Lion Quest Review

Have you ever been in a situation where you couldn’t tell if something was great or terrible just because it was so unusual? Well, that’s my dilemma with Lion Quest. Developed by Dracula’s Cave, Lion Quest is a basic platformer on its surface. Dig deeper, and you’ll find it’s a self-aware combination of distinct, platforming ingredients. Although strange, Lion Quest presents effective layouts from beginning to end.

Your quest begins with a multi-step tutorial that not only introduces you to essential controls and mechanics, but also to the game’s goofy style. The tutorial covers everything, from common obstacles to general platforming, and concludes with a mix of all that you’ve learned. Many games lack an introductory lesson and throw players right into the gauntlet. This is not the case with Lion Quest, but prepare to be confused shortly after the first few levels anyway. The reason? Looking up important information, such as keybindings, is not convenient or made easy following the tutorial. Unless you remember every bit of info from the start, there will be a point where you have no idea of which button to press with no other option than to try them all. There isn’t a settings menu from what I could find, and there’s nothing on the internet to help you out. I had to directly ask Dracula’s Cave for help, which shouldn’t be the case in a fully released game.

What a lovely day in Lion Quest County.

Even though Lion Quest lacks instruction as a whole, it contains both familiar and original platforming components. Most platformers are similar at their core, but what you need to look out for are any new features they might bring to the table. Lion Quest introduces levels that feel alive as they gradually fall apart, constantly reshaping layouts and adding new hurdles to pass through. Also, you will encounter a 3D element that can be triggered off, similar to that of Fez. However, it is used solely for an artistic purpose and does not directly contribute to gameplay itself. I feel everything else Lion Quest presents has been seen countless times before. Some examples include: speed and gravity manipulation, water physics, vertical layouts, and time limits. Nevertheless, the game is still successful from an originality standpoint due to the on-screen level design mutations that regularly occur during gameplay.

One feature I tried to focus on was the game’s local multiplayer. Lion Quest offers both a co-op campaign and versus multiplayer. With only eight main levels in the entire game, co-op adds an extra layer to the small amount of content. I jumped on co-op immediately, since beating a story level in this mode will also mark it as complete in single-player. In other games this is not usually the case, but Lion Quest seems to encourage playing with friends. Luckily, I always have some controllers on deck for this type of situation! At first, only two characters are available to choose from, but new characters can be purchased with in-game coins.

Ronald the Bear is my spirit animal.

I’m glad co-op is available, but it is definitely the weakest aspect of the game, not to mention completely broken at times. My minor complaint is that the screen doesn’t zoom out far enough when two players get separated. Normally, this would simply force players to stick together, which isn’t a big deal. However, if one player dies, they will spawn next to the other. This means the lesser skilled person can constantly kill themselves when behind in order to catch up, essentially ruining the whole point of co-op. I found myself either having to wait while ahead or kill myself while behind, both of which aren’t very fun. Granted, if both players are the same skill level, there wouldn’t be much of an issue. Unfortunately, the perfect scenario isn’t usually the case.

A critical bug in co-op mode occurs when you must control a second character simultaneously with your own. The game completely breaks at these points, beginning at level four, and occurring in almost every stage afterward. You see, some puzzles require two animals to work together. In single-player, you would simply be able to control both characters at once. In multiplayer, the game gets confused and the second character (which is actually the person you are playing with) completely freezes. In another situation, you’re supposed to control six individuals. Again, the stage worked fine in single-player, but froze up in multiplayer. This bug prevented me from playing co-op for a significant chunk of the game.

Versus multiplayer turned out to be rather enjoyable. There’s room for four players, although I only played with one other person. Five extra maps can be purchased for this mode, but there are 10 to start with. The first person to reach a certain number of kills (jumping on your opponent) wins. The only issue with versus is the high number of camping spots, since several maps have places where you can sit without being vulnerable. Luckily, you can just yell at your friends to get out of there.

This is what happens when you sneeze in a quiet room.

In terms of humour, Lion Quest is able to make fun of its world and is aware of itself as a game. The characters do not directly break the fourth wall, but there are certain times where you feel like the developers are speaking to you. As an example, one map you can purchase in-game turns out to be completely flat with a message saying it isn’t actually a map. On another occasion, a donation well appears and lets you put your valuable coins into it, but doesn’t exist for any other purpose than to give you the option to “donate”. Also, the level selection screen is a stage in itself, and you have to navigate through it to begin an actual stage. Hopefully you get a sense of the type of clever humor we’re looking at here. I definitely think it’s the high point of Lion Quest.

Lion Quest doesn’t guide the player very well, and fails to provide a working co-op experience. It has a promising lineup of features, but doesn’t execute them successfully in the end. I wish the few critical errors that are present will be corrected at some point, because the game could be amazing. Lion Quest’s ingenuity isn’t enough to garner a gold medal, but varied gameplay provides a few hours of challenging entertainment.