LunaQuest

LunaQuest is an open-world JRPG following Luna and Bun on a quest for vengeance against the Demon Lord who destroyed their village. The game features action-packed combat, weapon upgrades, crafting, and numerous quests to conquer. The anime-styled world is filled with cinematic scenes that advance the emotional storyline as players explore and battle their way through various challenges.

LunaQuest: Review

Introduction

In the crowded landscape of indie JRPGs, LunaQuest emerged in December 2021 with a compelling yet troubled promise: a fusion of medieval fantasy and sci-fi, wrapped in an open-world package. Developed by Next Level Entertainment and published by Masterbun, the game positioned itself as a turn-based action RPG with anime aesthetics, promising cinematic storytelling and deep customization. Yet, despite its ambitious premise—Luna’s quest for vengeance against a Demon Lord amidst threats from humanity’s future—LunaQuest remains a footnote in gaming history, remembered more for its technical flaws than its narrative or mechanical innovations. This review dissects the game’s fragmented identity, contextualizes its place in the 2021 indie scene, and evaluates its legacy as a cautionary tale of ambition eclipsed by execution.

Development History & Context

Next Level Entertainment, a studio with little prior industry presence, conceived LunaQuest as an ambitious passion project. Their vision, articulated in the Steam description, was to create an open-world JRPG blending “medieval fantasy” with “enemies from the future,” a mashup reminiscent of Chrono Trigger but with a darker tone. The publisher, Masterbun, seemingly a niche label, handled distribution exclusively via Steam. Released on December 10, 2021, the game arrived during a boom for indie RPGs, with titles like Chained Echoes and Tunic capturing critical acclaim. However, LunaQuest entered a market saturated with polished competitors, lacking the polish or unique hook to stand out. Technologically, the game demanded surprisingly high resources for an indie title—minimum specs included a GTX 1060 and 16GB RAM—yet delivered unstable performance, as evidenced by user reports of crashes and excessive RAM usage (6–8GB). This mismatch between hardware requirements and execution hinted at poor optimization or Unreal Engine misuse, common among inexperienced developers tackling open worlds.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

The story of LunaQuest is a study in missed potential. Players follow Luna, a girl whose village is incinerated by the Demon Lord, and Bun, her silent companion. Their quest for vengeance initially echoes classic JRPG tropes: loss, determination, and a bond forged in tragedy. The twist—time-traveling futuristic enemies attempting to “wipe out all of humanity”—is intriguing underdeveloped, introduced abruptly without narrative cohesion. Characters are archetypes rather than individuals; Luna’s grief and Bun’s loyalty remain surface-level, with no meaningful dialogue or backstory explored. Thematic ideas—trauma, cycles of violence, and the clash of eras—are present but never synthesized into a coherent narrative. The “cinematic scenes” mentioned in promotional material are sparse and rudimentary, failing to elevate the plot beyond a revenge framework. Ultimately, the narrative feels like a patchwork of genre clichés, its sci-fi elements feeling tacked onto a fantasy backbone.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

LunaQuest’s gameplay is plagued by identity crises and systemic flaws. The core loop is a contradictory mix:
– Combat: Marketed as both “turn-based” and “action-packed,” the game fails to commit to either. Steam tags emphasize “Turn-Based Tactics” and “Turn-Based Combat,” yet the description boasts “lots of action,” and user reviews hint at chaotic, unrefined encounters. Without detailed gameplay footage, it’s unclear if this was a hybrid system or a poorly implemented experiment.
– Progression: The promise of “buying weapons” and “learning new weapon skills” is undermined by a lack of depth. Skill trees are vague, and weapon upgrades feel inconsequential against the game’s demanding difficulty.
– Crafting: Mentioned as a key feature, it’s reduced to basic alchemy with no meaningful recipes or customization.
– Open World: Described as a “sandbox/open world,” the world is reportedly sparse and empty, with repetitive quests (“conquer lots of quest”) that fail to leverage exploration.
– UI/UX: The “point and select” interface (per MobyGames) is functional but uninspired, compounded by crashes and freezing issues, as reported by one Steam user: “When I click ‘NEW GAME’, the game freezes… using 6-8GB RAM.” These technical issues—memory leaks, poor performance—render progression a frustrating ordeal.

World-Building, Art & Sound

The game’s setting is its most compelling aspect: a medieval fantasy realm invaded by futuristic adversaries. This fusion creates striking visual contrasts—castles beside robotic sentinels—but is never fully realized. Art direction adheres to an “anime/manga” style (MobyGames), with character designs echoing JRPG staples, but environments lack detail. The “dark fantasy” atmosphere (Steam tags) is undermined by bland textures and repetitive landscapes. Sound design is a glaring omission; sources make no mention of a soundtrack or voice acting, implying a reliance on generic ambient noise. This absence of audio-identity robs the world of immersion, leaving players in a visually muted, mechanically hollow experience. The futuristic enemies, potentially a unique hook, are reduced to generic “demons” without narrative or thematic weight.

Reception & Legacy

LunaQuest was met with near-total indifference. Metacritic lists a “tbd” critic score, with zero reviews aggregated, while Steam boasts only one user review—a negative citing technical failures. MobyGames shows no professional reviews, and Kotaku’s coverage is limited to a screenshot slideshow. Commercially, the game flopped: MobyGames records only one collector, and Steam’s community hub is a ghost town, save for one user troubleshooting freezes. Its legacy is one of caution: a caution against overambition without technical skill or design clarity. The game’s failure—despite a novel premise—highlights the challenges indie studios face when attempting complex genres like open-world JRPGs. It has influenced no subsequent titles and serves instead as a benchmark for unrealized potential.

Conclusion

LunaQuest is a puzzle of unrealized ideas: a medieval-meets-future world undone by narrative apathy, a turn-based/action combat system paralyzed by indecision, and an open world left barren by technical incompetence. Its development history reflects a studio biting off more than it could chew, while its reception underscores a market unimpressed by ambition without execution. Though its premise—Luna’s quest through time-torn lands—held sparks of intrigue, the game is ultimately a relic of 2021’s indie boom, remembered not for innovation but for its cautionary tale. In the annals of gaming history, LunaQuest stands as a footnote: a reminder that vision without polish, and concept without cohesion, leads not to legacy, but to obscurity.