I used to be a big fan of Point & Click adventures, mainly the LucasArts ones. Monkey Island, Indiana Jones, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, The Dig (a little pause here to remember how awesome The Dig was) and a few more you’ll probably have played if you know what a Pentium® is.
I said ‘used to be’ because when Its Stinkiness discovered that I enjoyed that genre, It assumed that I’d be happy being the ‘main character’ of a new ‘point and click’ game that It had ‘came up with’. The game was basically pointing at me with a stick and clicking on my head with it.
After a while I told the Master that I didn’t like those games anymore and It eventually redirected Its Glorious Mind to annoy Brother Gutsan, but I’ve secretly been searching for a new Point & Click game that could be worth the risk.
Last B.O.S.S. (Best of Screenshot Saturday), a game with a really gorgeous illustration style catched my eye. Its name was cool, too. So I went to the itchio page and tried it. Below, if the Magnanimous Indie Skunk doesn’t discover me before I finish writing it, you’ll find my first impressions of the Death Corp demo.
A familiar feeling
Once you stop being impressed by the, again, great illustration style, you’ll find yourself in a comfortable place for classic point & click adventurers. Good old sense of humor with metajokes that smash the fourth wall? Check. Awkward main character that explains out loud everything that’s happening in his head? Double check.
In Death Corp, you are Art, a young college graduate looking for his first job. He finds one eventually as the intern of Death itself, with the noble mission of making sure that everyone dies when they should.
From what I could see in the demo, this starting point will take us to the classic fun shenanigans so present in this genre, but adding a little bit of gore that it’s quite refreshing (I never expected to write these last words together ever).
A potential TO DIE FOR
Sorry about that failed pun attempt. The truth is that the game has a lot of potential as it is right now (and it’s just a demo!). The visual aspect (have I mentioned it yet?) with that handmade finish is outstanding. The animations are great, too, though some of them could result a little bit tiring in the long run (yes, picking-up-things animation, I’m looking at you!). Even the interface goes in the right direction, with a clean UI that features an automatically hiding inventory.
Other aspects like the music and sfx have more room for improvement, but I’m pretty sure that’s on the roadmap. With the right choice of voice actors and a little more interesting OST, this game will go places. And I hope to be in those places, because that will mean that I’ll be playing that game as I will be in the same plac… Nevermind.
MY FINAL AND VERY IMPORTANT VERDICT
Having considered all the above, I give the demo of Death Corp a score of… Oh, hey, Master! Sorry, Glorious Master! Yes, I’m playing a game and writing a review, as you ordered. What game you say? This one… yes… the… It’s a totally-not-point-and-click indie game you’ll probably won’t know about. Oh, you still want to know? It’s called El… Elden… Elden Ring! Yes, it’s a very recent indie game that no one has ever played or commented online ever. Yes, it will gain us a lot of new followers. Sorry, it will gain You a lot of followers. Can I go back to work now? What are you doing with that stick?