Game: Peasant’s Quest
Creator: Homestar Runner
Released: August 2004
Play it here: http://www.homestarrunner.com/disk4of12.html
For the second Netstorian live stream I thought it would be fun to revisit a game from Homestar Runner. Though Peasant’s Quest doesn’t feature any beloved main characters such as Homestar or Strong Bad, the game still serves as an important piece of the site. I remember playing this game about nine or 10 years ago when I would visit the website almost daily. Last night was my first time playing it since then.
My second stream was more visually pleasing than the first. In other words, I finally learned how to crop a window when using OBS, so my entire computer display wasn’t taking up a large amount of the screen like last time.
The game
You play as a peasant named Rather Dashing whose home has been “burninated” by Trogdor the Burninator, a huge dragon who lives in a cave up on the mountain. Your objective is to seek revenge on Trogdor while completing various tasks in the process.
In order to fight Trogdor, you need to pass a guard by convincing him that you are just like every other average peasant. Your three main goals in the game are to make yourself “stink like a peasant, dress like a peasant, and be on fire like a peasant”.
All actions minus walking are text-based, so sometimes what you need to do requires you to guess the correct words to type. Luckily, the game mostly accepts loose matches (i.e. typing “talk to man” or simply “talk” would have the same effect).
Peasant’s Quest is based on a 1984 IBM PCjr game called King’s Quest, in both graphics and storyline. Peasant Quest’s graphics, as you can see, are simple and 16-bit like many 1980’s computer games. The simple graphics can be nostalgia for older players, or just something for fans of classic games to appreciate.
I’d put the game at a moderate difficulty. If you pay attention to your surroundings and connect the dots on what’s around the land, you can figure things out for the most part. In my own stream, there was a time where I needed the aid of a walkthrough, but that was only for one or two quick parts. The game took me less than an hour to complete, so it’d likely take someone else around the same amount of time, assuming they don’t face much difficulty.
Personal thoughts
I liked how the game didn’t take too long to complete. The concept is fun and I enjoyed the little bits of humour and occasional pop culture references that were included in the dialogue. I think one thing I would have liked in the game is some light background music, but that’s just a personal preference.
Anyone who watched the stream knew that the one thing that bothered me the most was the random naked man in the tree. I spent a good portion of the game trying to figure out what exactly I was supposed to do with him. He was the only character whose purpose I couldn’t figure out until later.
I ended the game with 148 of 150 points. At first I thought the missing two points involved the frustrating naked man (who I later find out is known as Naked Ned), but it turns out those two points were lost from two different events. Had I closed the drawer in Naked Ned’s home, and successfully acquired an arrow on the first attempt, I would have made a perfect score. With that in mind, Naked Ned served no purpose other than being a funny naked guy hiding in a tree.
The nice thing about Peasant’s Quest is that despite being a Homestar Runner game, players don’t need to have any pre-existing knowledge of the site to successfully understand and complete it. If you like a quick adventure games that cater to nostalgia, you’ll probably like Peasant’s Quest.
Miss the stream? Watch the embedded YouTube video below. Follow The Netstorian on YouTube and Twitch and tune in to future broadcasts, Sundays at 7 p.m. EST.
What was your favourite part of Peasant’s Quest? Share your story in the comments.
Know a game from Web 1.0 or Web 2.0 you want to see in a future stream? Send an e-mail to thenetstorian@gmail.com
The Netstorian 
