Bluey’s Quest for the Golden Pen Review (Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Switch & PC)

As a parent of four, I get it. If it isn’t Peppa Pig that’s whittling away at your last brain cells, then it’s Bluey. The only redeeming factor here is that, unlike Peppa Pig, Bluey actually has something to say—a “message” to give, and a natural response to various childhood issues that you can both relate to and lean on as a loose crutch for parental woes.

Of course, it doesn’t matter if I’m two miles away, or if I’m sitting in the next room. If there’s a melodica hovering in the air, then it’s likely that Bandit, Bingo, and Chili are collectively dominating the screen to flaunt their Australian heritage. If it were Peppa Pig, then I’d react accordingly, with an ungodly scream and a bi-weekly mental meltdown. Yet, I can tolerate Bluey — enjoy it, even. I can’t bring myself to adore it, but I can certainly see the appeal. Frankly, though, anything beats Peppa Pig.

Take Quest for the Gold Pen, for example. Given that I enjoyed spending a handful of hours working alongside my eldest daughter to locate stickers and engage in countless bouts of ‘The Floor is Lava’, I almost knew that I’d find something to praise in its Zelda–like world. Something to write home about, no — but a game that I could get with, nonetheless.

With thanks to its annoyingly charming sketchbook-like aesthetic and its dynamic platforming-puzzle style, Quest for the Gold Pen felt like an easy way to spend time. As a gamer, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought. But as a parent, it came across as a perfect opportunity to bond and, more importantly, pass down the fundamentals to an eager protégé. The story was pulpy, and the general point of the whole ordeal was comical. But that wasn’t what drew me to the notebook. Rather, it was the fact that it had a new lesson to pass down. The sticker hunting was out, and the platforming was in.

Quest for the Gold Pen is, first and foremost, a 2.5D sketchbook-based platforming game that centers its world around nine distinct biomes, all of which come in the form of childish drawings. As the titular heroes and their superfluous personas, you are handed the opportunity to plunge into each sketch, gather items, complete basic puzzles, and unlock special ingredients that allow you to additional biomes. And if you think this sounds a little too familiar, well that’s because it is. It’s a children’s platforming collect-a-thon, nothing more, nothing less. But of course, with sketches to help broaden its appeal.

Without trying to sour the strawberry bowl, it is worth pointing out that, story-wise, Quest for the Gold Pen is about as forgettable as children’s video games come. Bandit, as the supposed harbinger of chaos, has taken the beloved Gold Pen, and it falls to you to venture into various paper thin sketches to complete tasks, collect resources, and ultimately reclaim the ink to finish a drawing. With that, you don’t have a lot to reel you in. Simply put, the Wheeler family fall backward into an archipelago of artwork, and you, as Bluey and Bingo, have the task of escaping from it.

To give credit where it’s due, Quest for the Gold Pen has some genuinely interesting stages and a quality amount of platforming challenges for you to tackle. For the seasoned player, it might feel a little too easy — but for those who’ve little to no experience with video games, it poses as a great entry-level uphill battle that juggles both precision-based gameplay and basic scavenging elements. For the most part, though, what you see is what you get: a charming stage hopper exploit that tasks you with romping through sketches, using a magic wand to manipulate objects, and exploring a variety of familiar locations.

It comes as no major surprise that Quest for the Gold Pen is a rather short game. At just two hours, you can more or less see just about everything that it has to offer, including its paper kingdoms, its collectibles, and its interwoven cutscenes. Not that this comes as much of a shock, mind you, given that it isn’t a full-fledged game, but rather, an entry-level mobile port that serves as more of an introduction to video games than a lofty puzzle-platforming experience. Though, that isn’t to say that it’s without its own lovable facets.

With some well-placed cutscenes to help break up the journey, Quest for the Gold Pen is just as much of an episode from the television series as it is an interactive adventure. The only downside to this is that, despite there being a handful of animated tearaways, most of the game is eerily silent, in that there is no voiceover work to accompany the characters’ grand adventure. It would have made for a great addition, naturally. Grunts, text, and majestic wand effects, however, are the prominent elements here.

All in all I’d argue that Quest for the Gold Pen is a wholesome puzzle game that can quite easily keep younger gamers engaged for two or three hours. It might not appeal to those who are desperately seeking a viable solution for their platforming-addled needs, but for fans of the beloved franchise, it ought to go down a real treat. Honestly, though, it’s better to take it all at face value. Quest for the Gold Pen isn’t about to knock the likes of Mario Odyssey or The Legend of Zelda from their rightful spots on the podium. It is, on the other hand, likely to give the younger generation something to smile about.

Verdict

Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen provides a clean entry-level puzzle-platforming experience that blends both traditional gameplay elements with familiar tearaways that cater to fans of the beloved television series. It might not be the greatest game to waltz the 2.5D earth since The Legend of Zelda, but to give credit where it’s due, it certainly lives up to its promise as a wholesome game with lightweight components.

Of course, if you’re a fan of Bluey and happen to be on the market for an affordable experience that can cater to both older and younger players, then I’d say that Quest for the Gold Pen would make for a solid choice here. It’s short, simple, and absolutely bursting at the seams with all of the usual Bluey-based bits and pieces that fans of the franchise will immediately recognize and appreciate. Maybe that’s all that you truly need here.