Pesterquest (2019)

Despite backing Hiveswap at the time of its kickstarter (2014, the good Homestuck times!), I haven't played it. Mostly because I didn't receive a key until way too late and my interest in the "continuation" of webcomic had waned severely to the point where even Homestuck 2 and Homestuck: The Epilogues felt like they were overstaying their welcome (they're fanfics of Homestuck in my eyes and nothing will change it. the webcomic for me ended prior to the retcon).

Queue Amazon Games giving away Pesterquest for free through their launcher.

To my surprise, Pesterquest still felt familiar enough not to feel too outlandish but it still felt like it was lacking what was at the core of the original experience. The music still felt impactful and more adhesive to the titular characters of the series, yet it felt as if the kids themselves felt somewhat hollow in their interactions with the Main Character... and perhaps it's because they're meant to be taken post-retcon rather than my own interpretation of them.

It's a Visual Novel style of game, you return in the same vest as the MSPA Reader from Hiveswap Friendsim (which I skipped fully because I did not want to pay more money on top of the torturous Kickstarter that Hiveswap was on itself) and you befriend the iconic characters of the webcomic. Pretty cool if it weren't that everything takes place post-Epilogues, one of the worst written and character defying pieces of literature to ever spawn from Homestuck: if you thought Homestuck 2 was fanfiction at its best, Epilogues was a fanon's wettest dream come true.

And it shows in the later parts of the game, from Kanaya's god-awful mischaracterization to the infantilization of Vriska and Gamzee's characters, this game is nothing short than the writers' poorly disguised fanon fetish.

They could never make me hate Dirk Strider, no matter how much they mangle his own concept, characterization and everything he was and will always be pre-retcon.

If you have no interest in Hiveswap and Hiveswap: Friendsim, you might not enjoy it. If you liked those, I suppose you might like it. For me, it gets 2 stars only for nostalgia's sake and for Ultimate Buff Dirk Strider and the release of the un-released track "Beatdown". Once for each, you might say.

Ironically enough, in the non-sensical choice to villanize Dirk Strider, they also created the singular most compelling archetype of character I always loved and always wished would win, so... Good job on that.