The world of Deponia is well crafted with just enough context and backstory to keep things interesting but without overly lengthy and burdensome exposition. The art style is colorful and playful, the hand drawn backgrounds are very well done and polished, and the cutscene animations provide some great transitions. The comedic style is best described as zany. A lot of this is due to Rufus' pompous tomfoolery. The game doesn't take itself too seriously and there were several moments where I laughed out loud at the ridiculous scenario Rufus landed himself in or at his unfiltered commentary. The hint system is well integrated and does not give much away at all. I would even say it should be a standard feature in the point and click genre. I prefer thinking about how to solve problems rather than wasting time hovering my mouse cursor over every little potentially interesting doodad to see if it's interactable or not. You may disagree. The puzzles in this 1st installment are a bit hit or miss. Many are quite intuitive and can be solved fairly easily. Others are much more laborious; perhaps I just didn't understand them. Now onto the main complaint noted here -- the pigeon puzzle can be broken and prevent you from progressing. Apparently some players experience this and others don't. I did have this issue. The fix requires you to download a save state from Daedalic's site. Choose the one closest to your point of soft lock. For some players, this is some grievous sin worthy of a 1 star review. For me it was a minor inconvenience and at worst a 0.5 star deduction. The inventory gets reset at least once during the game anyway, so if you're a player who doesn't care about 100% achievements then it shouldn't matter. Overall this is a well polished point and click adventure from Daedalic. It left the same aftertaste as finishing a good movie or book. All of the games are frequently on sale for a few dollars each, so the value is absolutely unbeatable.
Atmospheric. Ethereal. Dreamlike. As others have mentioned, the art style is something to behold and the vision of the developers was clearly imprinted. There are light platforming elements and the puzzles strike the right balance of challenge and are very well thought out and constructed. The gameplay mechanics are incorporated into the landscapes organically and are introduced intuitively. All the environments have their own unique aesthetic and introduce at least one new mechanic that differentiates them from the others. Yet the overall tone and pacing is always present and that thread is never broken throughout the experience. This game is truly a beautiful work of art. A journey, not a destination. Hats off to the developers.
