Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 25/Nov 03:19

Dark Quest 4 – Review

If you’ve been with us for a while, you’re probably aware that a good chunk of our gaming time isn’t spent with a controller or mouse but with dice or cards instead. This inevitably leads to one of our soft spots: video games that bring tabletop elements to the… well, table. Titles like Voice of Cards or Sultan’s Game combine the tactile feeling of board games with mechanics that simply cannot be recreated physically. It’s this unique blend of analogue and digital gaming that guided our attention towards Dark Quest 4. This latest title in the long-running Dark Quest series takes inspiration from a bona fide board game classic, but can it live up to the game it was based on? We rolled the dice to find out. Story Don’t be scared away by the 4 in Dark Quest 4’s title, as the game’s story doesn’t require you to be up to speed with the previous 3 Dark Quest games. Set in a high fantasy world, Dark Quest 4 centers on a new threat unleashed by a Dark Sorcerer. He has summoned Gulak, a monstrous servant who kidnaps villagers and uses them in dark rituals to create horrific new monsters. The realm’s monarch sends out a call for heroes to stop Gulak’s growing army. Your role is to gather a group of fantasy heroes, train them, and pursue Gulak through a series of quests. As far as fantasy stories go, Dark Quest 4 isn’t the most inspiring or original, but when you zoom out and look at how the game is framed as a literal board game, the lack of narrative depth becomes less of an issue. Graphics It certainly isn’t a coincidence that Dark Quest 4’s key art looks so similar to the box art of the board game HeroQuest. Dark Quest 4’s hand-drawn art style deliberately evokes the look, feel, and spirit of Milton Bradley and Games Workshop’s tabletop classic -or at least as close as it can get without being licensed. In practice, that translates to a digital manifestation of a tabletop board game, complete with miniatures, tiles, cards, and a cozy candle-lit atmosphere. The Frazetta-lite aesthetic is pulpy and over the top, with exaggerated characters and strong silhouettes. In terms of performance, Dark Quest 4 runs remarkably smoothly on the Switch, with our only gripe being minor readability issues. Those are the result of artistic/UI constraints rather than the hardware being outdated, however, with the fixed camera and small font being the main offenders. Sound Leaning even further into the tabletop aesthetic, your journey through Dark Quest 4 is accompanied by the voice of a Dungeon Master. It’s a small touch on paper, but in practice, the presence of this narrator/guide adds wit, menace, and tabletop flavor to the experience. The orchestral music also adds to the atmosphere, deepening the game’s eerie fantasy tone as it oscillates between mystical choirs, heavy percussion, and ethereal orchestral textures. Each of the different environments, including crypts, forests, and ruined halls, has its own audio identity as well: Dungeons echo with distant sounds, whispers, and creaks, while campsites feature subtle ambience like crackling fires and soft wind. Sound effects don’t just include the expected sounds of battle but also those of the surrounding framework. The sound of dice rolling in particular is very satisfying, tying the soundscape together. Gameplay Given the overall look, sound, and feel of Dark Quest 4, it’s only logical that the game’s mechanics heavily lean into classic tabletop RPG design as well. Even so, Dark Quest 4 is an original dungeon-crawling game with turn-based tactical combat first and foremost, rather than a digital version of a pre-existing board game. You start by assembling a party of three heroes (from a roster of ten unique characters) and equip them with items, gear, and new abilities from the Blacksmith, Alchemist, Trainer, and Merchant. Once your party is battle-ready, you send them on a dungeon-crawling quest. There are a whopping 30 quests in the game, each with a theme, special challenges, and traps. Of note is that the dungeons are hand-crafted rather than procedurally generated. You explore room by room, revealing the map as you go, like a physical board game. Upon completing a quest, your heroes become fatigued, encouraging you to rotate between the different characters as you make your way through the campaign. Given that heroes have different synergies between them, this means that you’ll inevitably end up experimenting, adding both depth and replay value to an already meaty campaign. Combat is easy to learn, but offers a surprising amount of tactical depth. Battles are fought across a grid, with combat triggering as soon as enemies come into view, and turn order determined through initiative rolls. Each of your heroes gets one action per turn, whether that’s moving, attacking or using an item or ability. The combination of action limits, turn order, and the grid-based positioning opens up a wealth of possibilities. Understanding turn sequence is crucial here – especially if it means you can eliminate enemies before they act. With over 40 enemy types, including undead, cultists, constructs, and even exploding chickens, no two battles play out the same way. That’s without even getting into the bosses, who have much higher health and require more thoughtful positioning and synergy. In true tabletop fashion, dice rolls are crucial, and a stroke of bad luck can really screw you over. Thankfully, Dark Quest 4 is fast-paced enough that you’ll simply get up and try again even before you’ve fully processed your humiliating defeat. For the most part, Dark Quest 4 is a straightforward dungeon crawler: you make your way through the dungeons, beat enemies, and use the rewards to upgrade your heroes with new ability cards, weapons, shields, and other trinkets. The game’s economy is very forgiving -it’s unlikely you’ll be strapped for gold. That means that there is a constant sense of progress, even if your actual runs themselves don’t always go as smoothly as you’d want. Still, you’ll have your work cut out for you if you want to bring this quest to a good end: with roughly an hour to complete each dungeon, you’re looking at around 30 hours to complete the game. That’s without even getting into the Creator Mode, which lets you create and share custom dungeons or the game’s co-op mode. All in all, Dark Quest 4 feels like a very complete package, and for a mere RRP of €19.50, we got a lot more than what we’d initially assumed. Conclusion We’ve played enough digital adaptations of existing games and games inspired by board games to confidently say that they’ll never fully replace the tabletop experience… but Dark Quest 4 comes pretty close. The game’s visuals and soundscape set up the right atmosphere, and the easy-to-learn but hard-to-master mechanics drive it all home. Add to this that the campaign is very meaty, especially for the price point, and you’re looking at a title that will sit right at home in the digital library of any board game enthusiast. Sure, the narrative could’ve done with more depth, but unless you’re knee-deep in a D&D campaign, you won’t find the deepest lore around your kitchen table either.