Fatigue makes us write funny things. A little in automatic mode at the time of writing the first lines of this test, we find ourselves with an article entitled Quest for Glory, the famous series of games from Sierra released, in particular, on my Amiga 500 which I always like d 'love. And it must be said that there are many similarities between the two titles. A mix of point'n click and RPG, the title from the developers of Infamous Quests is an undisguised tribute to its glorious elder. Released on PC in 2014, it is now coming to our Nintendo Switch. The opportunity for us to catch up ... and pee on carpets.
The old-fashioned adventure
Quest for Infamy is, of course, a love letter for the Quest for Glory series, even if we have to admit that the Episode 5 never existed, but it is above all a 180° turn with the acting of Corey and Lori Ann Cole. Forget the hero riding his proud steed. We embody here Roehm, a poor bugger who arrives in the peaceful town of Volksville in the kingdom of Lonaria. This is subject to the unfailing vigilance of Rayford, the local sheriff, who does not hesitate to cut off the neck of any violator of the civil peace. Volksville being cut off from the world by the collapse of a bridge, Roehm will have to find a way to support himself while the repairs are done.
Our quest therefore begins at this moment and the least we can say is that our freedom is total. We can, from the start of the game, explore every nook and cranny of the city of Volksville and there are very few limitations to our uncertain wanderings. In order to find companions telling us how to survive in these lands, we very quickly engage in conversations. These allow us to get noticed by three potential mentors. A mage, a brigand and a rogue. These are ready to bring us into their brotherhood for a few small services. It is up to us to choose which training course will be best suited to our academic profile.
Our adventure will therefore alternate missions related to events happening in town and those concerning our professional curriculum. As an old-fashioned game, it is better to bring a small spiral notebook with a cardboard cover as well as a gray pencil with 2HB lead to be able, when the time comes, to take notes on our assignments. Thus, for example, the magician will allow us to master a significant number of spells. To achieve this, we will have to find a large number of various ingredients ranging from putrid water to a key hidden under a doormat and a polished pebble. It is very difficult to remember everything and nothing comes to help our progress.
A mix of genres that works
These old-school adventure game mechanics are perfectly mastered by the developers of Infamous Quests. While it may seem, at first, that this freedom can lose us, many clues are hidden, in the form of dialogues, in the kingdom of Lonaria. These lines of text, whether they come from our conversations or from the voiceover of the narrator, are one of the strengths of Quest for Infamy. All fans of Trafalgar, so dear to Admiral Nelson, will be able to benefit from dialogues where the slightest opportunity is seized to try to make the player laugh. It must be recognized that the subject is often devoid of the delicacy of a tea drinker, but this schoolboy humor often hits the mark while the fourth wall regularly explodes.
The other strong point of Quest for Infamy concerns its graphics. While most modern adventure games use a system of highlighting important items, the title of Infamous Quests does without it, and we have to hover our cursor over an item to see if its name shows up. From this point of view, it's simple, we have the impression that each element of the decor is usable. But far from making the title unplayable, they are so well incorporated into the atmosphere that each object that does not seem out of place is necessarily important for our progress.
Every action we take will affect our statistics. So at the start of the game, you will have to try several times to climb above the entrance to the city. Each of these attempts, if it fails, will still increase our climbing capacity, allowing us, in the long term, to succeed in passing this obstacle. We find this system to increase our combat statistics. These, far from being exciting, just ask to choose the right attack or to parry while waiting for our magic gauge to recharge, at least for the mage that we were.
Our only regret concerns only the excessive passivity of our antihero. This one is content to follow the course of events by placing a well-felt replica from time to time. However, we have the possibility of making certain choices from time to time in order to show the darkness of our soul. So having the right to life or death over the poor bugger we just beat up is nice, it's just disappointing that this choice doesn't have a great influence on the rest of our adventures and that, in the end, our hero is content to be infamous by urinating all over the place without warning.
Pixel-perfect beauty
But let’s forget about these incontinence issues and get to the technical part of this port instead. The pixel art, whether docked or mobile, is of high quality. Teeming with detail and life, our journey with Roehm never leaves room for eye fatigue. The sets are regularly renewed despite the restricted area in which we wander. Between the alleys of a country town, the nauseating exhalations of a putrid marsh or the ruins of a manor, our adventure will make us discover very beautiful paintings. A day/night cycle will enhance the whole thing by modifying the tones of the colors present.
Each dialogue will be embellished with the face of the character holding us conversation. Diversity and quality are key. These faces are all different and realistic. Only a few dubs, in English, give the impression of having been recorded from the bathroom. The soundtrack is much more serious and well done. We find catchy sounds that accompany us perfectly during our wanderings.
Let's finish with controls. Many adventure games that have been released on PC arrive on our Switches without any optimization. This is far from the case for Quest for Infamy which offers an extremely complete handling. First of all, there is the possibility of controlling everything that happens on the touch screen. The controls then resemble a classic mouse game. Pleasantly enough, the game with docked joycons is very well optimized too. The sticks are used to move the cursor at different speeds while the L/R keys allow you to select the action to be taken and ZL/ZR are used to choose our speed of movement. No matter how we consume video games on our hybrid consoles, the handling is always optimal.
