Deponia iOS Review: Not the Hero I Was Looking For

Deponia
By: Daedalic

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Last week, I played Dead Synchronicity, a disturbing point-and-click adventure that really sucked me in. As much as I liked it, I’ve been in the mood for something lighter like Broken Age. Deponia, by Daedalic, the same publisher for Dead Synchronicity, is a comedy and one that I was looking forward to playing based on the 2D hand-drawn artwork I had seen.

Unfortunately, the game did not pull me in the way other point-and-click adventures have. From the very beginning, I found myself groaning more than laughing. Still, I wanted to try and give it a chance. I spent over sixteen hours with the game before I gave up and decided to just write about my experience so far. About five of those hours were spent in the first area simply because it simulates a messy room so well. I knew what I was missing, and I thought I checked every hot spot ten times, but it turned out to be in the one spot I only checked once and hadn’t realized I didn’t take the item.

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My main issue with the game is the protagonist, Rufus. He’s a self-proclaimed lazy slob who doesn’t work and just complains all day about how his (ex-)girlfriend doesn’t do enough for him, despite the fact that she supports both of them. He wants to get off this trash heap of a planet called Deponia and head to Elysium, where everyone’s supposed to be rich without having to work. I don’t think the developers expect us to sympathize too much with Rufus, but that doesn’t make it any easier to sit through. If I’m going to spend hours upon hours helping this guy solve puzzles, I need to care about him. From my experience so far, I just want nothing to do with him.

I usually need to feel something for a character in order to care about their plight, whether this is in a game, a movie or a TV show. I gave up watching Mad Men when I realized that I abhorred all the characters and didn’t care one iota what happened to them. This is even more problematic in an adventure game, because it’s up to me to help this guy achieve his goals. I have to care about him and his mission if I’m going to put in that effort. And I don’t.

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But Rufus isn’t the only problem with the game. There’s also a man dressed as a woman, called Lotti, who plays a secretary. He keeps trying to speak in a high-pitched feminine voice but always reverts back to his low, masculine voice. This might be funny if it had some context — for instance, is he playing a woman because they would only hire a woman for the job? Does he just like to dress up as a woman sometimes and is doing so at work because his wife won’t let him do it at home? So far, I’ve yet to see or hear anything that gives it context, so I’m just confused instead of amused. You can see what I mean around the three-minute mark in this video below:

Now, don’t get me wrong — there are some fun characters and moments in the game. Gizmo — who acts as the Kuvaq town doctor, police force and firefighter all in one — offers some genuine comedic relief and the puzzles related to him are pretty entertaining. There are also some story bits that are slowly revealed which make Rufus a bit more understandable and relatable, if not terribly likable. The one part that captured my attention was the fact that his father used to be the mayor before he abandoned both the town and his son. This is one part of the story that I’d actually like to find out more about. The problem is, the rest of the story, the dialogue and the puzzles are just not holding my attention. I don’t think I can push through just to find out what happened with his father.

My estimation of Rufus also improved slightly when he agreed (somewhat reluctantly) to help the damsel in distress, Goal (what’s with that name?), get a message to her fianc╬ô├╢┬ú╬ô├«├ë, something that wouldn’t benefit himself. But I got frustrated with the puzzles at that point and felt like I wouldn’t be getting through this game without a lot of walkthrough help. And I wasn’t enjoying it nearly enough to warrant that. Maybe I’ll just read up on what happens to them all.

I should also point out that while most of the jokes fell flat for me, there were some really good lines. I particularly like the scene about the postal service cats that you can see in the video above. The game is also fully voice acted and the characters are captured well by the actors. They fit the comical point-and-click adventure roles that they’re meant to represent.

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Those looking for challenging, multi-part puzzles will be happy. There are some real doozies in this game, and I don’t think I even completed half the game. But if you get frustrated easily, you might be turned off. On top of the weak characters and dialogue, the puzzles mostly felt illogical, and not the least because of the feedback when you interact with an item. It’s often completely off the mark, making things even more confusing. For instance, Rufus claims to be a “gifted lock-picker,” but never has the right tool for the job. There are several times I can try to pick a lock. But he says the same “Damn. That would have been a piece of cake with the right tool,” whether you try a drill, a scalpel, a fork, a dart….or even a lock pick! In the end, for some of these locks, you need the actual key! Other times, the text feedback when trying to combine items just felt completely off, ruining the fun of trial and error.

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The controls are also a little awkward at first. You have a full-screen inventory that can be opened for combining items and seeing their description. This felt cluttered — perhaps intentionally, so as to match the trash-filled environment. But you also have a mini inventory at the bottom of the screen that shows up to three items at once. You use the arrow buttons to scroll through them and find the one you want to use. The middle one is the active item and you can then tap on any hotspot and use that item with it. You can also drag that item to a hotspot. In the beginning, I kept trying to drag any of the three items, and got frustrated when the left and right objects wouldn’t drag. But I eventually got used to it. Still, even sixteen hours into the game, I feel like I waste too much time fumbling with the controls. I do appreciate the mini inventory on the bottom of the screen, but I wish it had been implemented better.

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It’s possible I’m simply not the target audience and that others will enjoy the game a lot more than I did. Perhaps some will feel a stronger connection with the self-obsessed Rufus and his desire to get off the planet of Deponia. Those who do enjoy the story, dialogue and characters will definitely get their money’s worth with it, as it appears to be quite a long game chock full of puzzles. If you think it sounds like something that’s up your alley, you can download Deponia here.

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Chill Bill Vol.2

    A few things:

    1. From reading your review I get the feeling you don’t know this but the game wasn’t developed for iOS but ported from PC where it arrived in January 2012 as part of a trilogy (second act October 2012, 3rd act oct 2013).

    2. For PnC Adventures the the three games were a major success (especially in Germany and Europe, Daedalic is German developer/publisher after all) and had very good sales figures.

    3. It’s no coincidence all parts of the trilogy score over 8 points in metacritic’s user scores.

    I know, this review – like every review – is subjective but I get the feeling that you’ve already dismissed the game after a short time because of your dislike of the main character (and because of weirdly already getting stuck in the tiny first section). He’s supposed to be a self-absorbed jerk (that’s also why he claims he’s able to pick every look but fails miserably every time, no matter which tool you use) and I think it’s funny how his picture of himself differs so much from the impression everybody else has about him. But the game is also partly about him redeeming himself (see one of his decisions towards the end of this game – Which, alas, you haven’t played – and some of his actions in the other two parts) and when it gets really crucial it always shows that he has a good heart.

    Also, like I said, the game’s no stand-alone title, the important main players of the game will receive plenty of charcter developement during the course of the trilogy but it seems silly to me to obsess about something like the back story of a minor side character like the receptionist (why he tries to act as a woman) – S/he isn’t even part of a puzzle and has nearly no dialog, so who cares about him/her. S/he’s probably just there to show how weird the majority of Deponia’s inhabitants are.

    Lastly, I don’t get your gripes with the puzzles. From reading some of your other reviews it seems you rather give positive reviews to pretty easy PnC adventures (no idea what you found challenging about Broken Age or how you got stumped in Dead Dynchronicity – compared to other adventures those games are pretty straightforward and I’m a bit surprised a seasoned adventure veteran like yourself had problems with their simple puzzles but find Deponia too challenging).

    Imo Deponia has just the right amount of challenge. Certainly not too easy but also not too hard. When you miss a solution it’s usually because you didn’t pay enough attention. I was only stumped once but facepalmed after I’d finally figured out the solution as in hindsight it was totally obvious.

    If one liked the PnC adventures from the 90’s Deponia (and it’s other two trilogy parts) is a no-brainer to purchase. Thank God the puzzles aren’t as hard (or sometimes illogical) as in some games back then but they also aren’t by any means easy and meet a certain standard most PnC fans will be happy with.

    Regarding Deponia’s main character: Guybrush Threepwood or Gabriel Knight aren’t your typical superheroes either but like Rufus they’re growing throughout their games. Yes, Rufus is a major jerk in the beginning, but he’s a loveable jerk and his explanations for all of the failures and mistakes he makes throughout the game usually are hilarious. I can only highly recommend Deponia – Better to make your own impressions or at least read one or two other reviews before deciding to dismiss it as easy as Appunwrapper …

    1. AppUnwrapper

      Hi,

      I’m glad you enjoyed the game. As I said in my review, it was not to my taste, but others may like it.

      I’m aware that it was ported from the PC and is part of a trilogy. I was looking forward to playing the game. That’s why I asked the developer for an advanced copy. I was excited to play. I did not begin this game wanting to hate it.

      I was annoyed with Rufus way before I spent all that time in the first area. I did solve all the puzzles in there on my own. I didn’t want to spoil the puzzles in the review so I didn’t give details. But I completed everything and was missing one note. I thought I looked everywhere several times already, but it turned out I opened the fridge without taking the note first and forgot to check it again. That’s it. I didn’t begrudge the game for that. I was merely pointing out that it did a good job simulating a messy room, which is what it was going for. It achieved its goal.

      As for my dislike for Rufus and confusion over other characters’ behavior… Like I said, I need to care about him if I’m going to invest all this time into helping him and I didn’t. The puzzles on their own did not turn me off. It was that I was not enjoying the humor or the characters and time spent solving the puzzles just meant more time with these characters that I did not want.

      I loved the humor, story and characters in Broken Age, so even if I got stumped for a while in there, I never considered quitting. Same with Dead Synchronicity. Two very different games, but they kept my interest. Simple as that. Besides a few clever lines, my time with Deponia just had me rolling my eyes or trying to speed through the dialogue.

      When I consulted a walkthrough, it was with the idea that maybe if I spent less time on the puzzles, I could get through the game faster and see if I start enjoying it more. But then I saw I wasn’t even halfway through the game and I just couldn’t put myself through it. Simple as that. I wanted to like it but I didn’t. If you did, that’s great and I’m glad. My reviews are simply meant to give people who might have similar tastes as mine an idea of what they can expect. It doesn’t mean everyone will hate it. But I’m not going to tell people I loved a game that I couldn’t even force myself to play. That wouldn’t be honest.

  2. Chill Bill Vol. 2

    Ok, fair enough. I understand your points (as you seem to understand mine). We all have different tastes and opinions after all and as I said near the beginning of my OP, I’m aware that every review can only be subjective.

    This probably didn’t shine through too much but I like your site and a good parts of the games you reommend. Just found it to be a pity you haven’t clicked with Deponia (apparently wasn’t meant to be) so I wanted to provide a viewpoint of the game out of a different angle.

    I’d only played Parts 2 and 3 on PC before (one of the rare occasions I played a PC game) and even though I found those just slightly better (part 2 has the best and most hilarious puzzles and three finally provides some closure) – But after having played the first part on iPad eventually imo this is a very special PnC gem too and I’m surely going to buy the rest of the trilogy again for iOS if/when it comes out.

    So like I said – Everybody who might be interested but not sure about purchasing, at least read another review with a more positive spin. I often concur with Appunwrappers reviews and like a lot of the games recommended on the site (Hero Emblems, Inner World, Dead Synchronicity (mainly for the story but still very immersive game), Prune, Lara Croft GO etc etc … Basically 85% of the recommended list) but regarding Deponia my opinion couldn’t differ more.

    1. AppUnwrapper

      Glad to hear you agree with most of my reviews, if not all of them. 🙂 I stopped scoring games a while back because I want people to read the reviews and see all the positives and negatives so they can decide for themselves if the game sounds right for them. Something that truly irks me about a game might not bother someone else much.

      I really enjoyed the Inner World (although I did cheat on a few puzzles) and occasionally I hear from someone that they found the main character annoying and couldn’t play it. I thought he was cute and I really liked the story and humor. But I understand if it’s not someone’s cup of tea. Best I can do is explain what I like and don’t like about a game.

      It would be weird if we all agreed exactly on every single game, because then we might be the same person. 😉

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