Deponia

Another point and click puzzle game, with rather obscure clues as to how to solve them, as the main character Rufus embarks on his adventure. This is the first game of a series of four games I will be reviewing all four games as I play them.

Personally, I really enjoyed playing this game and the graphics are anime style. The puzzles were somewhat obscure to solve but not impossible. One needs some time and wits. 

The story of Rufus who lives on a junk filled planet Deponia in a town known as Kuvaq, he has no job, no real position in the town, so he lives with Toni who owns a local shop in the town. 

Rufus dreams of leaving Deponia for a floating city called Elysium, where he seeks to find a better life. Originally, Deponia was inhabited by humans for a time, until the majority of them went on to live in Elysium forgetting any association with Deponia. Some of the humans remained on Deponia living with the constant amount of trash being dumped on them, and clean water being a rare and valuable commodity.  

The story begins with Rufus, the main character attempting to build an escape pod rocket that will supposedly take him to Elysium. Unfortunately, the rocket breaks due to a mishap, and Rufus lands aboard a cruiser run by a militant organization known as the Organon, they regularly dump trash on Deponia and frighten its inhabitants. 

While aboard the cruiser, Rufus overhears Bailiff Argus  pursuing a young orbit pixie woman named Goal, where he informs her that she will have to keep quiet about what she saw that in fact Deponia is still populated. Rufus, decides to try and rescue Goal from Argus, he inadvertently knocks her off the ship, she lands in Kuvaq but is unconscious, the town's residents vie for the honor of taking care of her, and waking her up. 

Rufus is disliked among the town members as he is jobless, homeless and considered a freeloader. He stays with his ex- girlfriend Toni, a shopkeeper who pretty much regrets her decision to let him stay. 

After Goal is taken by the town, Gizmo who encompasses the role of doctor, police, firechief since the town is too small to separate these occupations is assigned to look after her until she wakes up. Gizmo has tried every remedy he has, but nothing seems to work. He further suggests that a strong coffee type drink would be required, but none can be found since the town has limited supplies. 

Rufus takes it upon himself to embark on a mission and gather all the necessary improvised versions of ingredients to wake up Goal, and pursue his plan to Elysium. 

Once Goal is awake, she is able to communicate to Rufus to contact her fiance Cletus via radio, so she may be taken back to Elysium and in addition she tells him Cletus will reward Rufus generously. 

Rufus takes it upon himself to complete the request, it is uncertain whether he has taken a liking to Goal or he is simply using her to accomplish his goal and get to Elysium. 

This game requires talking to characters multiple times before unlocking puzzles. There are a few difficult parts that may take time to solve, I will list them here.

First, in the Contact Cletus portion, speak to the Post Office bot and gather information about how you can make a radio call and where the devices are located as well as the three main communication lines.

The idea is to rearrange the Planets Magnetic Field and replace the lightest pigeon with the heaviest one.  It is hard to know at first glance how to do this mini game but it is essential to proceed so even though there is a skip option, you will not proceed until you complete this section. 

Once this is completed, Rufus manages to escape with Goal, and the Junk Mine level will start. There are several puzzles here that can prove to be challenging, you may want to consult a walkthrough. 

The levels that follow are fun and the ending is nice, I was expecting something entirely different, nonetheless it was pretty cool, sorry no spoilers. 

My overall review of this game is I did enjoy it, I found the puzzles to be obscure at some points, but, not frustrating, just needs some time. My recommendation is have some snacks and lots of time when you play this, also patience is an added bonus. 

You will always be playing Rufus as a character, you will only be talking to others and basically cheating and tricking them all to accomplish the goal of getting to Elysium. 

Why do I choose puzzle adventure/ point and click games? Simple. Aside from enjoying them, I can play at my own pace, stop at any point if I need to and I like using my brain to solve puzzles; at the same time enjoy a nice adventure. The graphics are pleasant, the game itself is not heavy so that helps and anyone really can play it. The controller is easy to use and navigation throughout the game is simple with a friendly learning curve, before you start there is a tutorial. 

Now, as a starting point these types of games can be less intimidating and as I mentioned the learning curve is friendly, but, keep in mind that you need to be puzzle solving, brain teaser inclined to enjoy this game. 

First shooter games are fun as well with cool story lines, and graphics but, they may require high amounts of memory, processing to load them. Also, learning the controller to move the character can be a bit difficult for a beginner, stopping in a first shooter game you may need to pause it or die in battle. Gaming in my opinion is a matter of taste not popularity.