The bizarre spirit of classic Elder Scrolls games is alive and well in little lo-fi RPG A Short Quest
A Short Quest is an indie lo-fi RPG that successfully captures the quirky, mysterious spirit of classic Elder Scrolls games. In a recent playtest, the game demonstrated its charming approach to worldbuilding and quest design through encounters with peculiar NPCs and cryptic puzzles. A talking tree initiates the player’s adventure by requesting they deliver a note to the king, setting a whimsical tone for exploration.
Other encounters include a conversational pond that challenges players to perform specific actions—jumping three times—in exchange for items like blueberries, and mysterious notes hidden in locations like abandoned mines that reference puzzles such as a “glyph cipher” requiring further investigation. These seemingly random encounters and incomplete clues suggest a deeper mystery woven throughout the game’s world, reminiscent of Elder Scrolls’ approach to environmental storytelling and player agency.
The game is set to release in full next year and is currently available for wishlisting on Steam. The playtest experience suggests the developers have successfully distilled the essence of classic RPG exploration—the sense of stumbling upon strange requests, solving cryptic puzzles, and uncovering secrets—into a streamlined lo-fi format.