This is a direct sequel to the first Deponia and all the problems plaguing the first one are still relevant here. The devs seem to have tried to address some of it, but I think with no success overall. The graphics is as great as it was, and it appears with much less glitches this time, so that's the good part. The protagonist, and frankly speaking most of the characters, are still unbearable,e xcept this time instead of banking on Rufus'es douchery they tried to emphasize his idiocity. Which makes it slightly better, but he's still insufferable. I found myself skipping dialogs on multiple occasions just because I couldn't stand it anymore. There are a some good jokes but those a few and far between. I think I laughed three or four times, which is still more than the first game. The rest of it is just as offensive, sexist, stupid and sick as it used to be. And again with the animal cruelty. The puzzles have got more variety to them, there are new purely mechanical puzzles, a good addition to the game. The game world became bigger and more open-ended too. But herein lies the problem - I think the devs failed to manage the increased scale, so the puzzles involve much more moon logic now. Some of them involve absolutely redundant steps - you can see the solution clearly, but the game logic gives you additional hoops to jump trough before you can do the thing for no apparent reason. And thanks to the openendedness sometimes you'll be solving puzzles not even knowing why, because you haven't seen the appripriate location/character yet. The music got worse. Just worse. Some of it is reused old tunes, the new scores are uninspiring and dull. Overall it's the same Deponia, but it feels worse this time. Same pleasant graphic and art, same sick "humor" (no, it's not dark or edgy or borderline, correctness aside it's just plain stupid and unfun). Music and puzzles are the parts that gave at least some appeal to the previous installment, and those got worse.
Deponia is a really weird one. Lets start with the elephant in the room. His name is Rufus. He's the protagonist. Rufus is an obnoxious little brat with absolutely disgusting sense of humor. He is lazy, spiteful, egocentric and stupid. And you'll spend the whole game looking at him and listening all the terrible things he has to say. Honestly, no idea who and how came up with an idea to make a character like that. Ok, is there something undeniably good about the game? Well, the graphics. It features nice cartoonish style which never gets old on its own. On top of that the game supports high resolutions and locations have a satisfying amount of details. It looks really good. The sound and the score are 50/50. Sometimes it sounds fine, sometimes it's a bit irritating. The main track, variations of which you'll be listening half of the game, is a bit off. It's not bad but it's kinda hip-hopish. I don't mind hip-hop, but I'm not sure it fits the game's world and atmosphere. On the other hand there are tracks that are just brilliant. For instance dusty guitar riffs at the Junk Yard, now that's just something. Feels like a hangover in a desert and is extremely suitable for that location. The puzzles are sort of the same. They're logical for the most part. Not overly moonish. Can be difficult in a good way. But the game is a bit cryptic sometimes regarding what it expects you to do. I enjoyed them except for a couple of locations. What else is there. Beware of an unhealthy amount of sexism and animal cruelty. The jokes are quite cringy in this one. Sometimes I felt like re-watching American Pie - I guess it was kinda funny back when I was 13, but now.. can we pretend I didn't watch it at all?.. Deponia leaves a strange feeling after finishing it. Sometimes it's terrible, sometimes quite decent. It's a 2.5/5 really, but I can't give it 0.5 star, so I'll throw in another 0.5 for that juicy junkyard track. Play it at your own risk and don't expect much.
Another Wadjet Eye entry. Good quality game, but not as good as their best ones. I really liked the game's setting. From the first scenes the game makes it clear - it's not nice and it won't get any nicer. The world is in ruins, everything is pretty messed up and people are just trying to survive. So should you. Which makes most of the characters more relatable - they're not heroes, nor they are archetypes. Most of them. Sound design and art contribute to that. Soft grey-brown-greenish palette of long dead landscapes, bearing marks of the devastating conflict, make you feel that's not the place you'd love to live in. The score is mesmerizing, not particularly memorable but adds to the gloom as well. The story is a bit on the nose though. It's your typical "rich people bad, poor people good" narrative, which might be appealing considering the time we live in, but it's so bluntly black and white with nothing in between it gets rather dull. The rich are always bad, and the poor are always good. And even if they do bad things, hey, they're poor, get off their back. Considering the setting it could be much more than that. Mechanically Shardlight plays quite well. The puzzles are very logical, I had to look up the walkthrough only once and even then it made me wondering why I couldn't figure it out myself. Not too difficult, but it was plenty of a-ha moments for me. Only one thing that left me frustrated - the game features a couple of drawing puzzles, that make you, well, draw things. While I enjoyed the concept, the technical execution was pretty bad. This kind of puzzles was making the controls very laggy and unresponsive. Good luck drawing when you barely control you mouse. To add salt to injury, I discovered it's a well-known issue that hasn't been fixed, the devs just offered some workarounds instead (turn the window mode, you can do that in additional executables in Galaxy). I know software development is hard. But it destroys the immersion nonetheless.
I enjoyed this game a lot. The story is very solid, multilayered, it starts simple but slowly develops to something much bigger and intricated than you could expect. Moreover, it's backed by a well-written world which is explained in small bits and pieces here and there. The progression is steady, little to no backtracking, you're constantly seeing new places that differ vastly, from pristine offices to luxurious venues to dingy guts of the city. The cyberpunk feel is strong with this one, and it never gets boring or overdone. Mechanically the whole thing plays very well and smoothly. I finished it a couple of times and I think there was only one puzzle that made me look for help outside of the game (I'm not a point and click expert by the way). Many puzzles have different ways to crack them, but in a couple of instances I felt that you kinda have to guess, because you get the explanation of why thigs work the way the work only *after* you solve it. There are several characters, each having their own style and way of approaching difficult situations, so it doesn't get dull. The music and voice acting is just lovely, oh my yes. It adds to the overall atmosphere and a feel of the game, making the experience even more well-rounded. There's maybe only one downside I've noticed - the game feels a bit rushed when it comes to he closure. Some parts just scream "more content supposed to be here", there are only two endings while there's potential for four or five. But it doesn't make the game any worse, it's still worth every moment and penny you spend on it.
A solid entry from the past. The game has some nice cyberpunky anti-utopian atmosphere to it. The story is not great not terrible - it gets a bit predictable closer to the end, but it's not bad and you have nice main characters. The puzzles are solvable and logical. For the most part, there were occasions were I had to look up a walkthrough for an answer. The fact that the game world feels huge (which on its own is a good thing) and as you open new locations the old ones are still accessible doesn't make it any easier. Still better than many games of that era (looking at you Monkey Island). And yes, be prepared for some backtracking. The voice acting is good, but the music is a bit repetitive. Then again, the game is old, not sure it's fair to expect more. Same goes for controls and interface. Overall playing it feels like watching Akira. You can see it's old, but at the same time it becomes clear how much of an influence it is for other games that came after. Definitely worth the effort.
I didn't expect too much when I launched this game for the first time. Yet another retro-looking adventure for a couple of hours, or so I thought. Boy, was I mistaken. The game features some really loveable, believable characters. I missed them after finishing the game. The plot seems to be superficial and simplistic at a glance, typical "authoritarianism bad" take, but turns out to be deeper than that and actually provokes some thoughts. Some of your actions will have in-game consequences and some of your decisions will matter. There are at least six endings after all, not something you see often in this sort of games. Pimordia sounds great. The music, though a bit too repetitive at times, still conveys the atmosphere of this rusty, dilapidated post-apocalypse world quite well. The voice acting is just superb. Each character has a very distinctive voice, and even their manner of speaking is unique to them, you could recognize any of them with your eyes closed. There are some nice and clever puzzles in this game. Not too hard, but pleasant to solve. Others have a very specific logic to them, so when you're sure you 100% know the solution.. don't be. Also, there's one absolutely mind-wrenching and obtuse puzzle, which left me puzzled even after I looked it up on the Internet. How the hell are you supposed to figure it out on your own? Go figure. And yes, sometimes the game relies on pixel hunting and backtracking, not often but it's there. But with all that said, there's a nice, flexible and not so blunt system of hints, so you'll probably won't stuck for long. Most of the times. Overall it's a really pleasant experience. If you're into poin'n'clicks, postapocalypse, robots or I-Robot like stories, definitely check it out.
This is a really nice little game from a French studio, that was, mostly overshadowed by Diablo 2 released a year after. Undeservedly so. This game has something to offer. Graphics: quite decent for its time. Full 3D with freely rotating and zooming camera, nice effects and models. The animation is a bit repetitive though and the game reuses a lot of assets. Gameplay: it's a typical hack-n-slash beat'em up action-rpg. Four classes with their own skill sets, some skills are better suited for single-player, others for multiplayer. The characters play quite differently, though they're flexible enough, so that even the warrior can learn some magic and the wizard can swing some swords. The quests you'll have to complete to progress the game are semi-random: each of the four lands you need to travers has a small pool of quests and two of those are randomly picked for each land when you start the game, so your playthroughs will be different to some extent. Also, the game features some really cool puzzles from time to time. They're simple, but satisfactory to solve. Sound: the game has a surprisingly good and memorable scores, sometimes throwing some sick beats right at your face. Sound effects are not bad too, weird sometimes, but fitting for a monster-slashing dungeon crawl. Stability: now, this game have some issues. Minor sound lags once in a while, I had a crash but only once, quest items you get before getting the quest itself, nothing special. However, there are ways to lock you out from completing the game. Do save the game before giving NPCs quest items they ask, unless those are town folks asking to bring them stuff for a reward. I had multiple occasions when an NPC was supposed to give or drop something in exchange for something, but didn't. I missed two McGuffins required to complete this game this way, so be careful. Overall, the game is a nice way to spend a couple of evenings, and you can do it again some time later and have a different experience.
