Fight-Quest is a first-person brawler. With fisticuffs. Versus gnomes. And it’s glorious.

 

After I got past the demo’s short tutorial area, I came up to a flimsy plank barricade with a sign saying the area was “infested.” The tutorial had just taught me how to deal with a plank barricade, and I emerged above a peaceful hidden valley, with trees and streams and colorful mushrooms (good for jumping off of) and a pretty little waterfall.

There were a few gnomes here and there, wandering around in their colorful pointy hats. They looked cute.

…and waiting nearby was a wizard who had a job opportunity for a “hero” like me. You see, those “evil” gnomes were messing up the ecosystem in “his” forest; he wanted me to go punch one, and the rest would surely flee in terror.

He sounded only a little like Gargamel when saying this, and as a video game protagonist, I have a Pavlovian response to quests. Plus I knew where this was going: toward the gameplay…

…because the gnomes did the opposite of fleeing in terror. Sure, they were doing only chip damage to me while I could level most of them with a jab or two, but they came in increasing waves, and they came for my blood.

The gnomes didn’t sound cute, once they got going.

Healing potions dropped as loot but not very often, and drinking one took a dangerous few seconds in which I couldn’t dash or counterattack. There were buffs (dispensed by a fairy who found the brawl entertaining and wanted to keep it going), but getting one required lasting long enough for one of the tanky, man-sized “burly gnomes” to spawn with a glowing yellow aura…

This game has a surprising amount of footwork and timing, stepping in to punch a gnome and quickly stepping away from the rest of the horde, trying to avoid being surrounded, trying to lead them toward a jump-shroom for a nice, crowd-thinning shockwave stomp, charging up that heavy attack in time to clobber an onrushing burly gnome…

The demo declares you victorious after fifteen waves, totaling about 250 of the pointy-hatted little pricks… and then there’s a menu button marked “Endless,” which explains how everyone on the leaderboard racked up tens of thousands of gnome kills.

 

I’ve been playing a few mechanics-light games recently, so a game that was mostly combat mechanics made for a nice palate cleanser.

And there are intriguing hints of lore, believe it or not, like what’s the deal with the wizard’s staff? And the gnome-sized black statues surrounding the valley? And the giant gnome from the trailer? And the Legally Distinct Keebler Elves’ Tree, eerily silent and shrouded in fog?

Wishlisted.