Deponia is one of those games I really wanted to like. On paper, it should be right up to my alley: a comedic tale of a slacker looking for a better life for himself at any cost. Sadly enough, what would make this work, for me at least, just isn't there.
Rufus is an inhabitant of the garbage planet Deponia. Above the planet looms the floating paradise city of Elysium, for which Rufus has been longing for years. People know and laugh at his crazy plans and schemes for trying to get to this destination.
During his latest plan, Rufus manages to get aboard a cruiser, in which he witnesses how the baddies of the story threaten Goal, an Elysiona, who wants to stop them from destroying the planet. Rufus intervenes, and Goal is dropped on the planet, where she loses her consciousness. Rufus drops down as well and contacts Goal's fiancee, Cletus, with whom he makes a pact to bring Goal back home if he just gets to tag along to Elysium.
As Rufus gets to the rendezvous point, it's revealed that Cletus is also planning to destroy the junk planet. They need the information stored in Goal's data cartridge, so in the end, Rufus has to make a choice between what he wants and what is good for the people of the planet.
On paper, it sounds like a solid underdog story of a bit of a shelfish scoundrel who manages to grow a bit during the game, thus becoming a bit more likeable in the process. That just isn't what happens during the game. Rufus is and stays as an insufferable dolt throughout the game and doesn't manage to grow similar charm too, say, for example, Gabriel Knight, who was a womanizing, self-centered lout who grew to be a likeable rogue.
Rufus is self-centered and rude from the start to the finish. All he does is driven by self-interest. If there is any spark of redemption for him, it comes out far too late in the story. Before that point, you've already endured through most of the game, suffering from Rufus' delusional self-praise. Of course, it all is done in the name of comedy, but if you don't find something funny, it just isn't funny. Liking comedy can't be forced, simple as that.
As for puzzles, Deponia is a frustrating collection of nonsensical puzzles that aren't as clever as they try to be. Or perhaps it's just how little I like the game itself that affects how I see the puzzles, but I don't really see any standout puzzles. At best, the puzzles are just simple obstacles you can solve quickly; at worst, they are trial-and-error exercises where you know what you need to do but just have to brute force your way to the finish line.
One of the reasons, besides the base concept, I wanted to like Deponia was the graphics. All said and done, I still like how the game looks. It has nicely detailed, high-resolution graphics and a lot of animated cutscenes. It definitely looks like an adventure game with a reasonably high budget. Even the voice acting is reasonably good, though I can't say I liked the voice acting of Rufus, which is way too on the nose on the obnoxious level. Yeah, I get it; not even the developer wanted you to like Rufus, but there's such a thing as going too far even in comedy, especially in a comedy where you actually have to play several hours as the grating moron.
Deponia should be available through most stores, with GOG and Steam being the most obvious. There's also a version called Deponia: The Complete Journey, which combines three original games into one bigger game. That could probably be the one to get if you are really interested. All the suffering in one neat package. They aren't that expensive these days either if you just patiently wait for a sale before your penance.
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