Ok, I really hate to do this, but I have no choice - this quest is UNPLAYABLE for me. I played through twice - both times starting at the very beginning.

First playthrough:

I got stuck in level 6 with not enough keys because...



Even though the quest was frustrating at some points, it was good enough that I wanted to try completing this quest so I started over... FROM THE BEGINNING.

Second playthrough:

Using my experience from the first playthrough, I successfully navigated level 6. However, due to the bug bigboylink described, I got stuck in level 8. I was NOT going to restart again.

-I watched a playthrough where there was a key shop hidden in the cliff before level 5, but it was not there in my version
-No way to activate the cheats to give myself an extra key

If I would have been able to finish the quest on the second playthrough, I probably would have rated the quest 3 stars. There are a lot of redeeming qualities as highlighted by the other reviews, but to get stuck (not "oh what do I need to do... let me think about it" kind of stuck but GAME ENDING stuck) TWICE, the quest is unplayable for me. Yes, I got 9 hours out of it, but I consider an unplayable quest one where you can't get from the beginning to the end.

This was very fun. Solid dungeons, great puzzle elements, and a nice soundtrack.

*** There is a possible GAME BREAKING BUG in level 8 ***.

So, make a copy of your save file before entering level 8. (Or be like paranoid-me and make a copy before every level for every quest you play.) According to some posters in the forums, this bug isn't present if you play the game in v2.10.

Difficulty: This was a nice and welcome challenge. Wizzrobes, lynels, and splitting darknuts appear earlier than is typical in many quests. Same goes for many of the dungeon bosses. You won't be getting the blue mail for a while. In the quest description, the difficulty is claimed to be comparable to Hidden Duality & Link's Birthday, but I'd say Reclamation is more difficult than both.

The nice difficulty challenge is not simply limited to combat - there are some head-scratching puzzles contained in the quest. Of particular note are some of the best single-room block puzzles (such as those that are common in Hidden Duality) that I've seen. Great stuff.

As others have pointed out, the overworld is a bit clunky and could use some fine-tuning. I only took notice of this in the early part of the quest, so it's conceivable that the quest author simply became more skilled as he continued to work on the quest (assuming of course the early parts of the quest were built first).

Music was very cool, especially the DK64 soundtrack. I also found myself strolling outside with the Mario Kart Vanilla Lake theme stuck in my head (it is winter after all). Really like the Museum of War track too.

Final scores:
Dungeons (40%) 9.4/10.0
Overworld (20%) 7.9/10.0
Graphics (15%) 8.0/10.0
Soundtrack (25%) 9.0/10.0
Overall / Weighted Average: 8.8/10.0

It was fun, and that was the only thing saving it from a worse score. I will say the overworld and simplistic dungeon design hurt the quest. Other than screen design, which I believe you will get better at, you are definitely on the right path to becoming a good quest designer! Keep it up!

Bad overworld.

Dungeon play is solid! Challenge factor is there and good puzzlework at play, both blocks and "problem solving" how to advance. Some original sequences and ideas; you won't be disappointed with this one!!