Daedalic Entertainment has proposed one of the most popular series of graphic adventures of the last decade, thanks to a fun and never predictable narrative sector, which has improved over the course of the three chapters that make up the trilogy of Deponia. Yet, as always happens, some fans (in this case most of them) did not like the ending of Addio Deponia, considering it too bitter a conclusion. It is therefore quite obvious that the requests for a new chapter literally exploded shortly thereafter and the German team decided to please the public in 2016, three years after the release of the original trilogy, with an explosive new title called Deponia Doomsday. After being released on PC and PlayStation 4, this game also comes on Nintendo Switch; will it have been able to convince us like the three previous titles? Find out now in our review!
Between past, present and future
In fact, Deponia Doomsday it is not a sequel of the first three Deponia, but it is but set in a parallel universe. This little trick has allowed Daedalic to indulge himself, moving away from the main narrative strand of the series and at the same time revealing interesting background on it. The incipit of the plot, however, is quite trivial: everything that has happened previously, from the plan to destroy Deponia to the meeting between Gal e Rufus turns out to be just a dream of the latter. A rather simple stratagem and, in our opinion, quite obvious which however begins a rather interesting story: Rufus meets Professor McChronicle which, thanks to a machine of his own invention, is able to travel through time. Here therefore begins the new journey of Rufus who is no longer the hero we saw in the finale of Goodbye Deponia, but returns to being the cynical and selfish boy met in the first chapter of the series.
There are obviously other characters from previous titles, first of all Gal, a young beloved of our protagonist, coming from the flying city of Elysium. As anticipated, this new episode of the franchise is full of references and references to the chapters of the original series and fans will surely appreciate this new adventure that stages, in the about ten hours needed to complete the adventure, a captivating plot, well narrated and accompanied by the now well-known humor that distinguishes Deponia and, more generally, if you think about it, all the works of Daedalic Entertainment.
Handyman through time
Deponia Doomsday is a point and click graphic adventure where the player aims to continue solving different puzzles. Nothing new, therefore, from what we have been accustomed to so far, but a couple of interesting goodies have been introduced that try to change the gameplay or, at least, to make it more frenetic. They were in fact included in this new chapter of small quick time events, rather simple and usually related to the repeated pressing of a single key. An introduction that is not at all unusual in the world of graphic adventures but which, due to the enormous simplicity, fails to differentiate the experience as much as we would have liked.
Rufus is able to collect items, carry them thanks to his Inventory and combine them with each other, exactly as we were used to in the first three games. These items are needed to solve the puzzles and the puzzles present that in Deponia Doomsday, however, become less "absurd" and regain a logic typical of the real world, abandoning, in part, that madness that characterized the series. The collectable, hidden around the game world and which allow you to unlock some bonus content, such as movies, which can be reached via the appropriate menu. Also this time the Nintendo Switch version proves to be a good gem since the excellent controls and the comfort of the console do not make us regret the mouse and keyboard, peripherals for which the title was originally designed.
From the point of technical view, the fourth and last title in the series does not disappoint and maintains the very high quality level to which the developers have accustomed us. THE drawings, entirely handmade, have incredible details and the style of the game world and the characters that inhabit it, definitely steampunk, is truly inspired. The animations, finally (we would like to write it in much larger fonts), have been improved, resulting less woody and more realistic, although some smudges remain under this point. We say it once again then: the technical department of Deponia is simply great.
As regards the audio compartment, the effects are well made and the tracks of the soundtrack have been able to prove to be truly enjoyable and perfectly accompany Rufus's adventure. The decidedly bitter note comes when it comes to dubbing: Deponia Doomsday it has never been dubbed into Spanish and, we admit it, getting used to no longer hearing the splendid voices that had accompanied us through the first three titles of the series bothered us and we hoped that, with this re-release for Nintendo Switch, the dubbing in our local language would be added. In any case, the production is perfectly enjoyable even by those who do not know the English language, as there are Spanish subtitles.
