Quarterstaff
- December 27, 2022
- Generic Lake Monster, LLC
Quarterstaff is a turn-based action strategy game featuring the powerful wizard Kalresh, who fights to liberate the realm from a tyrant. Combat takes place on tile-based maps, with an UNDO button for do-overs and Strategic Foresight for advance planning. Victories are rewarded with action-packed video replays of the encounter.
Reviews
- Engaging combat mechanics that turn battles into strategic puzzles, rewarding players for optimizing their approach.
- Strong humor and witty character dialogue enhance the overall experience, making it enjoyable and entertaining.
- Excellent tutorialization and gradual introduction of systems keep players engaged without feeling overwhelmed.
- The game's economy can feel unbalanced, requiring significant grinding to experiment with new spells.
- The multitude of systems, while well-introduced, can still be overwhelming for some players.
- Loading screen tips are informative but too brief, making them easy to miss.
- gameplay6 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by engaging mechanics that transform combat into intricate puzzles, rewarding players for optimizing their strategies. The tutorial effectively integrates features into the gameplay, allowing players to easily recall skills when returning to the game. While the mechanics are straightforward, the challenging stages encourage replayability to achieve all objectives.
“Good mechanics which turn every combat into a highly engaging puzzle that only fully rewards you if you maximize the appropriate subset of tools you optimize for that given fight.”
“Excellent tutorialization of features through gameplay.”
“As someone who struggles to remember mechanics when stepping away from a game, it's awesome to be able to check in and remind myself of the skills I need for an area.”
“It takes a bit to get the mechanics down, but once you do, it's off to the races!”
“The mechanics are relatively simple to understand, but the stages are often challenging, and I found myself replaying some of them to try to win all of the objectives.”
- humor4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is widely praised, with players noting its excellent balance with drama and clever touches, such as changing NPC names for comedic effect. Overall, it enhances the problem-solving experience, making it enjoyable and engaging.
“The best thing about this game is the humor.”
“Excellent balance of humor and drama.”
“I loved the little touches like the names and titles of NPCs changing from line to line for humorous effect.”
- story2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The story immerses players immediately into the action, with gameplay intricately tied to combat mechanics that involve strategic combinations for maximizing damage, hitting multiple foes, and achieving mission objectives within time constraints.
“The game drops you straight into the story and the gameplay, immersing you from the very beginning.”
“The narrative is intricately woven into the gameplay, making every combat encounter feel meaningful and impactful.”
“The story unfolds in a way that keeps you engaged, with each mission contributing to a larger, compelling narrative.”
“The story drops you straight into the action without any proper buildup or context.”
“The narrative feels disjointed and lacks coherence, making it hard to stay engaged.”
“Character development is minimal, leaving the player with little emotional investment in the story.”
- music1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is described as relaxing and ambient, enhancing the overall experience while providing a fun and humorous backdrop for problem-solving gameplay.
“If you enjoy problem solving and keeping your mind sharp, while still having fun with a dash of humor and relaxing music and ambiance, you will enjoy this.”