Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Jun 26, 2018

  Mushroom Quest is a game that showed a lot of potential, but falls into 3 main traps that puzzle games often do. Note that it's not a bad game, it's just very easy, very short, and manages to have most of its difficulty be fake. I'll address each of these in turn along with what could be done differently. I'll also be comparing to similar games, like Abraxas Interactive PUSH and Chip's Challenge, the former of which I helped playtest, and the latter I've sunk thousands of hours into making and playing community content. First off: the difficulty. Mushroom Quest has very few mechanics. You can move, hold one key at a time, collect crystals, and push blocks. Blocks fall down and fill pits, and can hold down three colored switches which toggle the state of floor/pit and floor/wall combos. There are also timing based trapdoors. That's it, that's all the mechanics- but as PUSH showed, you don't need many mechanics to make tricky puzzles, you just need to arrange them in interesting ways. And Mushroom Quest almost does this, but fails due to the designer having tunnel vision on the solution intended. I've fallen prey to this myself, and it can be a hard trap to avoid. However, more than 20% of the levels in the game have unintended solutions that completely skip steps- or extra pieces that are unnecessary for solving. I'll use two examples here: level 23 and level 26. Level 23 looks like this when broken: https://i.imgur.com/luLPLaP.png The intended solution is to mmove blocks on switches and create a bridge to the right side, but as you can see you can just... bridge over there. Level 26 has a crystal near the start that looks like a small ordering puzzle- go across the pit to reach it before moving the block off of the red switch. Unfortunately, the green switch that must be pressed later opens up that starting crystal, removing any puzzle for the start. And since Level 30 relishes in this sort of ordering, it's strange to see it overlooked here. https://imgur.com/a/6uxT9p8 Level 17 is also very basic and introduces a new mechanic- couldn't this have been earlier? By far the most interesting levels were 18 and 30, and I was eager to see where else Mushroom Quest went... when it ended. It would have been a challenge to use the limited mechanics in new and interesting ways, but a *level editor* would be a great boon here- let the players up the difficulty! A level editor would also solve the length issue. I solved all 30 levels Mushroom Quest has to offer within about 20 minutes. I went back in to grab a couple screenshots for this review, increasing the playtime. I wasn't expecting it to be a long game, but I would have liked some better brainteasers! There are a lot of ways to shuffle blocks that weren't even explored here- no traditional sokobans despite having all the mechanics for them! None! And that leaves my 'fake difficulty' comment earlier. As you probably noticed in the Level 26 screenshots, there's no indication of what's under a block and no indication of where pits will be replaces with floor on holding down the correct switch color. This results in some trial and error in determining which tiles are affected. This is trivially fixed by shrinking the size of the block slightly to allow the tile below to be slightly visible, and by creating an outline in the pits where they get toggled. Fortunately, outside of I believe 2 places you never get stuck in a position where you must guess or assume something that may turn out to be incorrect, but it's still an annoyance. Another annoyance that only came up when referencing levels is that the level select is abyssmal. No level preview, no catchy name (PUSH fails worse at this with no level select at all, but the levels themselves tend to be more memorable due to their ideas) and a choice of 6 numbers per page with a slow scrolling speed that doesn't even remember the last level selected. If this game gets a content update in the future, I hope that the scroll animation on the level select is removed at the very least. This feature gets a small pass due to the game being short, but not if that complaint is fixed. I will revisit Mushroom Quest if it gets a level editor or a content update, and will probably change this review from a weak "not recommend" to a weak "recommend". There's just not enough content here compared to other, similar games on the market. Chip's Challenge (1 and 2), PUSH, and Rainbow Hero all come to mind.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 19, 2018

  Please be aware - if I could give the game a "neutral" review, I would! While this game has a nice aesthetic, and is a fond throwback to games like Fire N Ice and Solomon's Key, I have to give a negative - or, more appropriately, a neutral review - for its length and challenge. My play time for this game reflects a 100% completion rate. In under 80 minutes or so, one can clear the 30 levels in this game with minimal challenge. To be sure, there are some well-crafted puzzles which are real headscratchers, but they are few and far between. I am very dubious about the "7 in 10 people could not pass further than the 15 level claim", particularly as - paradoxically - the game becomes disappointingly easier in the level 20 - 25 range. Again, mileage may vary - I play a lot of puzzle games, I enjoy them immensely, and for what these levels provided, I had a fairly enjoyable time. But this is no Shenzehn I/O or realMyst when it comes to puzzling challenges. Again, that in itself is not a reason to give a game a negative review. As I said, with the 30 levels provided, you can have some fun - very short fun but fun nonetheless. The problem is then with price and replayability. Due to the nature of the game, replayability is at a minimum (I suppose in a few months after forgetting everything, I might go back and be able to enjoy it again), and there is no "creator studio" for players to make their own puzzles and challenge others. At £2.50, then, it is a little overpriced for what you get. I really do hope the developer keeps working at making puzzle games. They have a knack for creating some nice visuals, have some talent at creating sokoban puzzles, and genuinelly seem receptive to criticism - but they just need a little more content and the possibility of replayability to create a more lasting game.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 7, 2019

  This is not puzzle game, "puzzles" in this game are very easy and straightforward. My playtime is 50 minutes and I finished all 30 puzzles. That is less then 2 minutes per puzzle avarage, so you get the picture how easy it is. I honestly feel cheated.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 29, 2018

  Mushroom Quest has good puzzles. I completed it in an hour so it would be nice it there were more of the same, but it is reasonable value for money given the low price.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 18, 2018

  Cute little game. Here's first about 10 minutes if you all wanna see gameplay :D https://youtu.be/dH5zq-1sxvg