Goodbye Deponia
E3 2013 Hands-On Impressions
Stephen Meyerink Stephen Meyerink
06/16/2013

Platform:
PC

Publisher:
Daedalic Entertainment

Developer:
Daedalic Entertainment

Genre:
Adventure

Format:
Digital

Release:
US October, 2013



Screen Shot
Now that is a room with a view.
Screen Shot
And that is a sign... apparently with a less pleasant view.
"I laughed more than once during our brief demo."

Along with Memoria and Blackguards, illustrious managing editor Kyle Miller and I both took a quick look at the finale of Daedalic's more light-hearted take on adventure gaming, Goodbye Deponia. Unlike the games based on The Dark Eye universe, the Deponia trilogy features a much heavier dose of humor and a delightful cartoon-like aesthetic. Much like the previous two games in this series, Goodbye Deponia sees recurring protagonist Rufus trying to leave the trashy (literally) world of Deponia for the utopian city in the sky, Elysium. While this threequel does pick up where the previous game, Chaos on Deponia, left off, we were assured that players should have no problems jumping in to the series here. Of course, those who have will enjoy a few recurring jokes and returning characters, as always.

The gameplay on display looked like classic point-and-click shenanigans, with Rufus' penchant for selfishness and self-destruction playing into both the story and much of the humor. While the early parts of the game appear to play much the same way as the past two titles, we were shown a sequence that takes place after the halfway point at which time Rufus decides to clone himself twice in order to make things a little easier on himself(s). This lead to some funny and interesting puzzle sequences in which the three Rufuses (which could be switched via buttons on the HUD) had to work to progress by solving problems in three different areas. Amusingly, in most cases, what benefited one Rufus often put another one in peril, and I laughed more than once during our brief demo.

The game sports the same hand-drawn and cartoon-like graphics as its predecessors– which is to say that it looks great. Characters are expressive and detailed, and the backgrounds are as lush and jam-packed with interesting details as one would expect from a development house with Daedalic's pedigree.

Goodbye Deponia looks to be a fitting end to the trilogy (although Daedalic was quick to point out that they love Rufus and wouldn't be averse to returning to his story in the future!), offering more of the same quality point-and-clickery that the series is known for while still throwing in enough new wrinkles to keep things fresh and funny. You'll be able to find out for yourself when it launches this October for PC and Mac.


© 2013 Daedalic Entertainment. All rights reserved.