Patch Quest review: roguelikes, Metroidvanias, and Pokémon-like converge

The world at a glance Quest patch it is inviting, colorful and warm. However, you soon come face to face with a colossal web spider and suddenly the world seems much more dangerous.

IN Quest patch, you play as an explorer who wants to stitch together the quilted world of Patchlantis with the help of his monster buddies. Your first few hours are a combination of many games that came before: you can tame monsters à la Pokémon, collect items à la Binding Isaacand avoid living à la Enter the Gungeon. But despite the clear inspirations, developer Lychee Game Labs has created something unique: its own monster-taming roguelike.

Every time you go on a mission, you find yourself lost in the maze of the world of Patchlantis with your monster-taming lasso and trusty blaster with one goal in mind: to bring the world back together, one patch at a time. First, I ventured into Patchlantis and met my first enemy, a common moth. The weak worm seemed like a weak partner, but once Hypnoth was tamed, it proved to be a dominant ally whose power to make other beasts dizzy was more than compensated for by its frail stature.

Photo: Lychee Game Labs/Curve Games via Polygon

On the back of your new friend, you’ll travel through a maze of quilts, defeating hostile animals and powering up with fruit ammo and amulets. You fight bosses, unlock shortcuts and collect plants until you meet your ultimate demise, after which you return to your base. Before you embark on your next mission, you’ll earn bonuses to make your explorer stronger and scatter plants around your camp to power up your beloved pets, preparing you for your next journey.

Now we’re ready to put the pieces of the world back together… Wait, is that an armadillo in a hat? That’s what I’m talking about! Animals and creatures inside Quest patch they lured me in with their cute behavior (even scary crawlers), but many of them are not interested in being my friend – some are wild beasts just looking for their next meal. Animals from Quest patch they are born wild and undomesticated, but instead of taming and collecting these animals, I must eliminate them.

Photo: Lychee Game Labs/Curve Games via Polygon

Their projectiles litter my screen, and I try to dodge with the minimum space I have. There are definitely points where I should get injured or even die, but Quest patch he is forgiving in his toolkit. Instead of dodging I can destroy or reflect projectiles, and sometimes my “dodge level” which gives you a chance of not taking damage when hit is high enough to dodge all but the most cluttered bursts.

A few hours in Quest patch started feeling a little too forgiving, so I checked the difficulty settings and found that I was playing on the lowest possible difficulty. As the player that I am, I raised the difficulty to “Level 8: Deadly”. Oh, did I soon find out that I’m not the player I thought I was. Quest patchDifficulty settings range from inviting and approachable to punishing and chaotic. Lots of fun with Quest patch comes from returning to higher difficulty levels after unlocking perks and leveling up newly discovered companions.

After some experimentation and trial and error (also known as dying many times), I became comfortable with my understanding Quest patchbasic gameplay loop. While the maze itself is predetermined, the enemies and patches themselves are different every time, giving you a fresh experience every run.

Photo: Lychee Game Labs/Curve Games via Polygon

Beginning Quest patch it may take some time to fully unfold, but every quilt starts with a single thread and needle. It quickly weaves in new gameplay elements to prevent it from getting dusty or dull. Taming monsters forces you to vary your play style, and it doesn’t feel like a random gimmick meant to stand out. The quest system gives you a sense of direction in the twisting maze, and the shortcuts keep you from endlessly navigating the maze to reach your destination. The combat pulls you right back in and ties you into this satisfying roguelike loop of upgrading your gear and upgrading your final mission.

It’s impressive – especially for a game made by one person – how many different genres and how many distinct gameplay loops there are Quest patch manages to juggle without letting a single one fall. It could be Pokémon, Castlevania, Binding Isaac, Enter the Gungeon smoothie, but it’s a smoothie I plan on ordering again and again.

Quest patch was released on March 2 for Windows PC. The game was reviewed using a pre-release code provided by Curve Games. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. Editorial content is not affected by these, although Vox Media may receive commissions on products purchased through affiliate links. You can find additional information on Polygon’s ethics policy here.