Go To Space Heaven With Deponia - Preview
by Daniel Share-Strom , posted on 09 June 2012 / 3,539 Views
If you lived on a planet that was essentially a giant junkyard, you’d probably want to leave just as badly as Rufus, the main character of Daedalic Entertainment’s comedic point-and-click adventure, Deponia. Especially if the name of your destination was Elysium (which is Greek for 'afterlife' or 'heaven').
I was lucky enough to get some private eyes-on time with the game, courtesy of Daedalic Communication Head Hauke Schweer. It was apparent from the outset that realism isn’t a huge priority here. The game began underground in a dark cavern, where a gangly midget told Rufus it was time for the tutorial. To this, the character mused, “Wasn’t the game supposed to have started already?” Despite the little guy’s protestations, Mr. Schweer skipped the tutorial in the interests of time, choosing the ‘I don’t need no stinking tutorials’ option.
As mentioned, the plot of the game revolves around Rufus trying to leave Deponia, and the gameplay centers around enacting his constantly-failing plans to that end. When the real game started, Rufus was in his extremely messy home, which he until recently shared with his ex-girlfriend, Goal. The first order of business was to find some supplies—a toothbrush, four socks, some provisions, and a bolt cutter. Rufus wasn’t quite sure why he put ‘bolt cutter’ on the list, but what the heck, right?
At this point, Rufus had to search the house for these items. Socks are hidden under cushions, in cupboards, in mouse holes, and… in the fridge. Trying to go into Goal’s old room nearly got him killed by a guillotine, which had a note attached that admonished him for trying. Actually, similar notes were placed on pretty much everything in the house. Evidently, Rufus’ oral hygiene could use some work, as his toothbrush came to life and leaped into a pile of trash when he tried to pick it up. I’ll leave the details of how to find everything for your personal playthrough, but suffice it to say that it involves gleefully burning all of those annoying notes.
Later on, Rufus has finished construction on the high-tech pulley system he intends to use to get to Elysium. I didn’t get to see this, but apparently you will play some sort of minigame to calibrate the cannon so that it fires the line into the other planet. All goes well for Rufus, who happily sits in his capsule as his machine works, until he notices the note telling him that the delivery of screws for the device has been delayed. Cut to outside the capsule, and he has not moved an inch. Moments later, he gets rocketed forward, chain attached to his leg, getting comically electrocuted and bashed by everything in his path. When he finally stopped, he was left hanging by his leg above a high precipice. Unfortunately, that’s where my demo came to an end, but I am looking forward to seeing more of the slapstick and wry, intelligent humor.
The plot didn’t seem too deep from what I saw, though apparently he soon rescues an unconscious girl and uncovers a plot to destroy Deponia. Time will tell if the story holds up, but this looks to be a comedic point-and-click adventure to give the Monkey Island series a run for its money. Deponia launches in boxed form in the UK on June 29th and ‘soon’ for Steam in North America.
