Daedalic Entertainment has brought the point and click adventure goodness of the Deponia series to the Nintendo with the first game in the franchise. Come check out our Deponia review!
Deponia is the first of four games in a series, and since it’s now out on the Nintendo Switch, hopefully, this means we’re getting all entries in the series, one game at a time. Deponia is a hand-drawn, visually stunning point and click adventure game that shines on Nintendo’s hybrid console. The game is available for download for $39.99, and that gets you around 8-10 hours of fun depending on your experience with other entries in the genre.
Deponia sorta reminded me of King’s Quest, since each entry features a full-length game with a different story to tell, all while having an overall arc that ties all games together. You are soon introduced to the characters and the universe of Deponia, a world set on a giant garbage heap. Much like any planet or country you might be familiar with from your gaming experience, the garbage heap is split up into different sections depending on people’s wealth. In fact, the higher class of inhabitants lives in Elysium a floating city in the skies.
In this adventure, you play as Rufus, who is a bit of a cocky overconfident loser. He wants to leave his reality for the grand upper world of Elysium, but his plans take a small detour when he rescues a woman named Goal. Goal ends up joining him in this wacky adventure… or the other way around since he has to rescue her more than once to bring her back to Elysium. Their interactions and encounters lead up to a ton of comedic opportunities for this recent genre classic, and the title does a great job at giving us a pure point and click experience, including some rather confusing puzzles here and there.
I’ve played my fair share of point and click games, so I didn’t have many issues with the puzzles in Deponia, but I can see how some players new to the genre might end up having a bit of trouble solving all of the puzzles due to how the game’s logic works. All I can say is that if you’re new to the genre, exploration is key, and that you should always talk to every single NPC you find since this is key in finding the clues you will need to complete a puzzle that might have made you stumble for a bit. And, you know, sometimes thinking a bit outside the box can also help!
The puzzles in Deponia are a lot of fun, and you will be spending a huge chunk of your time playing solving them. There are the usual “this item is needed to solve that particular puzzle” scenarios, as well as others that present you with tangrams to solve – are you good at those? You will sometimes need to combine items to create new ones that will open the way, and there is also the option of modifying items in your inventory menu. And if you’re ever feeling a bit overwhelmed and just can’t find the solution to a puzzle, you might be able to find a guide or two online.
I quite like the inventory system for this game. You can make it appear/disappear at will with the touch of the D-Pad, so you’ll have quick access to the items you’ve found. The one thing I didn’t like and that does feel a bit weird is that you can’t use the Nintendo Switch’s touchscreen when playing the game in portable or tabletop mode. This I believe is a missed opportunity, because if there is anything the Nintendo Switch has taught me over the last couple of years is that point and click games are an excellent option to play on Nintendo’s console thanks to its touchscreen. Hopefully, this can be patched in, or implemented in subsequent releases in the Deponia series.
Deponia is a fantastic point and click adventure and a game that I was happy to play on Nintendo Switch since it’s now become a recent genre classic. The one issue some players might have is that the game is available on Nintendo Switch for $39.99, while you can find the game on other platforms at a lower price. The issue might lie with the fact that Deponia has a physical counterpart on Nintendo Switch, and that means price parity between the digital and the physical release. But if you’re a fan of the point and click genre, this one is a game you should definitely add to your collection.
Disclaimer
This Deponia review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Daedalic Entertainment.
