14 DAY TRIAL // 
Daedalic Entertainment is a name that rings familiar in the ears of adventure game fans, that managed to bring us some memorable experiences – one way or another. Next to bringing us some really outside the box games like Inkulinati or Barotrauma, classic point and click one like Deponia or Edna and Harvey, the publisher is not unfamiliar from being in the headlines with some really misfortunate projects such as Gollum.
One of their newest releases, Life of Delta, looks interesting, but let’s see if it plays better than the adventures of ring crazed creature. Life of Delta developed by Airo Games may look like a Machinarium clone, but it is much more than it.
Beyond the cute robots, the game is full of mutant animals that fit the postapocalyptic visual style of the game world. It is a different kind of cyberpunk atmosphere, less flashy than other recent productions, but just as immersive as a Bladerunner story. And the similarities can be stretched even a bit further.
The end of the great war does not bring good news for humanity, since the only survivors are some reptilian creatures that arose from the depths of the Earth in the shadow of the endless nuclear conflict. Being left alone on the planet, their only goal seems to be to eradicate anything left behind the human race. This includes also the robots that are dumped in giant acids vats.
In the middle of this depressing landscape, we will meet our hero, Delta, a small service robot. He is saved from being corroded by acid and is being repaired by another robot, Joe. When their savior is taken away by the lizard people, Delta feels that he owes Joe, and he embarks on a journey to find him. And thus begins our post-apocalyptic adventure, that tasks you with exploring 28 different levels, that barely resemble the once beautiful Japan.
There is not much story beyond this mutually indebted premise. Life of Delta is presented more like a series of challenges and tasks, rather than a coherent story with epic plot twists. This is one of the reasons why it is a bit hard to me to adhere to the official genre categorization given by the developer and the publisher: point and click adventure game. The kind of story that you can see in the most representative titles of this genre is missing in Life of Delta.
Sure, there are plenty of puzzles, but there is no sign of a story to pin you to the edge of your seat. In exchange we have plenty of mini games, over 50 of them, each one harder than the previous. These are mostly logical challenges, but there will be tasks that will put your dexterity to the test. With the lack of any other motivation than saving Joe, your main motivation will be solving the tasks you are presented with in order to advance.
Many of the puzzles involve using the correct objects in the correct spots to obtain the imagined outcome. There will be times when you will have to carry an object around for a longer time, but most of the time you will be confined to limited spaces and the items you collect will be used there. The item manipulation puzzles in general are obvious, since most of the items and the puzzles are pretty obvious.
The challenge of the minigames varies quite a bit, but also raises some questions. For example, why do you have to fix a software update by directing a metal ball in a maze? It feels like the focus of the developers was fixed on the gameplay elements, and the story ended up being a neglected frame to contain them.
Moreover, the difficulty level does not follow the progression of the player, rather they are all over the place, varying randomly. Even so, the hunting for pixels or solving dexterity challenges amounts to a maximum of 4-5 hours of total gametime.
Next to the minigames another area that received major focus is the visual style of the characters and the environment. Overall Life of Delta looks catchy, by mixing sci-fi visuals with cuter design elements – especially when it comes to robots.
The characters themselves are pretty memorable, despite the fact that the developers chose them to speak in gibberish instead of real language. The soundtrack is great and works well to create the postapocalyptic atmosphere with tunes that definitely feel Asian, yet they are modern, fast paced.
The Good
- Beautiful visual style
- Relatable characters
- Great soundtrack
The Bad
- Anemic story
- Difficulty levels all over the place
- Pretty short
Conclusion
Overall, the experience is not bad, but you cannot help but feel that it could have been much more. Despite the modest marketing campaign, I hope enough people will pick up the game, giving the developers the motivation and resources to develop a sequel that will improve on this game.
Review key provided by the publisher.
