Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories is a dungeon crawler adaptation of the series’ Teleport Incident arc. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories Review Overview
What is Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories?
Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories tells the story of the series Teleport Incident, where Rudeus and Eris find themselves in the Demon Territory, separated from their friends and family. It is a dungeon crawler with a lot of side quests, difficult combat, and character development.
Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories features:
⚫︎ Fully-voiced main scenarios
⚫︎ Lore-accurate story from the popular Mushoku Tensei series
⚫︎ Tried and tested RPG mechanics
⚫︎ A cast of very memorable characters
⚫︎ Great ambiance provided by its music and voice acting
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories's gameplay and story.
 Steam |
$44.99 |
Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Good Combat System Amazing Ambience |
Unimpressive Environment Hamstrung Narrative Pacing Very Basic Exploration |
Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories Overall Score - 66/100
Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories is a lackluster game adaptation of a widely beloved series that was designed only with the fans in mind. Its beginner-unfriendly plot, gameplay flaws, and high-selling prices are such that only those who have already invested a great deal of time into the series should consider getting it. Even then, it’s not even a hit, as its slackened narrative is a bad change to the intimate pace of the previous and better media.
Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories Story - 6/10
While Mushoku Tensei is legendary for what is essentially the protagonist’s lifelong tale of becoming a better person than he was in his past life, the game takes its intimate, temperate pace, slaps on a ball and chain on its ankles, and expects it to perform nearly as well. The storytelling in this game is brutally slow and far too spaced out. On top of that, it starts off late into the series, meaning that players who haven’t read the novels or seen the anime will have zero context going into the game.
Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories Gameplay - 6/10
As an RPG, it’s pretty good. The combat is enough to make players consider their moves seriously, and the RPG mechanics are time-tested and familiar ones that work like a charm. However, the dungeon crawling itself leaves a lot to be desired. It’s very basic and doesn’t give the same rewarding experience when completely exploring the dungeons as other titles do.
Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories Visuals - 7/10
Its visuals are a mixed bag of disappointments and achievements. It’s mostly positive, though, as the artwork, enemy models, and visual effects are pretty darn good. However, the very unimpressive background sharply contrasts with the much better enemy models such that its flaws are much more glaring.
Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories Audio - 9/10
The game sports a very classy set of tracks that make even leaving the game on to listen to them worth the extra RAM it takes to do so. Almost everything is also voiced, and the characters often engage in idle talk as you walk through the game’s many forests and caves, which does wonders for the immersion.
Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories Value for Money - 5/10
This game is being sold at a relatively jaw-dropping $44.99. For what it offers, that is far more than what any save for the most hardcore fan would be willing to or should pay. It might just be due to the licensing costs, but it’s really asking too much money. At the very least, it does have enough content, though mostly filler, that you can easily sink a dozen or so hours into it.
Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories Review: Even The Narrative Is Crawling
I’ve been a long, long-time fan of the Mushoku Tensei series. The web novels were an absolute joy to read, and the amazing anime adaptation justified its contents well. At the same time, I’m also a massive fan of first-person dungeon crawlers, with Legend of Grimrock and Nippon Ichi’s latest Labyrinth of Galleria taking special places in my heart.
Hence, the mere news of a dungeon crawler based on one of my favorite series understandably took my attention. I mean, what could be better than grinding through dungeons with Rudeus, Eris, and Roxy at my party? Well, an action RPG sounds even better, but that’s not the point. What I meant is that I was pretty excited about it.
The first thing I immediately noticed was the map textures. It kind of looked like something you would see in the PlayStation 3 era. I thought it was something I’d get used to after a certain point, but after several hours of playing, I only started noticing it more and more.
Sure, dungeon crawlers like these aren’t known to have the best graphics modern hardware can provide, but other games like these tend to at least let it blend in with the gameplay. One particularly overused method used is to hide most of the background using a thick layer of fog or darkness. Lacking that, games tend to just make the entire experience cohesive using simple enemy graphics.
In this game’s case, the enemies, unfortunately, have quite decent 3D models. Most of them have complete animations that range from idle ones to the recoil from getting hit and even death animations. Some of them even have attack and skill animations. They end up contrasting the background heavily, which makes the latter’s flaws much more glaring.
As for the dungeon exploration itself, it’s honestly a mixed bag. Fortunately for the game, there’s nothing entirely bad about it. The entire experience is pretty boring overall, which is, for some reason, not completely unexpected from the genre.
That can be attributed to the fact that it doesn’t use many traversal gimmicks, at least early on in the game. In fact, most maps don’t even bait you into thinking that you’ll have to go back sometime later by using obvious false walls, signs, and striking deficit in completion percentages.
On the other hand, the combat is actually pretty good! It uses a timeline-based mechanic that forces players to consider their actions and the accompanying delay it would cause in their next turn. It’s also affected by each fielded character’s speed, which adds a lot of dynamism to the turn orders.
The rewards from engaging in repeated combat, though, aren’t nearly as impressive. While, sure, seeing numbers go higher is never a bad feeling (Disgaea players are literally fueled by this), the mere fact that you can’t get the immediate reward of seeing how better your skills are from investing in them is bad.
Some skills that mention they can miss don’t even specify their accuracy.
There are also other flaws to note, such as the fact that you don’t get ambushed when getting an encounter while moving backward. Instead, ambushes, whether it’s for or against you, happen at random. Not every scene is voiced as well, although that is a minor caveat. It also takes an inordinate amount of time to really get the story going due to its reliance on side quest progress.
However, there are a lot of great things about the game as well. One example is it's auto-play feature. Before you turn the game away immediately, though, the auto-play is actually balanced in that it only allows characters to make basic attacks. In other words, this is purely to facilitate grinding for levels, money, and skill points (which you will need a lot of).
The game also has a lot of interactions between characters, whether it’s when you take certain quests or while you explore dungeons. This maintains a very high level of immersion, along with its great music.
Honestly, if only the game didn't cost that much money, I would have had far more good things to say about the game. But its $44.99 price tag is the real, true downer. At that point, I would only really recommend the game to the fans who have already watched the anime or read the novels. Even then, I would still suggest treading with caution, despite how much I like Eris.
Pros of Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories
| Things Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories Got Right |
|---|
|
Good Combat System Amazing Ambience |
Good Combat System
The game’s combat system uses a timeline-based turn order. But while you can give commands at very specific points in that timeline, the actual order in which characters move can vary depending on how agile they are.
For example, even if you give an order to Sylphiette first once she reaches the command section of the timeline, Eris, who is much faster, can sometimes move before Sylphiette does, even if she reaches that section later on (provided that Sylphie doesn’t act before then).
This makes combat a delicate balance of judging both your and your enemies’ speeds to ensure that things such as buffs, debuffs, and especially heals hit on time.
Amazing Ambience
A good background track needs no reason to provide a strong foundation for immersive gameplay. Its tunes can practically dictate the mood, whether it’s with fast-paced beats to hype you up for combat or somber notes to put you into an emotional state. However, the occasional fully-voiced banters and conversations between characters as you push through dungeons add an entirely new, even more powerful layer of immersion into the game’s world.
This not only makes you feel that you’re truly exploring the world with a party of characters but also serves to develop them in place of plot-driven narratives.
Cons of Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories
| Things That Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories Can Improve |
|---|
|
Unimpressive Environment Hamstrung Narrative Pacing Very Basic Exploration |
Unimpressive Environment
While dungeon crawlers rarely ever get the opportunity to brag about their graphics, it never hurts to at least put it at a level where its quality blends in with the exploration and combat. That’s not the case here, however. The moment you step onto the field, the first thing that’ll greet you is the terrain in all its glorious lack of polygons and inadequate textures. Even the trees are just two-dimensional foliage spread out to look 3D.
The environment’s lack of work is especially glaring because they contrast sharply with the enemy models’ proper 3D models. They have idle animations and even react whenever they get hit or die. Some even have attacking animations.
Hamstrung Narrative Pacing
To say that many people got into the series through its story is a bit of an understatement. Sure, most of them may have been attracted by the heroines, but the vast majority of them end up staying because of the plot (and not the figurative kind. Mostly).
Mushoku Tensei’s story is told with an intimate pacing. It’s neither too fast nor too slow. It truly feels like the tale of an individual’s life unfolding before an audience’s eyes. On the other hand, dungeon crawlers are usually painstakingly slow. This is particularly true for dungeon crawlers coming out of Japan, like Labyrinth of Galleria and Mary Skelter.
And since they designed the game as a dungeon crawler, the result is the series’ tale being cut into tiny chunks and scattered with unfittingly wide gaps between them.
Very Basic Exploration
As a dungeon crawler, exploration is a core part of the gameplay. The completion rate is displayed as blank areas on the map and a numerical value at every stage. This not only indicates that there are places you haven’t been to yet but also tells you of the possibility that there are paths or loot that you haven’t taken.
You’d normally want to do everything in your power to fully explore each area. But at the same time, having to move to every single unexplored square isn’t many people’s idea of a fun time. Hence, some dungeon crawlers like to add spice to the exploration sequence by constantly making you guess if what you’re lacking is hidden behind a wall, ready to be unearthed at a later date.
This game… doesn’t really do that. While there are more map varieties later on in the game, you’ll always be sure that your target areas aren’t hidden in specific places 99% of the time. This, in turn, makes exploration a simple matter of just running around, gifting monsters a new breathing hole, and stepping into blank tiles on the map. Egh.
Is Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories Worth It?
At that price? No, it isn’t.
The game’s asking price of $44.99 may have been justifiable if it could offer something more than just the standard gameplay of the genre. But as it stands, all you’re really paying for is the time to experience the series in a dungeon-crawler format with no real novelty. So, unless you’re simultaneously a diehard fan of the series and of dungeon crawlers, then I suggest that you spend your money on something else.
This is especially true if you haven’t read or watched Mushoku Tensei yet.
| Platform | Price |
|---|---|
| Steam |
$44.99 |
Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories FAQ
When does Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories occur in the series?
It occurs roughly after the tail end of the season 2 anime or after the novel’s second volume.
Does every character appear in Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories?
Canonically, Rudeus, Eris, and Ruijerd take center stage throughout the arc. However, most characters do appear in the game as playable characters, but without any participation in the story except for specific flashbacks.
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Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories Product Information
 |
|
| Title | MUSHOKU TENSEI: JOBLESS REINCARNATION - QUEST OF MEMORIES |
|---|---|
| Release Date | June 20, 2024 (except China) |
| Developer | LANCARSE Ltd. |
| Publisher | Bushiroad Inc. |
| Supported Platforms | PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC |
| Genre | RPG, Dungeon Crawler |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | Not Rated |
| Official Website | Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation - Quest of Memories Website |
