Our WrestleQuest preview takes a take a look at the upcoming RPG sport that hones in on the wacky and over-the-top nature of the game whereas telling a reverent story concerning the icons who laid the groundwork for modern-day wrestling. WrestleQuest already looks as if the perfect sport for long-time wrestling followers, even when it’s a little bit extra eccentric than its WWE and AEW contemporaries.
WrestleQuest is, at its core, an revolutionary marriage of wrestling tradition, the game {of professional} wrestling, and turn-based RPGs. It was this mix that struck me most throughout my time with the preview construct, as Mega Cat Studios has tailored what followers know concerning the sport each out and in of the ring to create some really distinctive and entertaining mechanics. We’ve beforehand referred to as WrestleQuest Earthbound with Randy Savage, and there’s some particular fact to that.
QTEs assist lend matches a way of immediacy, and also you’ll must pin sure enemies to win, whereas double, triple, tag-team, and supervisor strikes can change the circulate of battle relying on the way you arrange and use them. WrestleQuest is not only an RPG with a wrestling coat of paint, because the mechanics of a wrestling match are neatly woven into the motion at each flip.
You possibly can even reduce promos earlier than matches and customise your entrance, along with your stage of flashiness affecting the gang and granting you useful in-ring bonuses.
The group can also be equally essential within the warmth of a match, as you’ll must maintain them entertained all through to maintain these bonuses coming. That is one other notch on WrestleQuest’s belt of really sensible concepts that elevate each encounter past a back-and-forth of spamming the most effective strikes and utilizing AP potions.
WrestleQuest even makes use of kayfabe to its benefit, as you’re generally given non-obligatory targets in matches for additional bonuses, all of that are introduced as completely different spots and in-ring drama you could try to tug off. This typically performs into the story too, which helps create a robust hyperlink between the gameplay and narrative that feels integral to WrestleQuest’s design.
I used to be initially hesitant about the entire toybox theme, the place the sport’s world is solely made up of motion figures and playthings, however seeing it in movement sells why WrestleQuest wants it. You wouldn’t get an enormous moose man swinging pucks with a hockey stick in-ring, a wrestling velociraptor named Sundown Fliptor, or some delightfully obtuse videogame references if not.
It’s unusual, although, as a result of whereas the toy variations of sure real-world wrestlers do promote WrestleQuest’s reverence for the game, not each reference right here feels fairly so pure, from YouTubers to comedian e book characters. If these references have been performed for jokes, their inclusion would make extra sense, however they’re not. That stated, the toybox ‘anything goes’ mentality continues to be a web constructive, because it permits for a relentless stream of creativity.
The story additionally neatly incorporates each in-ring and behind-the-scenes wrestling tropes, the place you’ll be taking part in as two foremost characters, every with very completely different targets. One desires to climb the ranks to turn out to be a champion, whereas the opposite is looking for his household’s wrestling enterprise. Whereas each characters are partaking, I used to be typically thrown between their tales too rapidly, with neither getting ample time to sink in earlier than I used to be rushed alongside to the opposite.
Even with that gripe, WrestleQuest is certain to please wrestling and turn-based RPG followers. It takes the style in some attention-grabbing instructions whereas paying reverence to – and poking enjoyable at – wrestling tradition as a complete in ways in which really feel real. If you’d like much more wrestling videogames, our current AEW Combat Without end evaluate will let you realize if the WWE2K rival is price a go.
When you look ahead to the WrestleQuest launch date on Tuesday, August 8, you’ll wish to try what different upcoming video games from 2023 and past are price keeping track of. Or you possibly can take a look at the most effective new video games on PC as a substitute.
