Game review: Deponia

Back when the PlayStation One ruled the roost, these games were everywhere, more dominant of course on the PC which hardware limitations were of no importance as the cut scenes were just low resolution video files, and the on screen visuals were not that fast paced compared to today’s games.

Well this genre may have faded, however to replenish the light of these pointy and clicky games Daedalic Entertainment have produced a little gem called Deponia which in its entirety is comparable to timeless classics such as Discworld and Broken Sword.

Deponia is the first of an intended trilogy of games where players control Rufus, who is arrogant and very ill-tempered and lives on a garbage-covered planet named Deponia and above the planet’s surface are floating cities where the wealthy citizens live.

Rufus dreams of living in these cities as would we all when one day a beautiful girl falls from the skies called Goal.

Rufus sees this opportunity to gain access to the rich cities as he soon learns he looks exactly like Goal’s husband to which he uses to his advantage to return Goal home and possibly obtain a better life above.

The story is told in a humorous way which trails along at a steady pace.

There is plenty in Deponia to laugh at embedded in the games dialogue and also the fun looking cartoony graphics make things look like a cartoon you would watch on a Saturday morning.

Characters rain personality, making them a pleasure to hear what they have got to say and learn more of the game world and story.

I enjoyed the story as I found it weird yet wonderful as the old cliché goes.

As mentioned before, the game adopts a cartoony style of visuals which complement the game’s humorous nature.

At top spec, the game looks fantastic and oozing with personality, with Deponias garbage-laden locales bursting with colour, and a sharpness that I can only compare to watching a Walt Disney Blu-ray.

One thing I didn’t like was the way the characters move as it often felt like they were simplified by missing out a few frames.

This took a little bit of charm from it but not enough to ruin the whole experience as it can be easily overlooked to enjoy the game to its full potential.

Each character has unique facial expressions to reflect their dialogue to assist in putting feeling into things they say which I thought was a nice touch and made it look as though the character who was talking, was really getting into the conversation using selected facial expressions.

The humour is endless, which starts from the word go as Rufus tries to enter Toni’s bedroom, a guillotine slices downwards placed in the door way. Funny stuff.

Point-and-click explains the entirety of the games controls, you simply use the mouse to point an on screen cursor and click to move Rufus, pick up items, use items, talk to people, decide what you would like Rufus to say or ask and so on and so forth.

It’s a simple aspect that has gave these kind of games the accolade they have earned throughout the years and is instantly accessible to even the least gamers of gamers.

The puzzles that pollute this game retain the toughness that Discworld and Broken Sword did which require a lot of thinking.

However, you will soon find yourself scanning the screen with the mouse hoping to come across anything you may have missed or just clicking in random places to try and find that one darned item required to progress you have been hunting for for days.

Summary

Revitalising the point-and-click genre made popular in the 90s, Deponia succeeds undoubtedly with its constant array of audible and visual humour and charm that takes from the likes of the Secret Of Monkey Island games.

Whilst the movements of characters seem a little rushed, it does nothing to downsize the games overall experience that it offers and the challenging puzzles keeps players on their toes.

Deponia is a delightful little gem that begins the trilogy, let’s just hope the trend stays and the old saying of the first one is always the best is nothing but just a saying.

Deponia

Developers : Daedalic Entertainment

Publishers: Daedalic Entertainment

Genre: Point and Click

Release Date: 6th August 2012

Story – 3/5

Graphics - 3.5/5

Gameplay – 4/5

Overall – 3.5/5