WrestleQuest review: a love letter to professional wrestling
WrestleQuest - the newly released RPG from Mega Cat Studios and Skybound Games - is more than just another "wrestling game." It's - and this is going to sound extremely cliched, but it's true - a love letter to both classic role-playing games and pro wrestling. And the game nails them both.
Prepare for the body-slamming action— #WrestleQuest slams onto screens on August 8, 2023! 🎮
We can't wait to share this epic #wrestling #RPG adventure with you. Prepare to powerbomb your way to glory in the ultimate pixel-powered quest!
Wishlist now: wrestlequest.com pic.twitter.com/DMUSG5XX1r
Now, our own Jason Parker reviewed the actual gameplay and presentation over at eSports. So, head over to that if you're interested in what we thought about those aspects of the game (spoiler alert: we thought very highly of it). Here, we want to talk about the pro wrestling aspect of the game - both in how it's represented physically as well as culturally. Yeah, that sounds pretentious, but stay with us here.
Now, a lot of this we covered in our preview, and honestly, not much has changed. But after getting hands-on time with the full version, we wanted to highlight it just one more time. It's really that good.
Rather than being set in the "real" world, WrestleQuest takes place in a child's bedroom (or, more accurately, their imagination). Every character in the game, from the playable characters to all of the NPCs, is a toy of some sort. If you have memories of making up stories with your action figures/dolls/what have you as a kid, this should all be immediately familiar.
Granted, this means that the action in the game is far from realistic, but that's kind of the point. At its core, WrestleQuest is a fantasy RPG - similar to the turn-based ones that were so popular on the SNES in the 1990s. That means that realism is pretty much thrown right out the (barber shop) window.
Fantasy though it may be, it's wrestling-based fantasy, which means that everything you do and use - from weapons, "armor," attacks, and the like - are all related to the world of Sports Entertainment. It also has a firm grasp (with tongue firmly in cheek) of all the various pro wrestling tropes. Just watch how much effort every character must exert in order to climb the side of a steel cage, for example.
It's this element, the way the game embraces various aspects of pro wrestling - from the in-ring lore to the behind-the-scenes drama - that really make this a "wrestling fan's game." You certainly don't need to be a Dave Knows Wrestling-level expert on the business to enjoy the game, but even the most casual wrestling fan will notice plenty of Easter eggs throughout.
WrestleQuest has a serious focus on wrestling legends
Despite not being associated with a specific wrestling promotion (WrestleQuest undoubtedly works the indie circuit of electronic entertainment), there are still plenty of recognizable names to be found. The game's story is framed via a podcast discussion featuring perennial host and home mortgage guru Conrad Thompson.
Tomorrow. #WrestleQuest pic.twitter.com/NqcNUAybdk
And if you're thinking that it's kind of weird that there's a podcast discussing the imaginings of a small child, well, you're not wrong. But WrestleQuest makes it work.
It's not just Internet personalities making cameo appearances, though there are plenty of those. The game's playable characters, Muchacho Man and Brink Logan - no, you didn't read that incorrectly - are assisted through their, er, quests by a number of WWE Hall of Famers and other legends. Names like Diamond Dallas Page, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Jeff Jarrett, and Koko B. Ware, just to name a handful, make appearances throughout the game.
There's certainly plenty of wrestling royalty to go around in WrestleQuest, but lording most prominently over the game's proceedings is the Macho King himself, "Macho Man" Randy Savage. The former WWE and WCW World Champion's presence is everywhere and is revered by nearly every character to be found in the game. Giant statues of Savage mark each area of the game, meaning he literally towers over the entire presentation.
These legends (or, in some cases, their estates) didn't just license their likenesses and call it a day. According to Becca Peters, Mega Cat Studios' Marketing Manager, the developer worked hand-in-hand with them "to make sure that their involvement accurately captured their legacy and told their stories in a way that they felt represented them best!"
As far as post-launch content goes, well, Mega Cat is being a bit tight-lipped for the moment. According to Peters, there are plans... but that's all they're willing to share so far.
"WrestleQuest will already be launching with 40+ hours of action-packed, slamtastic story, but we're not stopping there!" Peters exclusively told us. "We definitely have more exciting content on the horizon and hope that you're ready to stay sweaty for future updates!"
If you're a wrestling fan with an appreciation for the industry's history but don't necessarily like RPGs (or even video games in general), this is still worth picking up. Even if the opposite is true (which begs the question - did you get lost? Click on the wrong link?), the nostalgia, pop culture references, clever writing, and fun story will be more than enough to make this worth playing.
WrestleQuest is available on Xbox One/Series S/X, PlayStation 4 & 5, Nintendo Switch, Steam, iOS, Android, Linux, and even - and we're not kidding - Netflix.
UPDATE: WrestleQuest will now be released on August 22nd. Mega Cat Studios explained the last-minute delay in a statement:
"When performing final checks on one of our launch platforms, we discovered it was possible for players to lose their save game progress when playing WrestleQuest on multiple different devices. Because this is a game filled with hours of content and player progress is so important, we could never bodyslam our fans like that."
Are you interested in playing WrestleQuest? Have you already played it? Share your thoughts in the comments below.