Lock's Quest

The game was positively received upon its original release in 2008, with critics particularly praising the plot, gameplay and graphics. Criticism was also made of the controls, both in building defences and controlling Lock on the battlefield. In 2017, a remaster of Lock's Quest was released for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and in 2019 was ported to iOS and Android mobile phones.

• Title — Lock's Quest • Developer — 5th Cell Digital Continue (remaster) • Publisher — THQ THQ Nordic (remaster) • Director — Jeremiah Slaczka • Designer — Jeremiah Slaczka • Composer — David J. Franco Released on • Released — Nintendo DS September 26, 2008February 19, 2009 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One Apple iOS, Android September 5, 2019 • Genre — Real-time strategy, tower defense • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer • Platforms — * Nintendo DS • Microsoft Windows • macOS • Linux • PlayStation 4 • Xbox One

• Illustration — Screenshot of the Nintendo DS version of the game. Players monitor the map and timer on the top screen, and control Lock with touch controls on the lower screen. Lock's Quest is a real-time strategy game, incorporating tower defense gameplay elements. The battlefield, viewed from an isometric perspective, is displayed on the DS's lower screen. The upper screen shows an overall map with locations of defences and enemies, as well as the remaining time in the battle. Combat is divided into two phases, Build and Battle. During the Build phase, the player has a limited amount of time and resources to construct defences, which consist of walls, towers, cannons, machines, and traps. Gates also allow Lock to move through defensive walls. Constructing defences consumes Source, which Lock can regain by defeating enemies. The Battle phase follows the Build phase, and involves fighting waves of enemies while maintaining defences. Lock is able to attack enemies, and perform quick time events to deal additional damage. The player can also use Lock to repair damage done to defences, which requires another quick time event called "ratcheting". The objective for most levels is to protect a particular individual or object. Enemies spawn in zones on the edge of the map and travel towards the target, attacking defences in their way. On some levels, special "boss" enemies appear that must be defeated to end the battle. Siege mode is an optional minigame which allows players to gain bonus Source for the main levels. This minigame is a 2D side-scrolling tower defense game. In addition to the main campaign, a multiplayer mode exists where players build defences as normal on separate maps, but also control what enemies are sent against the other player.

The game is set in the kingdom of Antonia, built using a mysterious substance known as Source. The builders of this kingdom, the Archineers, studied source in an attempt to better understand its properties. The greatest archineer was Agonius, who discovered a remarkable property of Source - that it can emulate life. Agonius started creating lifelike beings from the source, but the King, who understood the dangers of this, demanded that Agonius halt his work. Agonius refused, and so was banished from the kingdom. Seeking vengeance upon the King, Agonius assumed the mantle of Lord Agony and created a clockwork army with the intent of destroying the kingdom. A war ensued, with heavy casualties on both sides. Eventually, two kingdom archineers, Kenan and Jacob, infiltrated Agony's fortress. The exact nature of the events that happened therein are not revealed until the end of the game - all that is known, at first, is that Agony was defeated, and Jacob was missing, presumed dead. Kenan, now a hero, took up the position of Chief Archineer. The game itself begins some years after the events above. Lock is a young man living in the coastal village of Seacrest, along with his sister, Emi, and grandfather, Tobias. When the village (and entire kingdom) are attacked by a new army of clockworks, under a new Lord Agony, Lock enlists as an archineer and helps to fight the clockworks. After a 75-day campaign, the Kingdom force prevails and the new Agony is defeated. At the climax of the plot, it is revealed that the new Lord Agony is in fact Jacob. Long ago, when Jacob reached Agonius' chamber, he found Agonius a frail and broken man. He also found the young Lock, who was himself clockwork, the greatest creation of Agonius. Jacob took Lock and raised him as a human, under the guise of Tobias. He created Emi, who is also clockwork, and the village in which Lock was raised. At the end of the game, the King tells Lock that, despite being clockwork, he was truly alive, because Agonius had given Lock his soul. As Emi lacked a human soul, she would eventually die. The final scene of the game is Lock and Emi playing tag on the beach.

THQ revealed the development of a tower defence game with the working title Construction Combat: Lock's Quest in April 2008 in a press release. In July, at San Diego Comic-Con, THQ debuted a promotional mini-comic based on the universe of the game entitled Lock's Quest: A Source of Hope - Volume 1 drawn by Edison Yan. IGN awarded Lock's Quest its "Best Strategy Game" award for the Nintendo DS at E3 2008 in July. As promotion for the game's release, 5th Cell held a competition to win a custom DS Lite on their website. A similar competition was held by THQ Australia in October. Lock's Quest was released on September 9, 2008 in North America, with subsequent releases worldwide.

THQ Nordic published a remaster of the original game in May 2017 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. Developed by Digital Continue, it features a remastered graphics and soundtrack, as well as new game modes. The remaster received mostly negative reviews, with reviewers criticizing the controls and overall quality of the game. In September 2019, Lock's Quest was released on mobile devices on both the App Store and Google Play store.