deity and navigate his way through an ice maze. In doing so, EvilQuest captures all that was right about the titles of old, but still manages to throw in a few appreciated updates. The stages you explore are mapped out as you wander around, cutting down on time spent aimlessly backtracking and Galvis keeps a journal which will point you in the right direction should you feel yourself getting a bit lost.
Grit your teeth while the writing beds in (it’s hard to decide if it eventually abandons the suffocating seriousness and makes a play for black humour or if it simply becomes so bad, it starts being unintentionally funny) and you’ll find a tight game well worth your time. Perhaps it doesn’t achieve its aim of showcasing video gaming’s most evil protagonist, but, for the five hours or so it lasts, it does manage to do almost everything else right. Dungeons slowly evolve from simple straight paths littered with the odd rat to huge open-space shrines flooded by fluttering dragons, acid-spitting lizard men and a slew of portals you’ll need to map out to get anywhere near the usually outstanding boss fight waiting at the end of each crawl.
EvilQuest gets more than enough right to justify its already low asking price, but let’s not let its Indie status colour it completely; the 360’s Indie channel regularly produces titles of great value hidden beneath the muck and Chaosoft’s effort certainly deserves to stand along side them.
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