Questron II

Questron 2 is the sequel to Questron, a fantasy RPG created by Strategic Simulations Inc in 1984 for the Commodore 64, Apple II, and Atari 8-bit. Four years later, the sequel was published, and this time it was also ported to Amiga, Atari ST, and MS-DOS.

Questron represented for SSI the first attempt to launch a fantasy RPG. At that time, the studio that became famous for the official D&D licensed games (like Eye of the Beholder) didn't have the right to use this brand. So only "generic" fantasy games were possible. The inspiration for the two brothers that designed the title, Charles and John Dougherty, was clearly the Ultima saga. The visuals are quite similar: you have a top-down view during the exploration of the world, with excellent colorful backgrounds and detailed sprites. There is also some kind of isometric effect for the buildings, which is definitely better than the one used in Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar.

Questron II, compared to its predecessor, introduces the pseudo-3D first-person view for the dungeons, even though we are talking about a small square window in the middle of the screen.

If the graphics could be considered better, the story and gameplay are definitely not comparable to Ultima. The game is much more limited, which is not necessarily a bad thing if you are looking for a more casual experience. Fans of the first Questron loved the new chapter, which represented an improvement. Unfortunately, if you didn't know the game and you try it for the first time on the Amiga, you feel that this is clearly an 8-bit title that was ported to more powerful platforms with minimal improvements. However, if you are a fan of old-school 2D RPGs, this is a title that you might want to try.