Rock, Paper, Shotgun

By John Walker on January 11th, 2012 at 11:43 am.

Daedalic, the German adventure developers who gave us the almost great The Whispered World, have another title in development. Deponia is a comedy adventure, inspired by the likes of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. There’s a teaser for it below.

Daedalic’s very traditional point and click adventures have been a little hit and miss for me, but they’re unquestionably one of the most interesting developers in the genre at the moment. If they continue to improve with each game, we’ll be lucky players. It’s too early to see which way Deponia is going, but the art is unquestionably gorgeous. I’m always fearful of “wacky” comedy, especially when it’s been translated from another language. So much rests on the quality of the translation. (The half-finished translation of their just-launched ‘English’ website doesn’t really bode well.)

Publishers Lace Mamba describe the game as being,

“a fast-paced comedy of errors and one of the most unusual love stories in gaming history. The twist-filled story takes its off-beat characters all over trash planet Deponia, a unique game world in the style of Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett and Matt Groening. From Kuvaq, an improvised village built inside a giant trash heap, to the swimming black market and the dark corners of the elevated planetary railways.

Rufus, one of the playable main characters, is not a pleasant guy. Ill-tempered and entirely too convinced of his own greatness, he lives at the edge of a small settlement somewhere in the most remote sector of the garbage-covered planet Deponia. He dreams of a better life in the floating cities of wealth and beauty high above the planet surface. When the angelic Goal falls from these privileged spheres down into a neighbouring trash heap, Rufus sees his chance. He decides to bring the unconscious beauty back to her home. Only a vague hope of making it off Deponia at first, he soon formulates an unscrupulous plan, as he learns that he is a dead ringer for Goal’s upper-class husband. The planned handover is only the beginning of a wild chase across Deponia full of twists, turns and mystifying mix-ups…”

Here’s the tease:

They’re aiming to get the game out in the Spring.