‘The Quest’ review: ABC’s new show is this nerd’s dream come true

“The Quest” is the sort of show that we wish was on when we were a teenager, sitting in class and picturing ourselves off on crazy adventures. This is basically a LARP with much better production quality. Given that we love fantasy shows, we love LARPing, and we also love reality TV, this was basically a mash-up of our dreams.

This show really tried its best to bring you a genuine world in Everealm. The actors that they got were pretty great in selling this, and the contestants played along perfectly. Personally, we would have been that guy gawking at everything so openly that it made it hard for producers to do their thing since the scenery was gorgeous. There was real care put into this, and the intention was not to make it into another cheesy summer reality show. Just based on this alone, we were reminded much of the great but gone-too-soon reality series “Whodunnit.”

Then, there was the challenge component. In order to become the chosen hero of the realm, each paladin has to complete various mini-quests. Tonight, that was shooting arrows and preparing for a battle. Some were obviously better than others, but the real star was Ansgar as the guy running the show. He roasted these paladins like a noob in World of Warcraft. The team of Patrick, Christian, and Katie were in the bottom of the group, and therefore had to face “banishment.”

The process of who goes home on this show is in part challenge-based like “Opposite Worlds,” but also like “Survivor” in that of the two who lose the final task, one is “banished” back to earth. For a show without  a tangible prize, it was interesting to see the strategy at work here. We feel for Katie as the first boot, given that confidence seemed to be her real issue, and she could have built it up by being here.

The only flaws in the show right now to us are that the premiere was a little too short to get to know the players. Still, we were thoroughly excited about this first episode. This is easily the best new reality show we’ve seen in years. If you aren’t watching “The Quest” you really should be. Grade: A-.

What did you think about the premiere for “The Quest”? Share below.