Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption

I played their games as a kid, so maybe I'm a little biased, but I'm also a massive consumer of games. I own hundreds on both GoG and Steam and play only the most interesting titles for more than a couple of hours. This game has me utterly hooked. I think about it when I'm in bed. I think about it when I'm at work. I love it. I'm not a big fan of Harry Potter, but it has that kinda vibe. You're in this ancient castle, managing your time, taking classes, learning about the other characters around you, and exploring. In my current playthrough I'm trying to solve a mystery by finding and exploring hidden passages, while leveling my skills through a use-based system, sort of like Oblivion, or a lot like the old QFG games if you've played those - except now grinding endlessly isn't part of the game due to time management. It's a lot of fun. Oh, and if you're worried about time as a resource: it stops when you do, so you can plan out your next move. time only moves when your character moves or takes an action. It's a really great system. The Quest for Glory series was lightning in a bottle. It combined the best of adventure games with really interesting RPG mechanics. That was over 20 years ago. Now the Coles have apparently been paying attention to developments in game design, because this takes those old mechanics and brings them into the modern age. I'm not saying the QFG series doesn't hold up well - it does, actually. It's probably the only Sierra series I can still play and really enjoy for more than just nostalgia. This game, too, is more than just nostalgia. It's one of a kind. I really recommend it.

I'm not well experienced with Quest for Glory, but love school and especially magic school games. It is a good one of those. However, don't be fooled, this is primarily a visual novel type of game: interacting with your fellow students and the the faculty, getting them to like you more (or intentionally annoying them) will be your main motivation for continuing through the game. It's much more Magical Diary than Mana Khemia. In fact, Magical Diary is the game it is most similar too, just flipped: that game uses a visual novel engine but puts in heavy RPG elements, this is an RPG engine with heavy visual novel elements. In both you are very contained to the school; going through your class, meal, and sleeping schedule dominates your plans; with dungeon crawling and monsters more of an extra addition than the main gameplay focus. But it works just as well, and you will really feel like you've stepped into a Harry Potter universe and now attend a magic academy. Buy it if you want that. On the negatives, however, is that the snarky writing (which I guess is a hallmark of Quest for Glory?), will actually put you more in mind of games such as Wands and Witches, Innocent Witches, or Witch Trainer.... The game is too afraid to take itself seriously, but I think it would have been more fun if it had. There certainly is a lot of it though, and each barrel seems to have its own line of dialogue. Also, it gets grindy. You'll find yourself picking locked doors you have no intention of entering to get your "tool use" skill up, and unnecessarily listening to every door before you enter to get your "perception" up. That's probably the weakest aspect of the game. But as long as you're OK with the game constantly having its tongue in its cheek, this will give you that Harry Potter fix that the licensed games haven't come close to. I just wish the writer had spent more time seriously fleshing out their characters, and less writing out more lines for their barrels.

Overall this game is great, however there are some things that might be a bit taxing on the player's patience. On the one hand your character is still a rogue in learning, and starts out with a rather limited skill- and tool-set, not to mention that you start out with very little money. This gets resolved once you beat the first boss though. On the other hand there are several days on which you simply do not know what to do if you missed some side-quests, and spend them training even though you have the feeling that you are missing out on something. What is certainly true, by the way. After finishing the game I decided to spoiler myself a bit, and there would be a lot of stuff to do, if one just explored a bit more. That brings me back to the positive things: Exploring. This game has some timed events, but there's also a lot to discover simply by walking around and trying things out. If you want to, you can ignore all major quests completely, but you'll have to face the consequences if you do so. There are plenty of side quests hidden in the castle, and there's a lot of lore to uncover simply by talking to characters or reading item descriptions. The time system is an interesting gameplay mechanics, as time only progresses as long as you do something. If you stand still, no time passes. This allows you to tactically outmaneuver opponents while sneaking, but also puts some pressure on you not to discuss everything with everybody, simply because you don't have the time to. Combat starts out pretty simple, as you do not have the tools needed for a more tactical approach. Later in the game it gets quite a bit more interesting, especially with opponents having varied attacks at their disposal. Last, but not least: The social interactions in the game feel well written, and the characters are, while a bit predictable, still interesting enough to make the player want to learn about their background. I'll definitely play this again at some point.

Hero-U manages to capture the magic of the Quest for Glory games while fixing their biggest faults (the skill grind and unsatisfying combat). I've been a fan of the Cole's QFG series since childhood, but replaying them as an adult has made their shortcomings stick out more. While Hero U may be further from the cutting edge of technology than these earlier games were, the gameplay and the interactions help it to punch above its Indy weight. After getting caught while attempting to join the local thieves guild, Shawn O'Connor is send to Hero U, instead of jail. Here he must pass his classes, build his relationships with the other students, and discover the mysteries of the castle that houses Hero U. The game is on a clock, and it took me a couple of in-game days to get used to (and figure out how to sneak out of) the routines of University life, but once you get in a grove, and become more enmeshed in the world, its awesome. While you aren't always able to tackle obstacles as soon as you encounter them, there's always multiple things to do. More, in fact, than you have time for, so you need to make some choices about what you want to focus on. The game does an excellent job of giving you enough time to keep building relationships, earning money, exploring, and building up your skills at a steady clip as the story advances. Limiting the game to a single semester allows the character interactions to be much more substantial than in most games. But the think that this game absolutely nails is the thrill of exploration, with secret passages to be found and mysteries to be solved. Unlike the QFG series, Hero U has a tactical, turn based combat system. I have been spending more time on Shawn's thief skills than his fighting skills, but I'm pretty sure that you will always be too squishy for mindlessly slashing your way through the battles. But between stealth, careful movement, and as assortment of items, you can handle most enemies as you encounter them.

This game captures everything that was great about QFG and elevates it into a very nice point and click visual novel with rpg turn based combat and multiple story changing choices... Oh! And most of the artwork is just mindblowingly beautiful. And the puns are punnier than the punniest punner punning!