Editor’s Note: For the purposes of this column, a review copy of WrestleQuest for Nintendo Switch was used.
If you read my review of AEW Fight Forever last month, then you know professional wrestling is near and dear to my heart. Not only did I love the wrestling of my youth, but I grew up in the ’80s. These were the early days of Nintendo and hyper-commercialization of Saturday Morning cartoons. When I wasn’t creating epic battles with my toys, I was playing video games. My three favorite franchises were Legend of Zelda, Secret of Mana, and of course Final Fantasy.
So, when I heard about a turn-based RPG homage to the wrestling heroes of my childhood, I had to play it. As someone in his mid-40s, I am the ideal customer for this game, so I was definitely sold on the concept before I played it. But no matter how many memories the game conjured up, that would be all for naught if the game wasn’t good.
So, is it good?
As the late great “Macho Man” Randy Savage would say, “Ooooh yeah! Dig it!”
Co-released on August 22, 2023, by Skybound Games and Mega Cat Studios, WrestleQuest is currently available for PC, all major consoles, Steam, and even through Netflix. The game centers around two wrestlers: Randy Santos and Brink Logan.
Randy is a wrestler who never breaks kayfabe and gets confused when characters in the game tell him wrestling is scripted. His idol is Macho Man, and his goal is to become the best wrestler in the world.
Brink is part of a famous wrestling family with an overbearing and rough patriarch. He teams with one of his relatives in the Honest Bucks, and as you can imagine, tension ensues. While the tag team’s name is an homage to the Young Bucks, it’s clear to me the Logan family is patterned after the Harts.
The overarching world that Santos and Logan explore is comprised of toys. Every character in the game is an original toy creation or a toyetic representation of their real world selves, especially for the 30 licensed wrestlers who make appearances throughout the game. Much like the JRPGs of yesteryear, you slowly build a party of sidekicks comprised of wrestlers and managers. You then crawl through dungeons to solve puzzles, avoid traps, and fight bad guys. All of this then culminates into some sort of boss fight.
In the world of WrestleQuest, the bad guys are wrestlers, and the dungeons are rival wrestling promotions and gyms.
Along the path to each dungeon, bad guys naturally ambush you. You must choose to fight or try to run away. With fighting, you have the option to use an item, a gimmick (special attacks and tag team attacks), a strike, or a taunt. The game also adds a timing mechanism on certain attacks where you can inflict additional bonus attacks.
To end each battle, you either knock the wrestlers out, or you have to pin them by way of another timed button-press mini-game of sorts. To be honest, this portion of the game is a bit more challenging and unforgiving than it needs to be, at least until you learn the timing. Each win gives you XP, which allows you to level up, learn new special moves, and game more gear.
Graphically, WrestleQuest borrows from the 16-Bit days of JRPGs.
With that aesthetic in mind, the graphics look great. Sure, they could’ve gone for a more realistic look, but it would have hurt the game’s appeal. In this format, it feels like I’m playing with my old Hulk Hogan Rock ‘n’ Wrestling toys or old Hasbro figures. I’m then putting them up against my armies of other ’80s toys and action figures. Having graphics that match that time in my life really made WrestleQuest an even more satisfying experience.
All of the fun Easter eggs and lines of dialogue were nice touches as well. The soundtrack and voice work fits the game perfectly, as the sound bytes made me laugh even after prolonged play. I never felt the desire to mute the sound or try to zoom past the dialogue text boxes.
I am fully invested in the story. It helps that I’m still randomly finding characters from various forms of pop culture that I didn’t expect to see in the game. There are definitely some NPCs in the game that will really make you smile. But I don’t want to ruin the surprise or fun of discovering them for yourself.
I do have a few other minor nitpicks with the game, but they didn’t matter enough to ruin my gameplay experience. With its content and graphics, WrestleQuest is definitely geared towards a certain demographic. Even if you aren’t part of the core audience, don’t let that discourage you from playing the game. It’s definitely suitable for any fan of turn-based RPGs.