This adventure game game has been released for free on Christmas day, and I must say, I am completely digging it. :)
So what is Heroine's Quest? If you have been playing computer games for a long-long time, you may remember Sierra's various adventure game series - Police Quest, King's Quest and Heroes Quest (later re-released as Quest for Glory). The four-part Heroes Quest was particularly good, since it mixed exploration and puzzle-solving with RPG elements like combat and character abilities (including different classes that added a lot of variety to gameplay and puzzle solving). Heroine's Quest is an unofficial homage produced by a team of amateurs from all over the worls, and for a game of its type, it is mighty impressive!
In the story, you play a heroine called to a place inspired by Scandinavia, where a long winter and troll attacks have depleted the resources of local villages, and people are starting to speak of the return of the ice giants, and even Ragnarök. You can play as a warrior, a sorceress or a thief, and these classes bear a great influence on your game style. A warrior will mostly solve the game's puzzles through strength and heroism; a sorceress with spells and alchemical components; and a thief with guile and being sneaky. You will have a bunch of different abilities you can acquire and develop, from acrobatics to climbing, sneaking, herbalism and handling animals. There is a good degree of environmental interaction too; although until you gain a little endurance, the mechanic that slowly depletes your stamina and kills you while you are out in the cold can feel brutal. This is not an easy game, especially if (like me) you haven't played adventure games lately.
The graphics are consciously 90s. I could have done without the 320*200 resolution, but appreciate the style to imagine a 'classical', colourful fantasy world without the darker themes and deconstruction that have been in vogue for a while. They are bright, hand-painted and very stylish. The music is cute, and all NPCs have competent voice acting. I would like to see more of this style; it feels almost novel and refreshing after so many years.
You can download the game completely free from the publisher's website (http://www.crystalshard.net/hq.htm), although they also take donations. I can only recommend it!
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Looks Kings Quest-ish, which is a good thing!
Looks great, I'll definitely give it a try.
I just hope it differs from the classic Sierra games in one important aspect of game design: the part where you are rendered utterly unable to proceed because several hours ago you have missed a single-pixel item or neglected to ask a character a highly obscure question, and now you can't even go back. THAT I could certainly do without, I hope it's not like that.
I'm not a fan of Sierra's classics (and that cold thing you mentioned made me metaphorically wince already), but will probably give it a try after finishing Gemini Rue.