Dark Quest 3 Review (PS5)

Tabletop RPGs and card games hold a special place in the hearts of those born in the 80’s. There is something magical about gathering around a table and turning a with the help of imagination a handful of miniatures, some rule books, a couple dices and a deck of cards into perilous dungeons, chambers filled with shinning loot and unforgettable boss battles. But how can this old formula adapt to the speed of the modern world?

Dark Quest tries to answer the question, reaching its third iteration that tries to translate the magic of the imaginary into a fully-fledged audio-video experience. It is an old school game, with a huge nostalgia factor that tries to appeal while building on a tried formula. There is nothing revolutionary, but the atmosphere is like a well-aged wine of old school fun.

Dark Quest 3 feels like a tabletop game adapted to a digital single player experience. Of course, the producers try to throw around catchy keywords among today’s audience, rogue-lite being the most common one. In reality, the game combines the randomness brought by drawing cards, rolling dice and a party of heroes advancing under the careful gaze of a dungeon master.

There are over 12 heroes with some interesting choices. You expect to see barbarians and mages, knights and archers, but classes like “prince” are novel. At the same time, turning a race into a class, like the dwarf, is a strange choice. You will have access to just four classes at the start of the game, while the rest can be unlocked by progressing through the game.

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A big chunk of the replayability comes from the randomness of the draw, never knowing where the adventure cards will take you. You will need plenty of luck and several runs leading to events that allow you to recruit new companions.

In total you will be able to visit 13 areas that are associated with over 150 adventure cards. Once you finish an area and beat the final boss, you will the choice in new runs to just skip it and start with the next down the succession. Although the areas are organized in a linear manner, the randomness of the cards make it feel less repetitive. Although with enough runs you will end up learning the content of the adventure cards.

In several situations, just like in the case of tabletop games, you will also need to rely on being favorable in the eyes of the RNG. Most situations are solved by the toss of the dice: low values need to an unfavorable outcome to the party, while the good rolls allow you to bypass or even come out on top of tight situations. Still, one of your resources allows you to influence the outcome. You will stockpile dice rolls that you can use to re-roll if you are unhappy with an outcome.

Resources also include weapons, armors, spells and potions that you can find throughout your adventure. These offer you much-needed breathing room in front of the constant opposition you will face. All the equipment cards you discover will be lost once your run is over, either due to misfortune, or thanks to reaching the end of the game. That means that each new runs will see you start from square one, recruiting four heroes that you have already unlocked, without retaining any experience or equipment.

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The luck and randomness of the draw while contributing seriously to keeping you in front of the screen, would not be enough to turn Dark Quest 3 into an attention worthy experience. The most important factor remains the atmosphere, and the developers did pretty well when it comes to it. You feel at that table, drawing cards, moving the miniatures around and hoping for a good roll, all the actions being narrated by the dungeon master.

Being the only voice in the game, the voice acting contributes tremendously into making you believe that you are in a heroic fantasy in which tactical decisions make the difference between sweet victory and gruesome defeat. The only issue is that after several runs, the fantasy world starts to feel a bit generic, lacking any guts that would take it off the beaten path of classic RPGs.

The variety of classes helps improve things, but if you are unlucky enough to go run after run without unlocking new characters, Dark Quest 3 may fall short from motivating you to push forward. Another demotivator is the clunky controls on the battlefield.

It is a bit too finicky to position your figurines in the desired position, trying to wither overwhelm your opponents or to make sure you avoid hitting your allies. Also, it’s a bit hard to understand what the exact margins of the combat maps are, and finding the furthest tiles where you can position your ranged heroes.        

Visually, Dark Quest 3 is like a warm blanket that will envelop you and take you back to a time where RPGs were simpler, and you had more time to enjoy them. Yet, it is disappointing that the new equipment pieces do not change the way your heroes look – this is one aspect where digital RPGs have the upper hand on tabletop games. Also, some environments like the forest seem a bit more inspired than others.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion