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Chaos On Deponia (PS4) Review

Daedalic Entertainment has answered my prayers (or many emails and tweets) and have managed to bring the second game from the amazing Deponia series to the PS4 (Chaos on Deponia). The series started out as a trilogy; however, due to overwhelming popular demand, they decided to create a fourth game in 2016. It revolves around a rather ego-fueled tinkerer called Rufus. His goal in life is to try and save Deponia from being destroyed, this in itself is a selfless act I hear you cry; however, the only reason he wants to save it is to impress a girl. How would he be able to impress her if the planet is destroyed? As I mentioned above, this is the second game in the saga and the second game on PS4 so I would highly recommend you play the first game before this one; however, the game does give enough backstory and have its own enclosed story so if you chose to start here then you wouldn’t be confused or lost.

The game begins with the presumption you either haven’t played the first game or you have simply forgotten what happened, this is rectified with a brief intro video that catches you up on everything so far. You are also put through a tutorial that is very similar to the original game and taught how you use the controls (which are the standard setup for console point-and-click games). The intro does a great job of letting you see what Rufus’ personality is really like – as I said, he is kinda fueled by his ego and a bit of a loudmouth at times.

The game picks up almost immediately after the first game ended with Rufus landing back at his ‘home’ whilst Goal (the girl of his dreams) and Cletus (her fiancé) are heading back towards the floating utopia, known as Elysium. Rufus, being Rufus, devises an ingenious plan to get back to her and ‘save’ her from Cleatus – A plan that was doomed to fail from the start. To cut a long story short, Rufus and Goal come crashing back to Deponia, Goals brain implant becomes damaged and Cleatus is once again obsessed with finding both of them.

This is the lovely, nose-less, Goal

Even though this game is situated back on Deponia, like the original title, the locale is different. We are given new locations to visit with their own set of characters and architectural style. The biggest section in the game is spent at the floating Black Market which houses a load of different locations you can visit either by walking around or by using the handy fast travel map. You are joined by two recurring characters, Doc (a mad scientist) and Bozo (the captain of the ship you sail in, who won’t admit to being a pirate) who are on hand to help you fix the damaged Goal and escort you across the Red Rust Sea to other locations.

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Once you meet up with Doc you are given a task that would fix Goals brain implant issue; however, Rufus isn’t the most careful guy in the world and thus screws this up. This causes Goals mind to split into 3 personalities; a stuck-up Lady Goal, a sassy-as-anything Spunky Goal and finally a rather cute but simple Baby Goal. The first half of the game revolves around swapping between all three personalities as you try to get them to agree to let the Doc fix them. You can swap between the personalities via a remote control and every single one of them has to co-operate, otherwise, the process won’t work!

Every single screen has tonnes of personality and things to see

Chaos on Deponia is on a much bigger scale than the first game – within that one, your goal was to try and leave Deponia whereas in this game you are tasked with saving the planet from being destroyed. A bigger adventure also requires a bigger selection of characters and situations and boy does Chaos on Deponia have that covered! Along the way, you will meet your estranged father, join a group of freedom fighters (who operate in the leader’s mums basement) and even breed some angry platypuses!  The game was planned as a trilogy from the beginning so there are a few events and conversations in this story which will probably be setting up events in the third game (which we will hopefully get on the PS4).

If you have played the original game then this one will feel very similar in terms of its structure. You have a very long first/main chapter which is based in a single location but with a lot of side areas to visit and puzzles to solve. This is followed by two smaller chapters that don’t beat around the bush and push you along nicely. The game took me about 12-13 hours to complete on my first playthrough (with no guide) which is a decent length for this style of game. Once the game opens up (when you are able to swap between the three personalities) you are allowed to free roam and complete each of these arcs in whichever order you choose. I know this is possible as I did a second playthrough to pick up some trophies I missed and I was able to complete the three arcs in a totally different order without any issues.

This guy kinda has a thing for Platypuses!

In terms of the puzzles, there are a few moon logic and inventory puzzles present here. If you don’t know what moon logic is, it’s basically where you pick up random items and use them on things you wouldn’t expect to in order to achieve your goal. Like setting fire to a pile of tires in order to use a flaming tire to make a can of tuna. None of the puzzles was too difficult or hard to complete as all the clues are there when you talk to people, although on a few occasions Rufus or the character you were talking to would simply give you the answer. The only puzzles that don’t really spell out the answer for you are the ones linked to trophies and most of these are missable and not required for the story to progress.

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I simply adored the music and the voice acting, I felt the script was well written and the actors performed their lines great – which is always an added bonus in an animated adventure game. The humour in the game was also really funny – I found myself literally laughing out loud quite a few times at this game, something which doesn’t happen very often. I’ve seen that some other reviewers didn’t get the humour and put that down to it being a translation from the German script but I personally loved it – I like adventure games with a lot of fun, witty dialogue that’s delivered well and that has true comedic moments in it.

Official Trailer:

Final Conclusion:
Chaos on Deponia is a great addition to the Deponia saga, whether you have played the original or not. Its humour doesn’t appear to be to everyone’s liking but I personally found it very funny and a pleasure to play. I would strongly recommend picking up the first game in the series and playing through that first in order to fully understand everything which happens in this one – it isn’t necessary but it will help introduce you to the characters in more detail. If you’re a fan of adventure games then you can’t miss this one as you’re in for a treat!

A copy of the game was kindly provided for review purposes

Chaos on Deponia

£9.99
8.5

Final Score

8.5/10

The Good:

  • Great art style, very bright and clean
  • Voice acting is great, along with a very funny script
  • Puzzles aren't too hard and are easily manageable without any help from outside sources (guides)
  • Decent variety of locations
  • The music is delightful

The Bad:

  • There are a few Moon Logic puzzles which had me confused for a while - they aren't impossible but require a bit of thinking
  • Would have liked a chapter select once finished for cleaning up the trophies - had to do 2.5 playthroughs to get the Platinum
  • No word yet on if/when the third and fourth game is coming to PS4
  • The final 2 chapters were short and snappy but I would have liked to have explored them more as I felt it was a little rushed after all the time and effort that went into the floating Black Market
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