Deponia 3: Goodbye Deponia

As the third and final installment of the Deponia trilogy, I guess you're well aware by now what this game is about, and the same criticisms and praise apply to it, but to summarize: * Rufus, the antihero, is still a self centered egotistical jerk. * You appear closer to reaching your Goal. Hehe. See what I did there? F-U-N-N-Y. * Voice acting is good, with the occasional bug on the subtitle and language department. * Minorities are to be laughed at, since they deviate from what can be perceived as normal. (You freak.) * NON 17-25 yr old 1.7-1.8m (~6 ft) tall Caucasian males are NOT normal. * Poisoning, betraying and murdering innocent people or animals still carry no consequences, since they help you reach your Goal. * The art department made a great job. * Puzzles are hard but not insanely difficult. Unfortunately you'll end up solving more of them by the select object-click everything on the screen-rinse and repeat method (was my case anyway). New to the table are: * A location where every dialogue comes with an audience response, including a laughing track! (M is your friend). * An ending. * Funny jokes! I kid you not! That is not sarcasm, and part of the reason I elevated the score to 3 is that I found myself laughing at some of the situations for what appeared to be the 1st time in the series. Now if you're reading this far and haven't played the previous games, I can recommend you buy this one on 2 conditions: 1. Watch the cutscenes of it predecessors, and 2. Get it on sale. The game is not long and has no replay value, so you may not feel like getting its money's worth paying full price. In fact, I think the only sensible way to get around Deponia is not getting the previous installments, since this is where the story really picks up (but never launches, unfortunately), and you'll make as much sense of the story as those who played through the whole ordeal. Sorry, I meant to say, adventure. You'll probably enjoy the ending as much as I did. And boy did I...

Gameplay - decent puzzles, voice acting and story are good. Rufus is pretty unlikeable though. HOWEVER! Be ready for pedophilia, child killing, and the most blatantly unfunny racist "joke" of a puzzle you have ever seen. I almost threw up. I like dark humor but this wasn't funny. It was the type of offensive that makes you say, "did the developers do that because they thought it was humorous, or are they really so stupid and racist that they didn't think it was a big deal?" Kinda wish now that I hadn't bought it.

The game series is certainly one of the better adventure series around. I have seen better of course and sometimes I have to ask why the animations in old ... err ... classic adventure series are more detailed than in a new one. The riddle design is fair most of the time. What disappoints me most however, is that Daedalic and GoG could not find a way for a constant release format. Part 1+2 in english + german ... check Part 3 in english only ... why? Why is the original language not included if it was in the other 2 parts?

I love Deadalic's games. Some of the best point & click adventures of the last 5 years came from them, especially Edna & Harvey: The Breakout. Edna & Harvey kept me entertained with its great humour and funny characters, something I absolutely miss in the Deponia games. Rufus has always been a big jerk, he got less likeable over time, and he is simply terrible in this one, so bad that he's not even a charming antihero but simply a big buttface. The game overall is terrible with its occasional racism and sexist depiction of women. For example, one of he very few black characters (who is also a woman wearing very revealing clothes) works as a monkey for an organist, strong female characters are made fun of for being in the army and the name of the damsel in distress is Goal. The artstyle on the other hand is good, the puzzles are average. None of those two points make the game worth the money. If you're looking for a fun adventure with a nice story and charming characters you are better off with Deadalic's other games.

I haven't finished this game nor do I intend to. I played the first 2 (somehow), but this one is the end for me. My literal goodbye to Deponia. Rufus is easily the worst protagonist in any point and click game I've played. He's cruel, misogynist, racist, abusive, egomaniacal, arrogant and just plain unfunny. All of his jokes involve humilating his friends and destroying their lives. He hasn't changed at all in any of the games. The last straw for me was when he tricked an old 'friend' in splitting with said friend's girfriend and then tricked her, a black girl into playing, no joke, a monkey... Wow. Over the course of the 2 1/2 games he's done the following to his own 'girlfriend': Knocked her off a plane, dropped her from a crane, fed her espresso with battery acid, split her personality into 3, used a remote to switch her personalities at will, used her as a lightning rod, dropped her from a second plane, stripped her to her underwear, lied to her frequently, insulted her, and ultimately killed her with an overdose. All of these events are supposed to played for laughs, but only the first one can ever be funny. Afterwards it's just pathetic and poor character writing. The writers don't know how to grow a character, so they just didn't bother. Yeah, I guess the world design is still nice and the puzzles are all right... you know, when Rufus isn't ruining the lives of everyone around him.