Chaos on Deponia Review

[Andy Chalk]

Chaos on Deponia Review

The middle child is disappointing as always.

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[Blood Brain Barrier]

Good review. The hype on Chaos on Deponia was that it was "even better than Deponia", but that's just not true. It's still a good game but there's something missing from the first game, a feeling that the game is more than the sum of its parts. Nothing really important happened and things are largely where they were at the end of the first game. I would hesitate to use the words "run of the mill" because there was a lot of effort here, but when you're making the sequel to a trilogy then it's impossible to harness as much effort as you have naturally when you're trying to do the best you can in the first game that you want to make into a series - and to do so you have to impress a whole lot of people.

 

[Cenzton]

Man, I swear I'm like the only person to like Chaos On better than the first Deponia. I found that the larger role of Goal added a lot to the story, and while I agree that the first chapter had a lot of puzzle problems in the sense that a player had no direction whatsoever and way too much you could do all at once (had to look at walkthroughs a couple of times), overall I felt like the game was somewhat better. Probably the only sequences I really disliked was the ones which involved time travel and you basically had to repeat the same scene twice.

It could be though that I just like it better since I played it first since it was on sale on Steam and only bought part one to play later.

Also, that damn junkcrab mating song is still stuck in my head.

 

[BlueJoneleth]

I liked the game and the development of Goal was nice (well after spending the entire first game sleeping, anything would be better); though I still think Toni should be the main heroine.

 

[Amaror]

I have to strongly disagree with this review.
It may not moved the story a lot, but i still thought it was fantastic.
It's difficult to say stuff about the humor, since it's always better in the original language, but i laughed my ass of dozens of times.
I don't see any reason to strongly dislike rufus. Yeah, he's stupid sometimes and not really a noble hero, but expecially the second game shows that he is a good person and a hero, when he has to be.
What i liked the most were the puzzles. There were many puzzles that were original and not a 08/15 adventure puzzle. The "irritating" puzzle with janosch is really good in my opinion, although i can see that there's the good possibility that the difficulty of the puzzle got greatly increased through the translation, it's actually not that hard in german.

So in conclusion:
I disaggree heavily. In my opinion chaos on deponia is a great game. If you played the first one and speak german, get this game (on german). Sadly i cannot say that much about the qualitys of the english translation.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

I don't see any reason to strongly dislike rufus. Yeah, he's stupid sometimes and not really a noble hero, but expecially the second game shows that he is a good person and a hero, when he has to be.

You think that

Spoiler

killing baby dolphins in cold blood

is something a "good person" and a 'hero' would do?

The characterisation wasn't right, especially with Goal. I have no idea what kind of person she is now. Or Rufus, really.

 

[Andy Chalk]

You think that

Spoiler

killing baby dolphins in cold blood

is something a "good person" and a 'hero' would do?

I actually thought this was one of the few funny moments in the game.

And I don't see any actual development of Goal in this game. Instead, she's just broken down into simplistic stereotypes; the only "development" comes at the very end from Lady Goal, who becomes virtually indistinguishable from "real Goal" in the process.

 

[Amaror]

You think that

Spoiler

killing baby dolphins in cold blood

is something a "good person" and a 'hero' would do?

I actually thought this was one of the few funny moments in the game.

And I don't see any actual development of Goal in this game. Instead, she's just broken down into simplistic stereotypes; the only "development" comes at the very end from Lady Goal, who becomes virtually indistinguishable from "real Goal" in the process.

Spoiler

Janosch's mother killed the dolphins

Yeah i know that this part did not do well in the character development section. But i don't really care. I normally care a great lot about the story, but i still really liked chaos on deponia. There were a lot of funny moments for example:

Spoiler

The platypus - fan.
The fast food restaurant with a demon as it's owner.
The hardware shop, with a crazy ai, that kidnapped it's owner.
The Rebellion, that houses in the basement of the leader's mother.
The Weapon - Selling - Lady.
... etc.

This game is not perfect, no game is. But it is certainly not as horrible as andy makes it out to be. It's funny as hell, it contains clever puzzles and it is a LOT of fun.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

You think that

Spoiler

killing baby dolphins in cold blood

is something a "good person" and a 'hero' would do?

I actually thought this was one of the few funny moments in the game.

And I don't see any actual development of Goal in this game. Instead, she's just broken down into simplistic stereotypes; the only "development" comes at the very end from Lady Goal, who becomes virtually indistinguishable from "real Goal" in the process.

Spoiler

Janosch's mother killed the dolphins

Yeah i know that this part did not do well in the character development section. But i don't really care. I normally care a great lot about the story, but i still really liked chaos on deponia. There were a lot of funny moments for example:

Spoiler

The platypus - fan.
The fast food restaurant with a demon as it's owner.
The hardware shop, with a crazy ai, that kidnapped it's owner.
The Rebellion, that houses in the basement of the leader's mother.
The Weapon - Selling - Lady.
... etc.

This game is not perfect, no game is. But it is certainly not as horrible as andy makes it out to be. It's funny as hell, it contains clever puzzles and it is a LOT of fun.

I think the 3 stars is to reflect that while it's a decent game, quite a few adventure games of similar quality come out every year. Why should we glorify something that, compared with the classics of the past, is really quite average?

And that's really the reason lots of people turn away from adventure games as a whole, because they think this is the best it gets. That's something I'd like to change, personally.

Oh yeah, and it's also quite a short game.

 

[Amaror]

I think the 3 stars is to reflect that while it's a decent game, quite a few adventure games of similar quality come out every year. Why should we glorify something that, compared with the classics of the past, is really quite average?

And that's really the reason lots of people turn away from adventure games as a whole, because they think this is the best it gets. That's something I'd like to change, personally.

Oh yeah, and it's also quite a short game.

I know what the rating means. My point is that i disaggree. I love the game. It's funny, it has clever puzzles and you get to know goal for the first time. Well at least the three parts of her.

Why should we glorify something that, compared with the classics of the past, is really quite average?

Compared with the classics of the past. Funny you said that. What games do you mean when you say that? Maniac Mansion? Sam and Max? Day of the tentacle? Those were awesome games but his critic points can be easily applied to them too. In nearly all of those games you don't have real character development. In Day of the tentacle you also have just one goal in front of you and no real story twists. They have many funny moments and clever puzzles and so does Chaos on Deponia.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

I think the 3 stars is to reflect that while it's a decent game, quite a few adventure games of similar quality come out every year. Why should we glorify something that, compared with the classics of the past, is really quite average?

And that's really the reason lots of people turn away from adventure games as a whole, because they think this is the best it gets. That's something I'd like to change, personally.

Oh yeah, and it's also quite a short game.

I know what the rating means. My point is that i disaggree. I love the game. It's funny, it has clever puzzles and you get to know goal for the first time. Well at least the three parts of her.

That's up to you. I can't argue with what you find funny. I found it funny too, just not as funny or charming as other games, which it would have to be to earn a higher score.

Why should we glorify something that, compared with the classics of the past, is really quite average?

Compared with the classics of the past. Funny you said that. What games do you mean when you say that? Maniac Mansion? Sam and Max? Day of the tentacle? Those were awesome games but his critic points can be easily applied to them too. In nearly all of those games you don't have real character development. In Day of the tentacle you also have just one goal in front of you and no real story twists. They have many funny moments and clever puzzles and so does Chaos on Deponia.

Well, classic doesn't mean old. Adventure games have been around for about 30 years and there have been games I would give 5 stars from their earliest days up until quite recently.

I don't know what you mean by no character development - how could you say that Max or Hoagie have no character development? And those games have a whole heap of twists. I don't see it being any different from Rufus at ALL. And besides, you make it sound like character development and 'plot twists' are essential in a game. They're not. It depends on the type of game it is trying to be. If it tries to build the game around characters then it's important, but not every game has to do that.

 

[Amaror]

Well, classic doesn't mean old. Adventure games have been around for about 30 years and there have been games I would give 5 stars from their earliest days up until quite recently.

I don't know what you mean by no character development - how could you say that Max or Hoagie have no character development? And those games have a whole heap of twists. I don't see it being any different from Rufus at ALL. And besides, you make it sound like character development and 'plot twists' are essential in a game. They're not. It depends on the type of game it is trying to be. If it tries to build the game around characters then it's important, but not every game has to do that.

I did not say character development is sooo important. Andy said it and used it as a key aspect to explain why chaos on deponia is bad. I just pointed out that many good adventure games have no character development or no plot twists, because adventure games don't need to have them.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Well, classic doesn't mean old. Adventure games have been around for about 30 years and there have been games I would give 5 stars from their earliest days up until quite recently.

I don't know what you mean by no character development - how could you say that Max or Hoagie have no character development? And those games have a whole heap of twists. I don't see it being any different from Rufus at ALL. And besides, you make it sound like character development and 'plot twists' are essential in a game. They're not. It depends on the type of game it is trying to be. If it tries to build the game around characters then it's important, but not every game has to do that.

I did not say character development is sooo important. Andy said it and used it as a key aspect to explain why chaos on deponia is bad. I just pointed out that many good adventure games have no character development or no plot twists, because adventure games don't need to have them.

Ah, okay. Can't argue with that. But I think that Chaos on Deponia is one of those games that needs good characters. Anything that is centered around a single main character and featuring so much dialogue does. For what it's worth, I thought Deponia did very well with the characters. Partly because Goal was well defined, which she isn't in Chaos.

 

[xdj220]

I honestly can't think of a single thing I liked better about the first Deponia, so I really have no common ground to begin discussion of this review. Suffice to say I disagree with pretty much everything in it. To each their own, I suppose. But to me this was the closest an adventure game from Germany has actually come to being worthy of the praise it received there.

 

[1337mokro]

Seeing as I just bought this during the summer sale I decided to do a Deponia marathon with the two games back to back. I immediately regretted not stopping after the first game.

This game would not exist had Rufus not been more despicable than he has ever been.

In the first game we could relate, young guy stuck in dead end city trying to chase after his dreams/father, haunted by everlasting bad luck, crippled by a sense of self importance and a determination so big that it would be better described as being too stupid to quit. He was the underdog, the guy no one wanted to even give a chance because he wasted all that trust before. In the end he comes to a moral switch where he no longer sees himself as the most important thing and sets his desires aside for the common good.

Then in the second game he basically becomes disgusting. The things he does are downright irredeemable all for cheap comedy. I was happy to end this game just so I didn't have to be around this character any more. Running gags include switching women's personalities like a bunch of dolls usable at your whim. Physical harm to others as a direct intent of Rufus' actions, this includes death, maiming, animal cruelty, being eaten alive, memory damage and so much more. Putting people unnecessarily in harms way when the puzzle could have been solved otherwise, yes even Goal is not spared and this is supposed to be the love of his life. Making fun of the disabled, the poor, the mentally challenged and basically everyone that does not deserve to be made fun off unlike our shitstain of a protagonist. Repeatedly ignoring characters' advice and torturing it for gags until it moves from funny initial misunderstanding in the first game to unfunny beaten to a pulp dead horse.

Remember the whole dad thing? The big sad thing about the first game that added some understanding to the way Rufus ended up the way he was, resenting everything around him for never giving him a chance? The hints dropped about his dad in the first game that hinted at the fact that while his dad was a self centered asshole like Deponia Rufus he in the end wasn't really a gigantic shitnozzle like Chaos on Deponia Rufus. That maybe he got wrapped up in something bigger than himself and couldn't return or was forced to leave his son because of it? No it's all a throw away gag as well, nothing comes from it but a number of stabs at how pathetic Rufus is and how much he hates his dad.

I honestly have almost nothing good to say about this game because the main character taints it beyond help. 90% of this game would not exist had it not been for one of his actions. His direct conscious choice to fuck up like he was some 5 year old completely going against my dialogue choices. It would have been one thing had he been forced INTO the choice but again it is a cheap low brow joke thrown in there for absolutely no reason, making this game utterly pointless because the character that is Rufus in Chaos on Deponia is not the same Rufus at the end of Deponia, heck it isn't even the same character at the start of Deponia. He looped so far back that he has become a caricature of his initial character and you are here just to enable him to be the horrible disgusting person he is now.

I found myself fast clicking through dialogue more and more and more just because I was getting tired of hanging around with this shit stain. I agree with EVERY CHARACTER IN THIS GAME that tells Rufus that he is an amazing asshole that is the source of all misery, because in this game he is. Basically my entire purchase of the next game hinges on the the first 10 minutes of gameplay I am going to look up on youtube. If the third game has the same caricature of Rufus as the second one I will not buy it. I'd rather just imagine an ending than put myself through a second Chaos on Deponia.

Skip Chaos on Deponia and just play the first game as a preparation for the third game. I think it's best if we all just pretend like Rufus got brain damage and went on some amazing adventure that got him to where he is now in Goodbye to Deponia and can't remember a thing. It would be a step up from the stuff that happens in Chaos on Deponia.

2/5 for charming art and good, if sometimes nonsensical, puzzles.