AdventureQuest 8-bit Dungeons & Doomknights is a heavy dose of mid-2000s internet meme nostalgia that released on the NES first, for some reason

Artix and a Moglin stand atop a pixel dragon soaring through the air in AdventureQuest 8-Bit: Dungeons & DoomKnights.
(Image credit: Artix Entertainment)

I played Adventure Quest back when it came out in—2002? God, that can't be right. Give me a second, I need to lean on something and take some deep breaths.

Okay—in case you missed that particular boat, I need to explain to you how much of a phenomenon Adventure Quest actually was. While it never quite reached RuneScape's popularity, it occupied the same niche of being a persistent RPG you could play on basically any computer that had an internet connection.

This meant that, yes—you could play Adventure Quest on school PCs, which was basically the only requirement for a game to become a fad back then. It was also charming in a ramshackle, cobbled-together-with-tape-and-glue sort of way. Its developer Artix Entertainment has still been making games for the past 21 years (deep breaths, Harvey), to mixed success: DragonFable, Adventure Quest 3D—and, apparently, a game for the NES. 

Dungeons & Doomknights came out for the NES—the actual Nintendo Entertainment System—a year ago. As of 2024 it's now on Steam. This might be the first instance where a modern game has taken that particular route to publication, but who am I to judge?

You play as Artix von Krieger, face of Adventure Quest itself, as you journey through a Zelda-like landscape of 8-bit caves and graveyards to slay the Doom Knight. It's clunky in a charming sort of way, both in terms of its gameplay and its presentation. 

Its controls feel stiff, but serviceable—and the gameplay loop is so straightforward I'm having trouble describing it. From what I've experienced, there's two types of gameplay: Zelda-style overworld zones, and 2D platformer areas. In both instances, you move up to skeletons and hit the axe button and try not to die. That's the whole combat system.

This is, indeed, a Duke Nukem reference. (Image credit: Artix Entertainment)

You unlock some metroidvania-style abilities as you play—for instance, I had an undead-seeking pomeranian I could send through small doors to attack inaccessible skeletons. You need to find keys, kill all the enemies on a screen, or flip switches to progress. Bog-standard retro imitation stuff. For a mercy, dying doesn't reset your world progress—so the 'save point' system is more about determining where you'll end up when you inevitably bite it.

The main star of the show is the game's unique sense of humour, which'll only land at all if the words Numa Numa and Leekspin make any sense to you. Within the first ten minutes there's a "All Your Base Are Belong To Us" joke. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, Dungeons & Doomknights isn't for you.

(Image credit: Artix Entertainment)

Otherwise the game is cute, and that's about it. Exploration is decently satisfying, and there are some neat puzzles which are fun enough to plink away at. I initially thought I was in for a hardcore challenge, but that's just because I jumped off a dragon in the wrong direction and accidentally stumbled my way into a secret boss fight with death.

It's nothing mind-bending. You're mostly fighting to decipher what's actually a cave entrance and what's just part of the scenery. More than once I'd get lost just because the area wasn't properly signposted, but for the retro style this game's going for that's arguably part of the charm.

The only real issue I have is the price point. $19.99 (£16.75) feels like a lot for a game that's one big running gag, and you're missing out on the novelty of the NES version's cartridge. Best I can tell, you're getting about 7 hours of game for your trouble. Whether this thing's worth your time will be entirely based on your nostalgia for an era of Moglins, Zards, and begging your parents for a Guardian Upgrade.

Harvey Randall
Staff Writer

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.

Read more
A catgirl with long white hair and ears
At least it's not NFTs this time: The new Wizardry RPG is a gacha game
Beyond the Ice Palace 2 screenshots
I’m not sure what’s weirder: that someone made a sequel to a completely forgettable 37-year-old game I played as a kid, or that it was actually worth the wait
Farland Story, a PC-98 RPG from 1993
When PC RPGs were at their crunchiest and most hardcore in the 1990s, Farland Story set itself apart by… being cute?
Sabnack, PC-98 puzzle game
This '90s PC game's one-of-a-kind combination of puzzles and RPG heroics was the perfect way to jumpstart my brain for the new year
Yu-Gi-Oh! EARLY DAYS COLLECTION screenshot showing a character complaining about losing a battle
This Yu-Gi-Oh! retro collection transported me to a simpler time in TCGs, before Pot of Greed was banned and the Avengers were in Magic: The Gathering
An image of a corpse with the text "You've been re-educated."
I played the lost videogame sequel to 1984, and came away more nostalgic than ever for gaming's awkward adolescence in 1999
Latest in Games
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
The new Prime Asset featured in the upcoming update for the Outlast Trials.
The Outlast Trials puts its already paranoid players under surveillance for a time-limited story event
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'
Latest in News
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
The new Prime Asset featured in the upcoming update for the Outlast Trials.
The Outlast Trials puts its already paranoid players under surveillance for a time-limited story event
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'