Beast Quest shares far more with the justifiably forgotten likes of the Eragon game than it does with the gaming landscape of 2018. Now, I enjoy retro games, and retro-inspired games, but I don’t know anybody who has any great nostalgia for the ropey licensed tie-ins that proliferated the early 2000s.
I appreciate that this description is commonly used as hyperbole but in this case, the whole game design from graphics to mechanics are ripped straight from two decades ago. The signs are not encouraging even when first booting up the game, as you’re confronted by a menu screen that looks like nothing more than a high-res PS2 game. I therefore take no pleasure in writing a review that contains almost nothing positive about this cynical, dated, and overpriced attempt to hoodwink kids – and their parents – out of £30. My kids enjoy the books’ mix of mythology and fantasy tropes, and the interactive potential of the trials of a young knight exploring a fantasy world is huge. I was therefore really excited by the long awaited debut of the Beast Quest series on consoles. I also love to read, and have probably consumed hundreds of fantasy novels over my forty years. The opportunities for escapism, challenge and enjoyment are only limited by the skill and imagination of designers and development teams. I love games, and if you’re reading this then you probably love games too.
