Deathspank

 
Developer: Hothead Games
Steam Release: October 2010
Hours Played: 23.9
Similar To: Bastion / Cat Quest / Sacred 2 Gold / Torchlight II
Rating: 5/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY 
Action rpgs are about charging through environments, hacking and slashing, slaying a few bosses, moving on to new locations and rinsing and repeating. All are susceptible to repetitive gameplay syndrome so the experience needs to be kept fresh and alive. Rest assured, the light-hearted Deathspank delivers. With its non-linear, open-world environments, unique graphics and overall quirkiness this one can give a great eye-opening alternative to the usual fare. Areas consist of enemies that have fixed levels and don't scale with the player so although you're not going to go to a Level 14 area at Level 4 the game still has plenty of alternatives regarding which quest or area to take on next. Consequently this feeling of freedom is a definite plus. You have two weapon set-ups that can be toggled at the press of the Tab button.

BALANCE & PACE
You negotiate the game in true hack & slash style, quaffing potions and munching morsels as you go. As you explore you'll arrive at various hubs consisting of villages and one-off quest-givers. For example, one fella hangs outside caves and asks you to get items inside. Quests are usually of the "kill X amount of Y" variety but there are plenty of other puzzles and brain-teasers to keep the gameplay fresh and there is a huge variety of enemies. Every quest-giver brings up a dialogue box and every dialogue-tree is voice-acted with many conversations being comical in some way. This has novelty-value to start with but you might want to skip them later to speed up the action. Quests build up rapidly though and although the quest log is user-friendly it can be hard to remember who to return back to afterwards.

PRESENTATION & DESIGN
The start-screen has our hero on a never-ending run as the bouncy music plays. You access menus in-game such as the equipment and inventory screen, the quest log and map screen. Navigating through these menus is intuitive but combining and using items from the inventory can be a little confusing and, if overlooked, means some quests cannot be completed. The unique cartoon-like graphics have the effect of turning over a never-ending page in a pop-up book so the features in the distance gradually pop-up or unravel as you approach and then slowly pop-down when you back-track. This adds to that feeling of intrigue as you wonder what strange environment you're going to stumble upon next. The sound, from the spy-theme background music to Deathspank's hammy mock-heroic voice, all help to keep things kooky and humorous.
 

PROGRESS SYSTEM
On starting up you are taken to a second screen of four screenshot slots that hold the saved games. Each slot displays how much the game has been completed by way of a percentage. Deathspank does a fine job in keeping you informed. As well as the save-slots telling you how much percentage of the game you have completed, there is also a Book-o'-Stats in the inventory that you can access while playing that’s devoted to giving you all the other stats you might need with plenty to keep even the most demanding nerds and geeks happy. You also, of course, level up as you go along. Another way of keeping track is to refer to the map screen which shows you how much of the whole world you have explored. This also has a slightly confusing local map which shows you the immediate area you're in.

CONCLUSION
Diablo III and Path of Exile may have captured the mainstream audience, while Grim Dawn and Torchlight II have both been lauded to huge critical acclaim. All leading lights of course but for sheer character, variety and fun, Deathspank gets a hell of a lot of things right and should not be overlooked. Each area contains a huge variety of enemies and ripping your way through them is highly satisfying, not least due to the many inventive and humourous ways the designers have animated their deaths. Controls are also smoothly done and highly responsive. I guess I could go on but I'll leave it there and end by asserting that Deathspank truly is an original title and must be commended for the way it doesn't take itself too seriously yet pulls off being a seriously good game!