Kofi Quest (Switch) Review
Release Date: August 25, 2022
Publisher/Developer: HypeTrain Digital/Loftur Studio
Platform: Steam, Nintendo Switch (Reviewed)
Price: $19.99
A lot of RPGs (and games in general) fall into familiar tropes. One of the hardest things to do in gaming, movies, and a lot of entertainment is crafting a loving parody that can laugh at the tropes but still be entertaining on it’s own. Kofi Quest attempts to walk that thin line. In places, it shines brightly, full of humor, wit and entertaining gameplay. In others, a little more polish may be needed. Sadly, a rough scene in a parody can be eyerolled through, but in game it must be fully slogged through and experienced. Kofi provides a fun time, with plenty of laughs, but there are a few tweaks that I’d like to see made to basic gameplay to prevent frustration.
Kofi Quest begins on a serious note, as a powerful wizard/shaman bequeaths a magical bottle to his apprentice during an intense battle. The apprentice disappears, and we meet Kofi, whose main goal in life is doing as little as possible. He sits with his friend Lime, a cynical slime monster/summon, on their couch and plays video games. One annoying favor later, and Kofi is wrapped up in an adventure he didn’t much care to be a part of, but here he is. The apprentice arrives and asks for help in finding his bottle, but remains mysterious about what it does.
Kofi’s humor is definitely one of the draws of the game. Without spoiling much past the first couple hours, you play video games with Lime in which there’s just as more strategy in shoving the other guy off the couch than there is in actually playing the game. You find an NPC who literally says he’s not important enough to be voiced, and another who says he’ll tell you a secret if you pay him, for the secret to only be “you’re an idiot for giving me money.” There are silly jokes left and right. Combined with the 2D graphic style, it feels like South Park without the heavyhanded fart jokes and political satire. A couple light curse words here and there, but Kofi Quest is made for a wider audience. There are plenty of meta jokes, from RPGs in specific to video games in general and how they work.
Kofi commands a troop of kids, and they answer his beck and call. They also die really fast (or, maybe, teleport back to the camp because you can recruit them again later). Need long distance support? Call in the elven archers. Some basic town kids are there for general pummeling of creatures as well. This is where some of the polish could stand to be had. All around towns and battlefields, there are plenty of obstacles: grass, fencing, rocks, and the like. In the heat of battle, commanding several people who end up in a frantic mob, you can accidentally end up targeting grass instead of an enemy. Yes, the grass “dies” quickly, but the whole game is pretty frantic, and you lose valuable time and HP when the orc trims your flesh as you trim the lawn. Yes, there is a slowdown tactic available, but you shouldn’t have to use it every time you enter combat. Even when not in battle, I found myself wanting to use a potion, but having a hard time actually pointing at the one character in the middle of the mob to heal.
All this being said, I must insist that the writing and humor in Kofi Quest are worth the price of admission. There are some missions that you flat-out fail because you are a lowly grunt and this is what would happen. Answer questions the right way and the credits roll, simply because the story really would end at that point. The gameplay loop is fun and satisfying, and you never feel lost as you can always call in some more support from your team back at base. I wish there was a more natural way to select things in the heat of battle, but Kofi’s humor definitely hits the sweet spot as it “punches up” at the usual video game tropes whilst also maintaining an entertaining tale all it’s own.
Pros:
-Wonderfully voiced
-Humorous dialogue
-Cute, simple animation style
Cons:
-Lock-on in the heat of battle
-Occasionally confusing way to select individual or multiple units
-Some “jokes” hurt you, like stolen money or random exploding items
Special thanks to HypeTrain Digital/Loftur Studio for providing a code for review!