Picture the scene–in the thriving metropolis of San Lazaro, an unknown virus has driven the residents violent and insane, throwing the city into chaos. Now, what if that virus was actually a computer virus, and the victims are currently trapped in a virtual reality world? And the only people who can save the day are actually animals, who also have cybernetic implants, and who have gained sentience at the same time the virus swept through the city?
It’s a busy setup, to be sure, but that’s the setting we find ourselves in at the start of Cyber Pet Quest, a new family-friendly campaign game. So how does it manage to capture this unique and unusual backdrop?
Cyber Pet Quest is a cooperative campaign game for 1-4 players. Each session plays in about 30-60 minutes, and the game plays best with 4 players.
Gameplay Overview:
Cyber Pet Quest’s campaign plays out over several individual scenarios, strung together by some light narrative. Each scenario sees the four player characters (called Pets) attempting to complete several objectives while avoiding or clashing with enemy CyMS (“Cyber-Memetic Sociopaths” (yes, really)) along the way.
Turn order is random, but always alternates between a Pet turn and a CyMS turn. On a Pet turn, that pet generates a semi-randomized amount of Energy, which it can then use to perform various actions–moving, interacting with the environment, attacking, and so on. Different actions have different Energy costs and different effects between Pets, so each Pet is better or worse at doing different things.
On the other side of things, CyMS turns are extremely simple—the active CyMS will move towards the Pet with the Aggro token, and attack all Pets it runs into along the way. If players manage to deal enough damage to a CyMS, that CyMS will be stunned, completely skipping its next turn and giving the players some breathing room.
Players complete a scenario by interacting with scenario-specific items and locations, which will progress the story forward and sometimes unlock new objects to interact with. If players can reach the end of the scenario before the turn limit, they progress to the next scenario and earn new items and abilities to use for the rest of the campaign. If they reach the turn limit without completing the scenario, or if one Pet is knocked out for an entire round, the players lose and must replay the scenario.
Game Experience:
As I explained in the introduction, Cyber Pet Quest’s setting is a bit weird, a bit bland, and a bit confusing—something that can equally be said about the game itself. There are some really neat ideas here, but I think the game could have used some additional development time, as there are too many bits and pieces to cohere into a fulfilling experience.
At its heart, Cyber Pet Quest is a dungeon crawler—players move around a map, combat enemies, gather loot, and work to achieve objectives. However, it’s simplified in a few ways that make it more approachable, without sacrificing the decision-making space. The map, for example, is effectively a straight line—characters can either move left or right, and that’s it. It doesn’t reduce the fun of moving and exploration, but it makes rules for movement and enemy behavior much easier to resolve.
The CyMS system in particular is a genius bit of design. There are only four enemy meeples in the box (red, yellow, blue, and green), but each color is assigned to a random CyMS, drawn from a large deck of CyMS with unique special abilities. It’s an extremely simple system, but allows for a lot of flexibility and replay value, even though the setup of a scenario is otherwise completely static.
Unfortunately, for every elegant design decision in Cyber Pet Quest, there is an aggravatingly overwrought one to counter it. For example, before taking actions each turn, you must choose whether to sneak (which makes most things more difficult) or go Aggro (which causes CyMS to target you and deal you additional damage). The effects of this decision are significant, but it’s extremely fiddly—players frequently forgot to make this decision and had to roll back their entire turn when they remembered in lieu of actually taking their turn. So many parts of the design are a lot of upkeep for not a lot of reward.
Crucially, nothing in Cyber Pet Quest feels coherent. Some rules are elegant, others are overcomplicated; some mechanisms are excellent, others are underbaked; some elements of the story are fun, and others are confusing. By trying to cast a wide net to appeal to everyone, I don’t think the game will be fully enjoyed by anyone.
It’s also worth pointing out that, regardless of player count, you always play Cyber Pet Quest with all four characters. While this does help simplify the rules, it also means the upkeep goes up significantly with fewer players. For that reason alone, I generally wouldn’t recommend the game at any player count other than exactly four players.
Final Thoughts:
Cyber Pet Quest feels trapped between two intended demographics. The cutesy artwork, animal characters, and simple dungeon crawl mechanisms are pointed at a family audience, but the fiddly rules and the story’s apocalyptic undertones are more suitable for experienced gamers. With some additional development, I think Cyber Pet Quest could have been something special, but as is, it’s a perfectly inoffensive diversion for people jonesing for dungeon-crawling action.
Final Score: 2.5 Stars – Has some great ideas, but it is too basic for experienced gamers, and a little too fiddly for new gamers.
Hits:
• Excellent enemy system
• Decent replay value
• Clever simplifications of the dungeon crawl genre…
Misses:
• But also unnecessarily fiddly rules
• Underdeveloped mechanisms
• Locked at exactly 4 characters
