Fetch Quest Review

• # of Players: 3-6
• Price Point: $30
• Designer: Richard Thomas
• Publisher: Onyx Path
• Price Point: $30.00

Disclaimer: This review is of the beta version of the game, things can change before Publication.
Disclaimer: I recieved a free copy of this game to review.

Narrative coming soon.

Overview

Fetch Quest is a 3-6 player deckbuilding game where players take on the roles of canine adventurers in a humanless fantasy world.

Positives

• Family Friendly
• New Player Friendly
• The theme fits the mechanics well
• The game is very engaging

Negatives

• The mission deck gets very repetitive after repeated plays.
• The Fortune deck, player cards, need more cards and content.

Playing the Game

Setup

Players select from one of 6 Characters and build their starter decks based on their character’s stats. The challenge deck is shuffled, and six cards are dealt face up below it, this is the challenge queue.

After shuffling the Fortune Deck, four fortune cards are dealt face up beside the fortune deck. This forms the Fortune Pile. Players will select new cards from this pile, and the Fortune Deck, throughout the game.

Finally, the Mission Deck is placed beside the Challenge deck and the first mission is flipped face up.

Gameplay

During a player’s turn, they attempt to defeat either a Challenge or a Mission. After a player defeats a Challenge Card, they flip it face down, but leave it in the same location in the Challenge Queue. Defeating a Mission Card causes the game to advance to the next mission, often adding new Challenges to the Challenge Deck.

Once players have attempted to defeat a Challenge or Mission they may perform one action: Select a card from the Fortune pile to add to their hand. Draw the top card from the fortune deck and add it to their hand. Use their character’s special ability. Or, they can give as many cards as they like from their hand to another player.

Once players have performed their action, they resolve the Challenge Queue. If there is a face-up card at the bottom of the Challenge Queue, they must take the amount of damage indicated, and resolve any consequences listed on the card. Play then passes to the next player.

Analysis

The Challenge Queue

Fetch Quest’s way of dealing with challenges and gameplay is fairly unique and inventive. Each turn the queue advances one challenge, if you haven’t defeated the challenge at the bottom of the queue before the end of the turn, you face the consequences. These consequences include damage and penalties to the current pioneer and the other pioneers. If a pioneer is able to defeat a challenge, it is flipped facedown and becomes harmless. Because challenges take different Player Character skills to defeat, it is very difficult, if not impossible, for a single player to defeat all the games challenges and missions.  Teamwork essential in Fetch Quest, making this more than just a multiplayer solitaire game.

Missions

While the challenge queue, and honestly nearly the rest of the game, is brilliant and fun, the missions in Fetch Quest are not very inspiring. The four I played were not particularly exciting or compelling. That isn’t to say that the general principle of how missions work in Fetch Quest isn’t good. Far from it, I just felt that the included missions were little more than challenges that were not on a timer.

Player Characters

Fetch Quest has 6 Player Characters, and each one has a different special ability and cards associated with it. The characters are actually pretty well done and each one is a viable option in the game. My one concern with the characters is that there is only one dedicated healer in the game, making it almost a requirement that one player act as the healer for the whole group.

Fortune Cards

The Fortune deck is well balanced, but a little small but includes at least two special card types for each character. These specials are not just cosmetic or filler, they actually have a big impact on gameplay. Two examples of this are cleave, and cure wounds. Cleave allows you to draw two more cards and attack a second time during your turn. Cure Wounds, on the other hand, can heal your whole group at once.

Miscellaneous

One other intriguing mechanic in Fetch Quest is that players can give another player as many cards from their hand as they would like, instead of drawing new a card on their turn. This allows players to “sacrifice” cards they could have used later, in an effort to help their companions defeat a challenge or mission. This mechanic proved very useful more than once during our playthroughs.

My Verdict

Fetch Quest is a well put together game, and I enjoyed every moment spent playing it. The game offers a good amount of tension, due in no small part to the relentless march of the Challenge Queue which never stops moving until you defeat the current mission. Fetch Quest encourages teamwork, and to some extent self-sacrifice. However, It does have its issues, namely uninspired missions, a longer play time than some players will feel comfortable with, and the fortune deck felt a little sparse. However, Fetch Quest is a very fun, light game that is perfect for a night of gaming, be it friends, family, or a mix of both. I highly recommend it.

Recommendations

If you like this title, you may like:

Dobbers: Quest for the Key, a family-friendly competitive deck builder.

Village Pilage, Family friendly rock paper scissors game, with a deckbuilding component.