Healer's Quest - Switch Review

Nathan Rudge -

Healer’s Quest is a self aware, comedic take on the stereotypical RPG party where you are playing the role of the titular healer. This game really speaks to people who play in support roles in these kinds of games and are always being overshadowed by the rest of the party, while also being under appreciated by said team. As for anyone who normally doesn’t play healer, the difficulty of this game really speaks volumes of how hard playing a healer in a party game can be.

Gameplay

The gameplay is really quite simple in concept but truly difficult in its execution as it primarily involves keeping your party alive with healing and buff spells so they can defeat the enemies. Healer’s Quest is a stereotypical RPG game with a comedic tone that permeates all the way through as you travel the lands and complete quests for glory. Your healer starts by meeting their friend Tanky who recruits others to help complete a royal bounty that has been put out.

The way the game works is that you walk around on the overworld or in a dungeon where you will encounter either pre-determined battles or random encounters. During battle, you have to manage your spells, mana, and your party's health, however you have ways to restore mana and your party has certain conditions that’ll allow them to deal higher damage. An example of this is Tanky the party Tank who deals higher damage when he is above 90% health or Murky the Wizard who enters an aura-like state while you’re meditating to restore mana. You can’t just continuously cast spells though because the more frequently you cast, the faster your wand will burn out, preventing you from casting any spells at all.

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Healer’s Quest doesn’t provide much new to the table in terms of gameplay but it achieves its goal of highlighting the struggles of healers in all genres with the core aspects of the gameplay. There is a high difficulty curve to the battles which can require a bit of grinding if you want to prevent your party from dying in combat.

World / Level Design

Nothing truly stands out in the level design that isn’t pronounced more so by the art design as the game features a rather generic overworld. Dungeons are also relatively linear with shortcuts to higher levels that you’ve previously unlocked as you progress deeper, and closer to the boss of the dungeon. The world of Healer’s Quest is interesting enough as you’re pulled along with the story but again, there’s nothing of note here as the game puts more focus on its lighthearted comedy feel.

Story / Personality

As previously mentioned, Healer’s Quest embraces a strong comedic tone with some tongue-in-cheek self-awareness added in for a bit of fun. A good example of this is where the party members are talking about a situation that just happened. They mention how this situation would only ever happen in a bad game, pause and then continue on with the story.

You play the healer of said party that you can customise before the game starts and the comedy begins here, with name restrictions requiring it to end in a Y and the second to last letter be a vowel. The other part of the comedic customisation comes from choosing a female healer and adjusting the size of her breasts, however none of the options actually change anything - the developers have left a few notes so take your time and go through them all for a bit of a laugh. The overall story rolls into its comedy, portraying the party as bumbling fools just trying to make a name for themselves whilst causing mayhem for everyone around them.

Graphics / Art Design

The art design that defines Healer’s Quest has that hand drawn style, kind of like things moving around in a story book. It’s the kind of art design that suits the comedic aspect, highlighting some ridiculous slapstick from the party and in the background of fights. This is the kind of art design I can truly appreciate as it tends to allow for fun moments and will age a lot cleaner than those that take the realistic approach.

Music / Sound Design

Video game music can be difficult to strike a good balance with; a balance that is fitting with the genre whilst also being noteworthy enough to stand out. Unfortunately, Healer’s Quest doesn’t have this quality as none of it hooked my attention. It does have a strong fantasy motif that suits the game well and it also keeps a good flow with what is happening on screen. The general combat sound effects come with a bit oomph and casting your spells have a more magical feel to the sound design, however during combat, a lot of these sounds blend in together as they all go off at the same time, leaving things a bit lackluster.

Final Score: 75%

Healer’s Quest is a fun, light-hearted RPG that has quite a difficult challenge that involves trying to keep the party alive against the bumbling DPS and Tanks. It has a strong art style that emphasises the comedic aspect, however the music and the game’s world feel a bit more generic than one would hope. It does however contain an insightful look at the challenges that healers take on while being overshadowed by the rest of the party.

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