You have to love how there is no end of ports for the Nintendo Switch, and now we have all of the Deponia ports. I was waiting for the other two games to be available ever since I played the first Deponia for the Switch. There is a certain unique charm to the story of the series, and that is what drew me into it and made me want to play it. Goodbye Deponia is no different.
Goodbye Deponia is the exciting third installment of the four-part point franchise and is a point-and-click adventure created by Daedalic Entertainment that was originally released on October 15th, 2013. The story continues where it left off in the previous game: The Organon plans the destruction of Deponia, and the anti-hero of the story, Rufus, is trying to save Deponia, though he can’t stop getting in his own way, and the lovely Goal has once again disappeared.
Rufus wants to leave the junk planet Deponia and move to Elysium, the paradise orbiting Deponia as a spaceship reserved for the highest echelons of society and stop the destruction of Deponia. Goal, the ex-Elysian girl that Rufus has fallen head over heels for, still seems to be the key to his endeavor…and to the elevator that will get him to space. Finally, Rufus has come up with a seemingly perfect plan.
And yet, everything that could possibly go wrong suddenly does go wrong. Rufus finds himself on a highway cruiser disguised as Goal’s former fiance, Cletus, amongst stern-faced officials of the Organon, while Goal goes missing. When Rufus stumbles upon a cloning machine, he believes to have found his way out. A clone copy is supposed to help him out of his predicament. But an “inexplicable” error causes complications, and Goal slips from our hero’s reach once again. Now, he has to solve three major problems: He needs to find Goal again, reach Elysium, and prevent the destruction of the entire planet of Deponia by the Organon.
Three problems that only three Rufuses could solve – and thus, he decides to clone himself! This leads to crazy ramifications for the player. In Goodbye Deponia, the player occasionally needs to control all three Rufuses, using them to complete tasks together, despite Rufus stumbling over himself so often. If the player can’t move one Rufus through a certain area, that means he has to control another Rufus to continue, and by solving any issues there, it will help the stuck Rufus carry on with his mission.
What I like about Goodbye Deponia is that it is easier this time around than the first Deponia game. I don’t remember if the previous games had this feature but, if it did, I never used it. I guess that could be why I got stuck a lot in those games. In this game, all the player has to do to see everything you can interact with in an area is press a button to bring up interaction icons to see what and who you can interact with on the screen, which I find so helpful. Plus, during the mini-games, you can bring up hints on what to do by pressing a button; yes, the hints are somewhat vague, but they do help, kind of. Also, by pressing the “+” button, the player could also skip the mini-game altogether, if they choose to, which I also like. This is especially useful if the mini-games frustrate you. I admit that I skipped some mini-games because I just wanted to get through the game and enjoy the story, which is why I picked up this franchise to play through. It has a fun, wacky comedy/romance story with everything always going wrong, and it’s hilarious to see what happens next.
As much as I tried to find things I disliked like about this game, I couldn’t find anything that I would put in a bad category. The story is entering, the soundtrack is fantastic, the art design and style are beautiful as the story unfolds before the player’s eyes, and even the controls feel great. However, I did run into two glitches while I was playing Goodbye Deponia. One was not game-breaking, but the other one did make me have to restart a new game. Let’s talk about that first glitch, which was in the beginning of the game when you first take control of Rufus. While catching something to eat, he ends up ripping off the roof of Bozo’s ship, and when he goes outside to get Goal, he disappeared completely from the screen. I moved him around the corner, and after the little scenario plays out, he vanished, and I couldn’t do anything, so I had to restart a new game. The second glitch happened not long after I ran into the first one. I got through the beginning part of the game rather quickly, and after about an hour and a half when I was at the inn, Rufus was not facing the clerk and had his back to him the entire time he was talking to him. I didn’t run into any other glitches or bugs besides those two, but they were noticeable enough to mention.
Goodbye Deponia is a heart-warming romantic comedy that has character. I would recommend it to someone who was looking for a new Switch game. Plus, it is $20, so it’s a fair price that won’t break the bank. I for one have really enjoyed my time with Goodbye Deponia and hope for the fourth part of the series to be available soon so I can play the conclusion of this fun franchise.
Publisher: Daedalic GmbH
Developer: Daedalic Entertainment
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: 23rd December 2019
Do you agree with our review of Goodbye Deponia? What are your thoughts? Tell us in the comments below.
