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NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits
PC (Steam)
Non-Razer Hydras Suck.
3.5/5 stars
“NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits” (“NyxQuest”) is one of the first Indie games to appear in Nintendo’s WiiWare digital games library. While the idea of a 2D Platformer with a Greek mythological setting intrigued me from the start, the lack of price drops and plethora of questionable ownership policies revolving around Nintendo’s digital distribution platforms kept me from buying. Fortunately, the developer behind “NyxQuest,” Over the Top Games, made the great decision of releasing their inaugural title on Steam as well. Of course, questions remained about how well a game designed around the Wii’s unique control scheme would work on the PC platform.
Presentation
“NyxQuest” is a decent looking game in the 2.5D tradition, where the gameplay is presented from a 2D perspective, but the graphical assets are all 3D polygonal models. The game’s polygons aren’t super-detailed, likely due to the need to come in at under 50MB to qualify for WiiWare distribution, but at least are clean and crisp with no jaggies. The color scheme used in “NyxQuest” is, unfortunately, fairly monochrome in its dedication to presenting a sun-baked desert world. While it’s not the typical Brown and Gray colorscheme beloved by ‘realistic’ shooters, it does embrace the color orange to an unhealthy degree. There are a few cutscenes in “NyxQuest” that don’t use the 3D engine, but instead are 2D affairs with incredibly convincing ancient Greek-style pottery art.
The audio in “NyxQuest” is quite well done for an Indie game. There isn’t much voiceacting to speak of, outside of a few conversations with gods that all mumble in the same gibberish rasp. However, the soundtrack is incredibly pleasant and evocative of both the ancient world and deserts, which are the game’s two primary themes.
Technically, “NyxQuest” is very solid except for one massive flaw. When Nyx, the titular character, dies and respawns at a checkpoint, she is rendered temporarily invincible. During this invincibility period, she can move side to side but cannot jump or use any of her other abilities. This temporary unresponsiveness after death lead me to many, many repeated deaths, as I guided Nyx directly into nearby pits, enemies, or other obstacles after respawning.
Story
Normally I, as someone who spent way too much time studying ancient Greece in college, get bent out of shape when videogame writers play fast and loose with the ‘facts’ of Greek mythology and/or history. While it’s true that everything about Greek mythology is fiction, I think it’s important to keep any new stories based on the old mythology accurate based on pre-existing canon.
That said, “NyxQuest” does take a few liberties with Greek mythological canon, but also manages to keep its changes at least somewhat believable within the existing framework both Greek mythology and Greek novels. The game begins by introducing a love story between Icarus and the titular Nyx. Mythology fans will know Icarus as the son of Daedalus who died when he flew too close to the sun and his waxen wings melted in the heat. Nyx, likewise, is the familiar name of the goddess who embodies night and darkness.
“NyxQuest” reinterprets the original Icarus story by stating that he did not actually fly too close to the sun, but that the sun, embodiment of the Titan Helios, began moving closer to the Earth in a rebellion against the Olympians. As a result of Helios’ impertinent actions, the entire surface of the world has become a barren, desolate desert, leaving the Olympian gods weak and defenseless with the loss of their worshippers.
Nyx, due to her love of Icarus, sets out on a journey across the blasted surface to either save him or retrieve his body. Giving up her immortality and vast pre-Olympian powers, Nyx finds herself in the form of a helpless winged girl. With what little power remains to him, Zeus, king of the Olympian gods, offers aid to Nyx, knowing that only she can ultimately put nature back in its proper order.
While it is true that no such events happened in any particular canon of Greek mythology, the events of “NyxQuest” invoke similar enough themes to canonical events, like the rebellion of the Titans, and common Greek novel themes, like two lovers from different worlds being separated by a seemingly impossible journey, that it feels authentic despite the liberties it takes. Unfortunately, the story in “NyxQuest” is fairly predictable and straightforward, making it less interesting than it could be.
Gameplay
“NyxQuest’s” gameplay mechanics are rather similar to another WiiWare title, “LostWinds,” in that the player controls both a character and a cursor simultaneously. Nyx’s abilities are entirely passive, as she can flap her wings up to 5 times for air jumps, glide for a few seconds, and walk side-to-side on a 2D plain. Shortly into the game, however, Nyx gains a small blessing from Zeus, which lets the player move a cursor around the screen completely independently from Nyx. This cursor becomes the focus for all of the divine powers Nyx acquires throughout the game, but for the vast majority of the game’s 15 stages can only be used to move objects or catch incoming fireballs.
Nyx can take 5 hits before dying (there are health-restoring hearts scattered throughout the stages) and has unlimited lives. Likewise, each stage has a reasonable number of checkpoints and the game auto-saves at the end of each stage, cutting down on tedious repetition. However, the player is free to replay any completed stage as many times as they want, which might be necessary if they are hunting for the game’s hidden artifacts, which are required to unlock the final bonus stage. Because of the liberal checkpoints and relatively small number of stages, “NyxQuest” only lasts about 6 hours.
In the WiiWare version of “NyxQuest,” the player controls Nyx with the Nunchuck and the A button on the Wiimote, while cursor movement is governed by the Wiimote pointer and the B button. Since the PC doesn’t have this particular kind of controller by default, it employs semi-awkward keyboard controls for Nyx and mouse controls for the cursor. In this way, the PC controls for “NyxQuest” somewhat resemble the PC controls for “Terraria.”
I did not play “NyxQuest” with the default controls, however. I played with both an XBONE controller and my trusty Razer Hydra. Interestingly, the Sixense MotionCreator software that powers the Hydra comes with a preset control scheme for “NyxQuest” that mind-bogglingly doesn’t resemble the WiiWare control scheme in ANY way. I customized this setup to resemble the WiiWare version of the game, and found that it played perfectly. I also found that playing with a normal dual-analog controller can work reasonably well, but becomes more difficult in situations where the player must actively move Nyx and the cursor simultaneously.
The individual stages in “NyxQuest” mostly involve hazard navigation, where the player must move Nyx from the left side of a stage to the right while keeping her away from spikes, hot sand, fireballs, harpies, and some kind of deformed minotaurs with no forelimbs. Some stages have specific gimmicks, such as one stage where a giant gong with an eyeball on it will insta-kill Nyx if she isn’t standing behind background scenery while the eye is open and another stage where the sun constantly shoots homing meteors at Nyx while the player navigates the stage. Avoiding hazards frequently involves moving chunks of stone with the cursor in order to provide Nyx with something safe to stand on or a height boost for her limited flight ability.
For most of the game, Nyx has no form of attack outside of catching fireballs with the cursor and smashing them into enemies. Late in the game, however, she gains the power of Zeus’ thunderbolt, which makes enemy-laden areas more manageable. For the most part, “NyxQuest” feels like it has a nice balanced difficulty… except for situations involving hydras. The first hydra in the game appears as the end boss of stage 3, and represents a massive difficulty spike (a.k.a., That One Boss) as the player must dodge a stream of uncatchable black fireballs while waiting for that one orange fireball every third volley… and then missing it because the cursor can be finicky about positioning when it comes to this central gameplay mechanic. These awful hydras appear as mini-bosses and general obstacles in later stages, where they remain horrible, but never as horrible as that first encounter.
Overall
“NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits” is a unique, enjoyable platformer that managed to successfully make its way from WiiWare to Steam without having to change or make concessions to its new platform. While it is best played with a Razer Hydra, “NyxQuest” works with pretty much any control scheme one might want to throw at it.
Presentation: 4/5
Story: 3.5/5
Gameplay: 3.5/5
Overall (not an average): 3.5/5
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