After the realistic-feeling Wrestling Sim games — the WWE 2K and AEW series titles — there’s still plenty of room in the wrestling universe for new ideas that grab the wrestling fan’s imagination and don’t let go until a three count is achieved. This is where Skybound Games comes in with their first-ever wrestling title, WrestleQuest, as announced back in March 2022. Since the initial announcement, I could NOT wait to get my hands on it.
Fast forward to PAX East 2022, WrestleQuest made a massive appearance, complete with real matches in front of a crowd, and the hype followed the show in droves. If anything, PAX East 2023 only confirmed what I had known all along, WrestleQuest is a special project. So, of course, when given the opportunity to jump into the ring with Skybound’s latest offering, I said “OH YEAHHH!”
Plastic On Plastic
WrestleQuest takes a novel approach to a game setting, and instead of jumping in with serious graphics and real storylines, all the game’s characters are toys. Imagine circa early-to-late 90s, where playing with wrestling figures and making ‘dream matches’ between favourites is the best entertainment around.
WrestleQuest and Skybound Games seem to have experienced this early 90s form of entertainment because everyone who has played with wrestling toys knows there are always those stragglers, other property non-wrestling toys that somehow always made it into matches regardless of whether it was a Stretch Armstrong, or even a Transformer, matches happen with whatever is nearest anyway. WrestleQuest leans into this toy salad anarchy, and numerous times Gundam-like characters can be seen hanging around venues like they belong, and believe me, Skybound Games makes them belong.
“WrestleQuest is steeped in passion.”
In WrestleQuest you play as two protagonist viewpoints, one is Randy Santos, an up-and-coming wrestler who sleeps on a gym floor and dreams of making it as big as Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage. The other point-of-view is Brink Logan, technically a star who comes from a royal wrestling family — reminiscent of the Rhodes Family from wrestling — but he’s always put in matches where he is constantly scripted to lose. The bottom line is both characters want to make it to the top.
Wrestling Spirit
It’s safe to assume the makers of WrestleQuest are wrestling fans. There are constant references to real life wrestling, and some of the characters are clearly modelled after iconic in-ring personalities. While Macho Man, Sgt. Slaughter, Andre the Giant, Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts and other actual wrestling identities are alluded to and used in the game, there are other characters such as one with platinum blonde hair and a robe that is called ‘Dash,’ but could easily go by Flair instead due to the resemblance the character has to wrestling legend Ric Flair.
The writer’s room of WrestleQuest must have had a blast making puns and wrestling references to use as dialogue choices. Interestingly, the references always enrich the experience for an avid fan or a wrestling term novice. Terms like ‘jobber’ and ‘dark match’ are used, but the developers don’t assume the player is used to these terms, so explanations are given. These brief moments don’t outstay their welcome for fans either. WrestleQuest straddles a line between being a game for wrestling fans and being a game for RPG fans effortlessly, Skybound Games earned a real knockout here.
Turn Based Bout Machine
WrestleQuest is coated in beautiful 16-bit pixel artwork that hearkens back to simpler times in gaming, but the combat system isn’t as simple as it seems. First off, like in a real wrestling match, there is a hype meter at the bottom of the screen. Utilizing this meter to the best effect will assure you come out on top in matches. Combatants can use Strikes, Gimmicks, Taunts (which boost the hype meter), and Items during combat.
“WrestleQuest straddles a line between being a game for wrestling fans and being a game for RPG fans effortlessly, Skybound Games earned a real knockout here.”
Certain techniques use the pixel-artwork animated character sprites in uncomfortably laughable move sequences that can instantly flashback players familiar with the Final Fantasy VI DoomTrain suplex. Combat in WrestleQuest utilizes that same jank to wondrous effect. I was able to hit an adversary with a “South of the Border Stunner,” and it’s genuinely hilarious watching the main character Randy Santos, hit an impossibly large rat creature boss with a famous wrestling move.
Tag Team moves are also made available to your party and are as funny as regular moves. A tag team between a character named Barbae (yes, seriously) and another party member had them bat an enemy back and forth like a ping-pong ball. WrestleQuest demands the player stay vigilant during battles too, as small QTEs litter battlefields like Super Mario RPG or the Mario & Luigi series of RPG games for the Game Boy Advance.
After human adversaries get wobbled, players can hit them with a pin. After getting a three count, they’re finished for the match. Some matches during the main questline are scripted, which means you may have to lose in certain ways to fulfill all the objectives. WrestleQuest also toys with a morality system, and choices made between siding with a seedy executive or a Slimy crocodile named… Slimy is an actual life-changing decision Randy Santos must make on his Quest to be the greatest.
WrestleQuest is steeped in passion. Skybound Games is so familiar with pro-wrestling and RPG titles that they were able to create something truly special with WrestleQuest. The attention to detail down to allowing the player to steal from boss enemies and obtain a meaningful item separates WrestleQuest from ‘just another RPG’. Creative Director Zack Manko aimed to deliver a solid JRPG with good storylines and dramatic reveals, the perfect blend of wrestling and JRPG elements. And this fan can’t wait for the full thing when WrestleQuest drops this August.
