Redemption: Eternal Quest, RPG management sim

[Hipolito]

Ever play a game that, despite being really janky and buggy, just keeps bringing you back? There have been a few games like that for me. The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall was one, Star Trek: Armada was another. And now it's Redemption: Eternal Quest.

This game has you hiring a roster of adventurers and sending them off to explore random areas. As this is a management sim, you don't control their every step and sword swing. You just make broad decisions of whether to go left or right at the fork, whether to open that chest, and which minions to send into battle. Once they're done exploring, they come back to the guildhall (hopefully alive and a bit richer) to heal up, train at the adventurer school, or go on another assignment.

Jewel-Studded Oblivion Popsicle

At first, I thought I was going to bounce off this game harder than a quarterstaff off Beyoncé's ass. I had to mess with my display settings to get the game window to fit on my screen, the fonts were hard to read, and the menus were unfriendly. But, after reading the tool tips and just trying things out, I settled into the rhythm of the game. And, despite always finding new problems that frustrated me, I was hooked.

There is no overarching story or cohesive setting. Whether you go left or right at the fork makes no difference, as the result is always something random. Your adventurers frequently come back from a journey without a single gold coin to show for their troubles. Bugs, interface issues, and inconsistency production quality are rampant. The good music cuts out whenever you click on a menu button. The gorgeous background and minion art is offset by the adventurer faces, which are all just minor variations of the same derpy male face. Despite all these issues, the game hooked me like even the humblest RPG would. When there's treasure to fight, creatures to raise, and stats to loot, I can't resist.

Forbidden Tube Steak

When I played my first 25-year (100-turn) campaign, I reached the brink of insolvency several times. (Adventurers are expensive to hire.) But in year 12, I discovered that I could easily save-scum (quit and reload to get better results). So I did, placing myself on Easy Street. I ended the game with 39,457 gold and 12 unspent prestige points.

I thought, yay, I'm done with the game and can put it behind me. But a question nagged me: if I did so well by cheating, how well could I do without cheating? So I started another 25-year campaign, activated Hardcore mode, and didn't save-scum. Also, to amuse myself, I edited the game's files to make the random flavor text funny. (That's where the stupid section headings in this post come from.) My adventurers went on quests to retrieve the Bloodstained Hot Sauce, and one of them lost 12 life when he was embarrassed by his own armpits. I finished with the campaign with 40,318 gold and no unspent prestige points, giggling all the way.

Adamantine Cheeseburger

This game came out in 2015, and there are probably better RPG management sims out there by now. But it was good enough to hold my rapt attention for 8 hours. And while It may not have the polish of a Blizzard game, it was by an OOer, so it has special meaning to me. I'm always inspired when one of us creates something for others to enjoy. Maybe I'll stop dreaming and put a game in the Steam Store someday. Not necessarily one with Astral Cowbells.

[The Meal]

Sounds like Guild of Dungeoneering, without the polish.

[MindToyGames]

Glad you enjoyed the game! It was meant to be a freeform RPG management thing from the start, so there was never an intention to have any 'overarching story'.

[Baroquen]

Bought. I'll give it a run, for a couple of bucks. Thanks for the heads-up.

[GreenGoo]

Sounds like Guild of Dungeoneering, without the polish.

The first video on steam didn't give me a Guild of Dungeoneering vibe at all. Which isn't to say I have any experience with the game, only that Guild didn't immediately come to mind.