Goodbye Deponia Switch Review A Nostalgic Conclusion

Title: Goodbye Deponia

Developer: Daedelic Entertainment

Publisher: Daedelic Entertainment

Genre: Point and Click Adventure

Available On: PC, Xbox One, Switch, PS4

Official Site: Daedelic/Deponia

Release Date: October 15, 2013, (PC) December 23, 2019 (Xbox One, PS4, Switch)

Version Tested: Switch

Every now and then, a beloved game like Goodbye Deponia comes to a new platform, and the gaming public, in general, falls in love all over again. A point and click adventure sometimes feel as though it was made specifically for a console like the Nintendo Switch. After all, the graphical quality doesn’t have to be Xbox One X level quality.

There are exceptions to this rule. Man of Medan has some impressive graphics for this kind of adventure game. Still, most of these kinds of titles are perfect for the Switch because they go for a more illustrative look than photorealism. On that point, Goodbye Deponia has checked the boxes in a big, positive way. Originally landing on PC back in 2013, the game looks as good as ever thanks to the graphics style of the port.

This is indeed a port, and there doesn’t appear to be any kind of changes or updates to the way the game looks or the dialogue in the title. That’s a good thing for people who played it on the PC and want to play it again. It’s not great news for people who love the Switch and were looking for a new game they could lovingly spend hours playing.

Yes, there are hours to spend on the game. And when you’re playing the game on the big screen, it might be better than on your PC.

Depending on how big your big screen is, the game looks as pretty as ever. It’s when you shrink things down that the port just doesn’t work all that well.

Old Favorites Make a Return in Goodbye Deponia

One of the things that have made the entire Deponia series as popular as it’s been has been the characters that star in the stories. Some of the all-time favorites are back, including everyone’s favorite anti-hero Rufus. Goal is here as well, and Daedelic does an excellent job of keeping some romantic sparks going.

Goal and Rufus honestly feel like an animated version of characters like Han Solo and Princess Leia. They like each other, but they’re going to be hard-pressed to admit it. Because this is really a port in the most real sense of the word, only the most devoted who have played this before, are going to want to play it again.

There aren’t new additions to the story. You’re not going to get new weapons or have new choices. Of course, when you’re talking about a game that was first released seven years ago, there are plenty who never had the inkling to play the game. There are plenty who might have heard of the series but didn’t want to get such an old PC game.

Now they can and do it on their favorite console. That’s definitely a mark in favor of the newest release of Goodbye Deponia.

Humor Can Fall Flat at Times

Because this is a point and click adventure, quite a bit of what the game has to offer is in the writing. It shouldn’t surprise anyone; a game that was written seven years ago has some jokes and some dialogue lines that don’t hold up. Goodbye, Deponia is one of the more beloved games in this genre because the writing is excellent.

That writing allows for the characters to stand out in what is a truly whacky story. Trying to leave a planet that is mostly a giant trash heap is always going to have some quirky story points.

When you consider a German studio is creating the game, it’s even more impressive than they were delivering jokes that can have you laughing out loud at times. There are definitely other times when you’re going to be cringing at just how hard the writers were trying to be “oddball.”

It doesn’t take away from the game as a whole but a groan here or there is going to be forced from your mouths as the story moves along.

Handheld is a Disaster

While most of the faults of Goodbye Deponia can be dismissed by remembering the game is simply old. When you’re talking about a game that’s released on the switch, how it’s going to play on the handheld is something that’s always going to need to be looked at.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear as though Daedelic thought much about what it needed to do for the Switch. That lack of thought means that the graphics, as good as they are, can be quite challenging to see when playing on a handheld.

If you’re like me, one of the reasons you like to play games off the TV is that you can do it with the sound off while other things are going on. The problem is the subtitles are also incredibly hard to see, especially since they are placed close to each character who is speaking. It would have been better to put all the dialogue in a letterbox at the bottom of the screen.

Verdict: Goodbye, Deponia, on its face, is as good as you likely remember. The rerelease onto consoles is certainly worthy. The problem is that you have to judge a Nintendo Switch game on how it plays specifically on the Nintendo Switch, and the difficulties that come from trying to play when the screen is quite a bit smaller are too much to overcome.