Nintendo's Super Mario Maker games were so well received, you have to wonder why they haven't made a "Zelda Maker." Well, a pair of indie developers and Apogee Entertainment have made the next best thing with their Quest Master for Steam. The game lets up to three local players design, share, and play dungeons together. Even though Quest Master has only just launched in Early Access, it's already a polished product that fans of Zelda-style action adventure games will love.
In the free demo, the game begins with 1-3 local players waking up in their house, much like the opening of Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The team can then explore the hub world, a city that lies outside of a castle. Within the town, they can talk to various NPCs such as the dojo master who gives them swords. You can even recruit NPC helpers who will follow you around.
The bulk of the game will be accessed from the headquarters of the Questmaster NPC. There, players can design their own dungeons or play dungeons that have been shared by others. The dungeon design interface doesn't seem to have been fully optimized for controllers just yet, and I couldn't find a tutorial either. Despite those hiccups, players are already sharing cool dungeons, which means there's lots of content to play.
Quest Master sells for $19.99 on Steam, and there's also a free demo. The game supports 3-player local co-op, but online co-op is on the game's roadmap. The full launch is currently scheduled for Quarter 4 of this year.