New details flow out of Cascadia Quest

Written by Jack Allin — May 5, 2019 at 10:18

The days of Sierra-style text inputs may be long over for the most part, but indie developer Phil Fortier plans to revive the classic formula once again for his upcoming adventure Cascadia Quest – albeit updated somewhat with modern sensibilities. 

While story details are sparse for now, the game stars a young man who discovers that "something evil is afoot in the mountains of Cascadia." Set in the United States' Pacific Northwest, the protagonist finds himself "caught in the middle of it" and must begin an "epic adventure though forests, mountains and mysterious lairs, on a mission of escape and retribution." Along the way players will meet a "host of quirky characters" ranging from "evil, to strange, to cuddly – all the while solving puzzles to outwit your enemies and accomplish your goals."

Like the developer's previous four-part Snail Trek series, Cascadia Quest is a pixel art adventure with "bright EGA-ish graphics" and CRT emulation mode that enables the "slightly fuzzy" look hearkening back to the days of early Sierra. Equally nostalgic is the text parser for interaction, but here there will be contextual input that "provides autosuggest and autocorrect" to help you master typing commands. There will also be a number of other user-friendly features such as autosaves (as well as a manual save option), "real music" instead of retro "beeps and boops," widescreen support, and no dead ends – though you can still expect "plenty of death lurking around every corner." If all that isn't nearly old-school enough for you, hardcore players can choose to "turn off all the modern conveniences so you can suffer most purely!"

Originally unveiled under the title Cascade Quest, the rebranded Cascadia Quest has no firm launch date just yet, but is on track for release on Windows, Mac and Linux sometime in early 2020. To learn more about the game while you wait, drop by the official website for additional details.