Deponia Doomsday | a Review
originally published on 09/08/2020;
Hello everyone, I am the wobbly bobbly G.E.M.Simov, a dinkster who finds himself immeasurably disappointed by the need to talk about Deponia Doomsday 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.
Most of the content in this review is copy pasted from the previous Deponia reviews as nothing changed.
GAMEPLAY
Deponia Doomsday's gameplay is the exact same as every other Deponia’s gameplay - as in, it is Deponia. It 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 careful with their 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 enjoy-ability 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 either, nor was the text interesting, as a norm. There were outliers.
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 Doomsday is quite convoluted, but, alas, not good. The characters are unlikable, made even more so infuriating by the circumstances of… Flashbacks? The game taking place before the first Deponia? Due to the presence of dimension hopping and time travel? The character development that we had gotten from Rufus is completely nullified. It’s gone. Nada.
Ah yes, Rufus - that’s the main character, an entitled, rude, unwashed, selfish and egotistical prick, the exact same idiot from before the last three games… But he’s just like the guy in the first two games. The story takes place a few days or weeks or months before the events described in Deponia, because Rufus is still Toni’s boyfriend.
The story this time starts off with an old Rufus in the distant future dealing with issues and solving problems, as he does. Then, a flashback occurs, or the first section (that being old Rufus) is utilized in a retrospective manner, which is quite nice, even though the events that transpire in it are ones that have yet to happen, so, perhaps, the whole game is a retrospection, although the events that transpire make the future described in the opening sequence… Not an accurate representation of the actual future?
This Deponia installment is actually almost freed of contrivances… Except, of course, that it isn’t. Elephants, in all their forms, are horribly ridiculous in this game. So much so, in fact, that they are responsible for most, if not all, of the plot contrivances. Some old characters reappear and seem to have undergone their own types of character development, which, mind you, make no sense when the player takes into account the interactions between said characters and other characters, observed so far in the previous installments.
Alas, it is quite saddening and disappointing, although the use of time travel was relatively pleasant. 1/3
LEGENDARY POINT
Does this game, that is really just a clicking simulator with a disgusting story, get the Legendary Point? Heck no, this ain't a charity, folks. 0/1
CONCLUSION
5/10. It's just an average game, one I would not recommend. Do watch a playthrough of it on some website, preferably YouTube and my channel, because the story is actually novel enough to be able to warrant at least that.
On the wall of shame, I hang this game. I spit on it and rub it with a napkin, so as to make the mouldy exterior more pleasant to lay eyes upon, but it is in vain. It’s just mediocre and unsatisfying in the most upsetting way.