Queen’s Wish: The Conqueror

Slow to start, but a good midgame and endgame. It was nice to see Spiderweb experiment with a base mechanic, and I thoroughly enjoyed it by the end. Looking forward to getting stuck into QW2.

I must have tried to get into the (always expansive Spiderweb) demo for this game 4 or 5 times in the six years since this game first released only to quickly give up when hit with the base building. I hate base building. I see the anything about base building in a Steam game's tags I hit the "ignore" button immediately. I was also badly put off by the "succeed all in one go or gain absolutely nothing" and the lack of any benefit most of the time to defeating foes in world map encounters.
So I had pretty much given up on the Queen's Wish series. But that gnawed at me. I've been playing Sipderweb games for almost 25 years, starting from a download bought off Spiderweb's web site of Avernum 1 before Steam even existed. I've played every game they put out since then, most multiple times. Was I really not going to play Jeff Vogel's last original series before retiring?
So I decided to give QW one more go and this time to get deeper into it before deciding whether to give up or not. And I ended up loving it! I still hate base building, I didn't enjoy feeling like I needed to save scum travel on the world map to be ready to hit quick load if I accidentally ran into a wandering mob, and while I came around more to the "succeed or gain nothing" location approach I'm not completely sold on it. But it didn't take long for those reservations to fade far into the background compared to what's at base another terrific Spiderweb RPG with all the terrific elements that made the Avernum (originals and remakes), Geneforge (original and remakes), and Avadon games so great.

I am loving my time In Queens Wish: The Conqueror. I find it engaging and while it was a bit slow to start it gets better. I like all of their games that I have played by them.

It's good! The fort building and resource management aspect is simple and easy to learn. The combat is simple, but fun enough. Upgrading your equipment is rewarding and being able to reset stats makes for a decent amount of build variety since you're not locked into any class at all. The simple graphics and sound effects are charming and the writing is good for a game with a small budget. Going to dive into Avadon and Avernum at some point. 8/10.

I'm somewhat obsessed with all the Spiderweb Software game series, and of late, Queen's Wish has been on the top of my list of their games.
There's everything here I've been looking for in a good RPG for years now. It has excellent writing and a compelling story with amazing world building, which is my personal biggest driver (and is true for all of their other franchises), and the game loop is just right. Tactical combat is turn based and fast paced with reasonable depth and no extraneous elements. Exploration is satisfying and the world is large and feels very lived in (and the fast travel option becomes more and more useful as the game progresses). There is a lot of content, yet none of it feels like it's there just as filler (there is some repetition in mine-cleansing quests, but it's not too problematic).
What I also like is that character progression and equipment procurement is meaningful. Each level brings much needed ability increases, and 1 added level might make a difference between a quest being possible to complete or not just yet. Equipment is rare and relatively expensive, so there's no meaningless looting here - every find is useful.
Base and kingdom building adds one more layer, and is well integrated with the questing and exploration aspects of the game. There's an interdependence between personal quests and the state of your colonies that feels natural and adds to the overall experience in a way which makes it larger than the sum of its parts. Evolving familial and personal connections are a cherry on top.
There's also an elephant in the room with these games. For what it is, I find the graphics quite compelling though. Queen's Wish doesn't try to be flashy (on the contrary, it embraces its scrappiness), but I find the graphics appealing nevertheless, and they are very readable and quite varied. No sprite or character portrait here will win an art contest, but there's many little details scattered throughout the world, and each tells a story, which to me is, again, the most important thing in a game like this.
Finally, I'll add that I'm playing this mostly on the Steam Deck, and it's great! Almost all game text is presented in dialog boxes that take a relatively small central portion of the screen, which works great with Steam Deck's ability to toggle zoom in and out on a mappable key press. I set the display zoom to 220% is settings which allows me to instantly zoom into the text portion for dialogs and for reading tool tips on the small screen. I mapped the left trackpad to an on-screen menu with numbers 1 through 6 which I also positioned centrally, so it appears overlayed on top of text popups for choosing dialog options. Loaded up with all Spiderweb games, my Steam Deck is almost like a specialized ebook reader for choose-your-own-adventure books filled with tight tactical combat. I love it!
To me, these games are like cozy adventure books with surprisingly compelling, deep and multifaceted stories, and Queen's Wish is unique among them.

I absolutely adore this game.
Jeff Vogel is a master craftsman, and this is one of his best works (though, if you ask his fanbase this is considered to be one of his 'not so great' pieces, deviating narratively and mechanically from the other core titles in a way that some don't like... though I find this analysis to be... wrong).
Queen's Wish captures that feeling of 'living in a place' and 'playing a role' (roleplaying) in such a superb way.
Like always, try to put aside your desire for modern graphics or super high fidelity art, and instead engage with the artwork here as presented... it is lovely, gorgeous, engaging, intimate, and full of personality in a way that is not immediate at first glance, but rapidly captures you and leaves you enthralled.
This is a 10 out of 10 game. Mechanics, story, world, gameplay, and fun.

I recommend this game for its writing, story, fort building mechanics, and the many choices it presents to the player. Queen's Wish: The Conqueror has a relatively unique premise and story line and the writing is of excellent quality.
You take on the role of the youngest member of Haven's royal house and are tasked with restoring Haven's rule over the three countries continent of Sacramentum. Ultimately, this requires convincing a faction within each country to sign a treaties of vassalage within Haven. This process involves finding out what the faction wants and completing a quest or quests to give it to them. There is also the question of what caused a great calamity that drove the vast majority of Haven's forces and institutions off of the continent. Solving this mystery is another key element of the game. Political and economic decisions and considerations thus constitute a major part of the story, alongside the traditional fantasy elements of the game.
The fort building is a satisfying element that adds yet more uniqueness to Queen's Wish: The Conqueror. Much of the best equipment in the game is obtained through stores built in your very own forts. As you explore Sacramentum, you find the ruins of Haven's old forts and are tasked with restoring them. Within each fort you can build various stores, along with other things, including barracks, bakeries, and distilleries. The more stores that you have built across all of your forts, the better the items that the merchants can sell to you. There is plenty of loot in dungeons and other locations and vendors exist outside of the forts, but much of the best equipment is only available if you build up Haven's forts. Building up the forts and watching them turn into bustling a mini-towns is entertaining and provides a visible indication of progress for the main quest line.
The graphics and sound effects are basic, but adequate enough for the game. The combat mechanics and character progression, while not extremely deep, are also sufficient. If you are looking for an RPG with deep gameplay and combat mechanics and detailed character progression then this game is unlikely to fulfill those desires. However, if you want to play a CRPG with an interesting story that presents that player with a large number of decisions and choices then this game is a good option. The Queen's Wish series is more niche than the Geneforge series, but still good.
The true draw of Queen's Wish: The Conqueror comes in the form of the world building, the writing, the story line itself, the fort building mechanics, and the fact that the player is presented with numerous choices throughout the game on a variety of topics and issues.