Review: NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits

I feel like I should start this review off with a “Do You Remember Kid Icarus?” because in many ways, Nyx Quest is the spiritual successor to that hallowed and now ancient mythological platformer. In many ways though, it’s not. Nyx Quest stars female deity-like being Nyx who happens to be the one true love of Icarus himself. The game isn’t made by Nintendo, and the game’s name change from Icarian to Nyx Quest might have something to do with that. In truth, the two games are nothing alike in anything but mythology references and the fact that they’re both platformers. I think people just crave (for some reason) a Kid Icarus reinvention so much that anything with Icarus in it at all seems to get attention. I find this odd as Kid Icarus’ protagonist is named Pit.

Connections to the past out of the way, how is the actual game? It’s a platformer and puzzler. There’s a bit of action, but it’s light and often easy to deal with. The game has what appear to be boss fights, but which in reality are just new enemies that you have to overcome repeatedly as the game burns on. The only different in your subsequent battles is the addition of new powers gained to deal with them, which often make once challenging fights trivial. But this isn’t a bad thing.

The control scheme is one familiar to most Wii users, particulary those familiar with some WiiWare titles. You control Nyx with your Nunchuck joystick and run by holding the Z button as you saunter along. At first it seems puzzling that you wouldn’t just be running at all times, but the more one plays the game, the more one can see that running all the time isn’t necessarily beneficial. Add to that the fact that holding Z while falling off a ledge or jumping causes Nyx to glide, and it becomes apparent just why there is a separate run button. And the gliding is quite useful.

Not only can Nyx glide for short distances (determined by a decreasing flight bar), but she also has a, for lack of a better term, flap bar. Tapping the A button mid flight causes Nyx to flap her wings, which makes her fly higher. She can’t actually fly. That would make the game pretty simple and turn it into more of a shooter/dodger type of experience. She can jump off of things and gain height by flapping her wings and gain distance by gliding at any of those heights. It actually makes for a great dynamic. Nyx herself is limited to basically just that. She has no physical attacks, she can’t jump on harpy heads to kill them, and she’s as frail as her artwork might suggest. Thankfully for Nyx, she happens to have a few godly protectors who bless her with various powers as your quest continues. The first of these is the power…to move you. Er, rather, the power to move objects. It only works on certain objects that are always labelled or that shine a different color when the WiiMote reticule is placed over them. Often the weight of the object will be a concern. You can lift smaller blocks in the air and throw them all about, but larger objects can only be dragged along the ground. Even smaller objects have their limits as the reticule itself has a countdown ticker similar to a clock in appearance. When it runs out, you drop the item, and if you happen to be standing under it, you die. Like I said, Nyx is pretty fragile. There are other powers gained along the way, but I won’t spoil them. Some are negligible, and some make the game quite a bit easier. I would have preferred their spacing to be a little different, personally, but all in all, given the game’s duration, I was pleased with what I was given.

And while duration is in your head, let me tell you straight up that the game only takes about 4 hours to complete. Less, if you’re a master platformer. It does have some replayability, though I doubt it’s something I’d bother with. There are relics to collect in each level, totalling about 20 in all. They always take the form of some famous object from Greek mythology, like whatshisface’s Lyre or whozit’s manly loincloth. Unfortunately, they’re just collectables and remain a tad pointless unless you’re insane about collecting. I wouldn’t even have minded maybe a trophy room where you could go in and check them out, but that remains hidden, at least to my prying eyes.

The platforming is adequate. Nyx doesn’t move as well as I might like. I suppose this should be expected. She’s a little like a damsel in distress really, only she’s actually doing something about her plight (which I can admire). However, I probably would have advised her to do a bit of training before she lept out of heaven, maybe throw in a few montages. Despite her movement, many of the level designs are fantastic, and with the powers thrown into the mix there are some really enjoyable moments to be had. There are a few block moving exercises that require near ambidextrous like agility and possibly even the ability to split your mind into two. There are also some extremely challenging bits that had me frothing at the mouth and then cawing in victory when I’d completed them.

One complaint I had was with the visuals. Every level looks nearly the same, with maybe a change in time of day being the most drastic difference. For a game with only four hours of play, this seems lazy to me. The story explains it away as an evil force seeking to destroy the world by making it into one giant desert. That doesn’t make it right for me. Greek mythology has some fantastic settings. They should have been used.

The game is easily worth my ten bucks. It’s fun, challenging and satisyfing, and while it may not look as great as I’d like, it doesn’t really need to in order to be enjoyable. I’d also bet it’s one of those Wii games that looks better in standard definition. Unfortunately I’m unwilling to debase myself in such a way when I have that sweet sweet 1080p staring me in the face. I rate the game a 6.5/10 because for the price, it’s well worth playing and while it may be short, I still found myself coming back to it which is often more than I can say for games ten times its length.

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Title: NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits Publisher: WiiWare Developer: Over The Top Games Platform(s): Nintendo Wii Release Date: August 10, 2025

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