When it comes to remakes and remasters, there’s no doubt that the last generation featured quite a lot of them. Most typically for higher-end games that sold well in their prime, and are looking to recapture an audience that remembers them fondly while putting their best foot forward for a new generation, there have been games from all over the spectrum going this route as well. In the case of Dark Quest Remastered though, an indie series which has had two sequels released in the past few years? This feels a bit more inexplicable.

Essentially a top-down dungeon-crawling RPG, you’ll take your small party through a variety of missions in search of loot and things to kill. It’s set up to be turn-based in a pretty strict way, with you needing to move each member of your party in order, without the ability to cycle through them on each turn. Initially this isn’t necessarily a big deal, but in the heat of battle it really forces you to think ahead to be sure you’ve positioned yourself for success the best you could, and not accidentally having got in your own way. At times, especially when searching new areas with different doors, it can also be a bit of a pain.

While I have no doubt that the game looks more polished visually than it did when its original version arrived a little over 10 years ago, I’m still not entirely sure why they went to the effort. In particular Dark Quest 4, which came out in the last year, plays very similarly at its base while having a more interesting isometric look and some other improvements, so this just feels odd. I can’t say this is a bad game, but in a competition with its own successors it also feels a little less interesting, making it a strange release.