Deponia – review

I was given a copy of the game via Steam as a birthday gift, and whilst I was really looking forward to play it… I was quite disappointed by it in the end. This is a non-otome point-and-click adventure, so if that’s not to your taste, move on.

This was going to be a proper review, but I think it turned into a rambling rant very early on… also, I didn’t take screenshots whilst playing and I don’t feel like reinstalling the game just to take screenshots so…

Deponia was a town of trash and garbage, a junkyard where its inhabitants made a living by scrounging on the garbage around them, where clean water was almost non-existant. In contrast, the floating town of Elysium was where the rich lived in comfortable luxury, and there was no way for those in Deponia to go to Elysium. But that didn’t stop Rufus, our main character, from concocting zany gadgets and ‘flawless’ plans that would get him to Elysium (if it had worked). The story started when one of his creations half-way worked and would had gotten him to Elysium… except that he got booted out and down to Deponia again, and in the process accidentally brought down an Elysian girl with him. The girl in question, Goal, wouldn’t regain her consciousness. Seeing her as his ticket to get to Elysium, Rufus tried to wake her up, and somehow ended up getting involved in a plot (almost) bigger than he could handle.

The premise was good, yes… I mean, that’s staple story material there, of a loser who grew into a better person in the process of uncovering sinister plot and saving the world in the end. I mean, who doesn’t like to see a loser character becoming a better person and winning against improbable odds? …except for, well, the fact that Rufus never actually grew into a better person, which made this game so painful to finish for me… playing a game where you don’t give a rat’s arse about the main character isn’t exactly motivating.

I talked to a friend about this game, and she’s perfectly OK with Rufus, finding him to be a hilarious character. I guess… it depends on how you prefer your main character? I prefer to have a main character I can actually root for, and Rufus wasn’t one of that. The more I played the more irritated I got.

Let me count the ways:

• He lived at his ex-girlfriend’s place, mooching off her food and everything else. And thought that that’s as it should be. The ex-girlfriend wasn’t happy about this arrangement and he couldn’t even understand why.
• He didn’t have a job (because, you know, having a proper job was beneath him), spending his time instead devising contraptions that would get him to Elysium…
• …using parts and components he ‘liberated’ off other people. Without their consent. And unlike other P&C games, the characters in this game did complain about the fact, which made it worse.

The last point is common in point-and-click games, I know. But normal point-and-click games don’t usually make you steal someone else’ item and then point out to you that you’re just doing it for kicks.

Deponia is the first part of a trilogy. Would I play the next games…? …I thought I would, if the next games feature one of the following:

• Rufus actually growing up and not be a sore loser, or
• Rufus getting cruelly, grotesquely, horribly maimed and mauled beyond any chance of survival.
• …and Toni (the ex-girlfriend) becomes the main character.

…but the next game, Chaos on Deponia, is already out and from reviews I read it doesn’t seem like it’ll feature any of the above.

…I started writing the review above when the second game was just released, and now I’m finishing this review waaaaay after the 3rd and final game was already released. I read up reviews when the 3rd game was just released, and apparently the last game gave a good explanation on why Rufus was such a psychopathic man-child. But I don’t think I want to waste any more of my time on this… I rather be flirting with pretty 2D man-harem 😀

Not a flattering review, but the game on its own is entertaining if you don’t mind the main character. The puzzles could be rather tough at times, but there are numerous guides out there to help you. And this game is pretty cheap during Steam sale which comes around pretty often, so there’s that.