Rent-A-Hero

About

Rent-A-Hero is a point-and-click RPG from 1998 that mixes 3D character models with pre-rendered backgrounds. You play Rodrigo, a washed-up hero struggling to find work in a world oversaturated with knights and under-supplied with dragons. The game tasks you with tracking down a missing wife, thwarting pirates, and navigating a plot involving floating cities and cursed rocks. Dialogue and character interactions lean into absurd humor, with quirky NPCs and running gags that skew more slapstick than epic. The game’s charm lies in its deadpan silliness and over-the-top scenarios. Despite a disjointed story and clunky puzzle design, its irreverent tone and memorable moments, like battling a sentient tree in a casino, have earned it a niche following. Developer neo Software later became Rockstar Vienna, known for the Saints Row series. With over 30 explorable locations and a cast of eccentric characters, Rent-A-Hero feels like a forgotten relic of late-90s PC gaming that still occasionally delights.

Storyline

Rodrigo is a hero, but in this game it's not as cool as it sounds. He lives on the isle Tol Andar and there are many, many other heroes there. The problem is that there are not enough princesses to rescue or dragons to slay for all the heroes, so Rodrigo is currently unemployed. Another problem involves pirates who want to raid the city Smashville and create flying ships with magical gloomstones. Confronted with this situation, Rodrigo is very disillusioned. Just in time, the dwarf Ramil hires Rodrigo to find his wife Jasmin, who was captured by the pirates and is held in the city of Endavin.