Tactical Hack ‘n’ Slash ‘QuestRun’ Available in Alpha

French indie outfit Cuve Games, creators of adventurous shoot-’em-up hybrid Skies, have just released their tactical RPG QuestRun in Alpha. Similarly to the recent Rogue Legacy and a number of other rogue-like indie titles, QuestRun is a game in which death is an inevitability, and your goal is to simply progress as far as you can before you are cruelly and unavoidably defeated. Much like old-school RPG design, the focus here is very much on the gameplay over complex narrative and lore — Cuve themselves have been keen to point out that QuestRun is an RPG for those who have no interest in typical role-playing trappings such as dialogue and continuing plot arcs, a pure and lean approach which throws you in at the deep end with a series of dungeons to fight through.

The gameplay itself appears to be inspired by the turn-based squad combat of JRPGs, but it is a lot more fast paced, requiring the player to adjust and manage their tactics on-the-fly. I really haven’t put much time into the alpha at all as yet, so I’ve yet to see how the mechanics of the game open up and how the depth and complexity — which I’m sure are lurking in there somewhere  — fully present themselves. However, I have grasped the basics, which appear to involve a manoeuverability of your three-person squad, swapping their positions depending on which characters are best suited to taking on certain foes. This is an interesting idea, and one that I’m sure becomes more and more frantic as the difficulty and intensity increases as you progress.

As an alpha release, QuestRun appears surprisingly solid and feature-complete, boasting the first main dungeon, 20 monsters and 6 playable characters for you to get your teeth into. Alpha backers also get the game at a reduced price of £2.99/$4.49 (50% off) on Desura, and all future updates are delivered for free. It’s well worth opting in now for a reduced price and a taste of what’s to come if Cuve‘s concept takes your fancy.

You can buy QuestRun on Desura right now. Also, follow @CuveGames on Twitter for development news and updates as they happen!