The Quest for the BIG KEY

Extremely short and weird game with some nonsensical story but it's also weirdly fun. The game would have been far better without the invisible walls which will put most off most players. This game is about walking around in the open world looking for hidden stuff that you need to progress in the game to reach the end. There's not much to do other than that.

Another day another review. This one... this one is a little subpar. It just feels a little bit empty. But hey that's not the game's fault. This is just a short little game, however due to the permadeath for making one wrong little move I can't exactly recommend this in good faith. So I have to give it a negative review.

A retro experience that takes you back a lot further than most, all the way to -- the Atari 5200? Intellivision? It's hard to say.

However, while the pixel graphics are nice and refreshing, The Quest for the Big Key also brings back a lot of things from the retro era that aren't so nice:
* No way to resize the screen to a more comfortable level
* No sound or volume controls, including no way to turn off the music without turning down your computer's volume
* No way to reconfigure the controls, which are awkward on an 8-button joypad
* No map, combined with very same-y environments
* No storyline besides tidbits of lore too vague to be meaningful
* Very little thought required, only exhaustive searching
and, worst of all,
* No way to save the game or continue, meaning you must finish the entire game in one sitting on a single life.

There's more than one way to define a "retro" game. One definition is that a retro game has the sensibilities and graphic look of an older era in video gaming. The other definition is that a retro game should be just like a game would have been had it been released decades ago ... including all of the aggravations and weaknesses that were present in gaming in that era.

There's a reason that, despite their retro sensibilities and gameplay, games like Alwa's Awakening and Princess Remedy still offer quite a few amenities of the modern era. We now have the power to offer a retro experience with the modern conveniences that make games fun instead of frustrating -- and we just about always should.

Besides, this isn't a perfectly retro game anyway. The music loop is synthed.

This little game is real cool. I took about 30-35 min to finish it, sometimes being stuck for a minute and needed to remember, rethink and try and error, but honestly, for the times i was stuck, i felt happy and smart solving these puzzles. it real hit me unexpected, the hour playtime was fun, so give it a try!

Funky little game with neat puzzles.

Need some logical thinking and taking mental notes of the environment around you.

Don't get spooked by the pixelated art if it launches in fullscreen on a UHD resolution screen. ;)

The Quest for the BIG KEY is a peculiar little game, something I would like to see more often nowadays.

Having no enemies and nothing that gives you an urge to rush, it goes really well for a relaxed evening. Not having to solve any complicated, constructed puzzles also helps.

As I was playing, I had several "Aha!-Moments", finding new passages or hints located throughout the levels, which was really fun and made me think about the potential these subtle things have.

In conclusion: please more of this. :)

This a really interesing and smart game. On first glance it looks like Zelda clone, but don't be decieved! It's gigantic puzzle, where every piece of the game matters. Once you get, you'll go "Oooooh!". A lot of fun :)