Deponia | a Review
originally published on 06/08/2020;
Hello everyone, I am the much-more-charismatic G.E.M.Simov, a mongrel from the depths of Hell who finds himself talking about Deponia on this day.
Simple review details - I rank games on an out of 10 basis, granting up to 3 points in 3 categories, as well as a last, single point from my own self, depending on my experience with it. Also, I am a gameplay designer and a writer so I got the credentials to talk shit.
GAMEPLAY
Deponia is a point-and-click game, which means that it requires only a mouse and its Left Button to be played. It provides the Player with a Player Character (PC) who walks to whichever spot the Player clicks or to whichever object the Player clicks and interacts with it (if the object is one that can be interacted with).Clicking objects with the Right Mouse Button (RMB) makes the PC comment about the object (or Character).
In addition to that, the Player has the option to pick some items up, putting them in the PC's inventory, which can be accessed by scrolling up, or down, with the Mouse Wheel (Mouse Button 3). It features a large number of slots that get filled up with the items the PC picks up. An item, when hovered over in the inventory, can either be used (by the PC, on itself) or it can be used on an object in the game world, with the alternative being to have it be used on or given to a Character in the game world.
Lastly, whenever clicking on a Character to interact with them, the PC will either attempt to or successfully being a conversation with them. That will bring up a menu with a number of options that can be selected, as a result of which the PC will say whatever the option reads, and then the other Character will react to it. These Dialogues can be very important, and some options can only be selected once, so the Player should be carefulwiththeir approach.
In theory, this game is very simple, and it plays very well thanks to the simplicity of its controls. However, as a consequence of the fact that it is a point-and-click adventure game, it also has to feature puzzles as a means of challenging the Player in some way, so as to avoid simply being a visual novel. However, these puzzles - solved by interacting with objects in the game world or using items from the inventory to do that interaction with game world objects - fall into the trappings of the classic point-and-click game's puzzles.
What does that mean? Well, a puzzle can be two things - simple or hard. It is hard whenever the one solving it does not have access to the information needed to solve it, or whenever it is not intuitive (does not stick to some sort of logic). The classic adventure (point-and-click) game's blunder is that it happens to make its puzzles lack that intuitive element, it makes them thoroughly illogical, and that makes them hard, but not in a good way - one that requires that the Player gathers information so as to solve them - but in a bad way. The only way to solve that kind of illogical puzzle is to keep attempting solutions until, randomly, the Player gets lucky. That's bad design.
So, overall, what is the verdict? The game has a very simple, and smooth, vibe to its gameplay. That makes it pleasant for the Player to just play, to interact with things and do stuff in the game world - which is good. Some of the puzzles abide by some sort of logic, which makes things very nice for the Player, and provides an enjoyability to the experience. However, the presence of the illogical puzzles sours things thoroughly. 2/3
PRESENTATION
The game looks very nice. Due to the fact that its appearance is as stylized as some of the unmentionable sources of entertainment, originating in Japan, I am left pleased by the cartoony appearance of the characters. It is interesting how the characters seem to POP from the background, due to the fact that the lines outlining them are much thicker than those of the scenery, but that is excusable and makes it easier to spot important people.
The sound effects are passable, the music is decent enough, but it becomes boring very quickly. The voice acting is good, but the animations are really, really distracting. There are songs intertwined with the beginning of every act, but they really ripped me out of the experience and completely broke my immersion. The singing was not that good as well, and let us not even talk about the level or poetry of the text in the... Scheiß Lied. Unspeakable.
The art is the one thing I can not really complain about, so kudos to whoever worked on it. Daedalic, stick to illustrations and world building! 2/3
STORY
The story of Deponia is, arguably, its weakest link. The characters are unlikeable, so much so that I found myself FORCING my hand to click so that I would go on. The issue is even worse in future installments, due to the fact that it appears as if there is no character development, or, rather, as much as there is in respectable HENTAI anime series.
The main character is Rufus, an entitled, rude, unwashed, selfish and egotistical prick, which is putting it lightly, who wants to leave Deponia. Something happens with one of his many failed attempts at doing so, and it results in the appearance of an Elysian in the garbage-land. Rufus falls in love, or just gets a chub, and decides he will help the Elysian get back to Elysium, which is a city flying in the sky, that is, of course, much cleaner and nicer than Deponia.
Don't tell her Rufus is planning on using her to get there as well.
In any case, the only interesting thing is the background and the world. How did Deponia come to be the way that it is? What happened? Why does Elysium exist? Why are there people living in the trash? Why do Elysians have no noses?
All these questions, and more, are NOT answered in this game. Very unsatisfying. Very, very sad. 1/3
LEGENDARY POINT
Does this game, that is really just a clicking simulator with a disgusting story, get the Legendary Point? Heck no. I would rather give my Legendary Point, my ONE and ONLY gift to any game, to a hentai game, because then I'd see tits. This "sorry excuse of a" game did not spark my interest enough, it did not stick with me and make me think, nor did it inspire me. The only thing I thought about was how horrible Rufus was, how poorly written his character felt, and how dissatisfying it was to beat the game only to achieve... [EXPUNGED DATA]
Actually, no. Screw this. Spoilers! Rufus ends up back in square one. He does not get any closer to Elysium. It is obvious sequel baiting. 0/1
CONCLUSION
5/10. It's just an average game, but not one I would recommend. Go watch a playthrough of it on some website, preferably YouTube, because playing it and wasting your money on sub-par products like this is not a good idea. Instead, save up your money and buy a Doner, or two of them. God knows I would have.
On the wall of shame, I hang this game. I spit on it and rub it with a napkin, so as to make the moldy exterior more pleasant to lay eyes upon, but it is in vain. It's just mediocre, but infuriatingly so.