"Goodbye Deponia" is the final installment from the original Deponia trilogy and was released back in 2013, so not that long anymore until this game is a decade old or maybe it happened already depending on when you read this review of mine. I wrote "original" because actually there is a fourth game too that came out in 2016 and the reason for that was that many people did not like the ending to Goodbye Deponia / the trilogy, so creator Jan Müller-Michaelis, better known as Poki, gave in and added a fourth, but really final chapter. There is a lot of chaos going on in this game and series with Rufus at the center of ot all (the fella you see on the photo here on imdb too), so forgive me for taking the chaos route as well and writing a review that is not particularly chronological or well-structured. I reviewed the first two games lately as well and I will say one thing that I also said on those other title pages: You should go for the edition that has Poki's commentary included because it is really insightful and interesting what he has to say and offers a great deal of new perspective. There are minor inclusions in this commentary that I did not like too much, but I will get to that later and I don't want to go into detail 100% either because if we are very strict, it is not a part of the game. The fourth game does not have said commentary and this also makes sense because this fourth game was really not planned (yet) when they released this trilogy here with the commentary. As for the basics, I read that this third installment is allegedly as long as the previous two, but I do not agree here. I think the first was the shortest and you can easily play it on one day. The second was a little bit longer, but still fits into one day. This one here is the longest and even if you rush through it and solve every riddle immediately, I don't think it fits into one day unless you are super fast perhaps. But you shouldn't be. Instead you should enjoy all the dialogues, try to use every item with everything etc. There is so much fun and wit to the writing here, especially the dialogue writing that you do not want to miss out.
The plot is taking really new directions too and some of those are incredibly spectacular. Let's look at Rufus dying in the middle of the story pretty much and how he basically manages to revive himself with the help of his self-sacrificing creator. Or look at Goal dying too (does she really?) and how Rufus saves her too while she is transformed into a baby version of herself. Rufus finds out that he is one of many clones, but one of only three who survived and there we have the explanation why he looks so much like Cletus. I guess Poki really had to come up with a proper explanation now that he brought in a second Rufus lookalike. As for Goal, we meet her father towards the end, but yeah this felt a bit like a rushed inclusion, also how she is the young woman there on board with him and he never would have pulled the trigger on Deponia (and himself) if he knew his daughter was present as well. Now a few words on the commentary: Rufus' bragging there is as appreciated as Goal's pouting. It's kinda true. She once again does not really have the lead moments. Transformed into a baby, pretty much unconscious again for the long first sequence at the hotel and in the end waiting for Rufus inside the car. Pretty cool car though. Yeah, on the negative note, in terms of the commentary I want to say that once again I did not like the inclusion of a famous German let's player, even if him playing the game had a positive effect on sales figures. But they really should not include him for one screen where he does the commentary and his talking is really just pointless brambling. Sad, but true. Not as sad though as him (with a character that looks just like the man) even being included as a voice actor in this game. This character was already featured in the second chapter Chaos on Deponia and here his story is even bigger. At least, it was a kinda decent story and really terrible what Rufus does to him and his ingenuous sweetheart. Instead, as Poki even stated, the focus should have been on characters loved by the fans such as Lotti, who easily could have replaced Goon.
Aside from that, I also could have done without Poki's really long singing sequence when Rufus wants to enter the place and see the new general. Here and there, Poki was a bit too full of himself maybe, also when we are in this washing machine screen and first thing he says is that he is one of the people there and also pretty much the only one talking on his own on two occasions or so. This could have been alright, but Poki having forgotten the names of other Daedalic employees there was surely a bit embarrassing. The rest of the commentary was really nice though and it would be an amazing inclusion if every video game developer did that. Which is of course impossible. As for the laundromat scene I just mentioned already, this summarizes the absurd genius of this franchise nicely. What do we have here? Oh yes, an apocalyptic cult performing strange washing machine rituals. Enough said. Now I think I will just brainstorm some moments and inclusions that stayed in the mind. One thing is of course the growing romantic relationship between Rufus and Goal. Be it the prospect of them together in the same bed. Be it Goal admitting that she sees cuteness in the weirdest Rufus commentaries and she says herself she is so stupid because she does. Be it the voice in Rufus' head telling us that he finds her so sweet when she is in a specific mood, but cannot specify said mood. Goal looked hot there, not gonna lie. Or be it the end of course when all three Rufuses (or Rufi) know that Goal will save the real Rufus and all three of them say they are him. There are some cute romantic moments for sure. And of course there are tons of minigames again. Poki loves them we must not forget. Maybe the toughest for me was the one with the toothbrush. It may not seem so difficult at first sight, but people with poor eye-hand coordination like myself can have a truly hard time there. I have seen others struggle with it as well while some solve it within seconds. Of course, I must also mention all the "Your mother" jokes on one occasion in the game. Maybe you will find them childish, but if you like this game, liked the previous games, I have a feeling you won't.
The voice acting is again really good here from everybody involved. It feels smooth. I played the German original of course. Monty Arnold delivers from beginning to end even more than he does in the two previous parts and surely sounds younger than he actually is. Or was back in 2013. This game was also the first time that Sinikka Compart (Goal) really won me over, maybe because she did not have a gigantic amount of lines in the previous games, especially the first. But also in those very dramatic moments like when she tells everybody that they would have been just as lost if not more without Rufus she does a pretty good job and I would like to hear Compart in other games too. But also those who give their voices to really minor characters are convincing. I could talk a lot about Smudo and Cowboy Dodo of course too, but I won't as for that you should just listen to Poki's in-game commentary. So it is also a good watch and listen for fans of German hip hop group Die Fantastischen Vier. But even with a pro like Smudo in charge of this character, the biggest music thumbs-up goes to composer Finn Seliger. His Organon hymn is so incredibly catchy, no matter if we are talking about the situation when we hear it from the three soldiers up there or when we hear it from 11,000 soldiers. The latter was combined with a music riddle, but even I as somebody as unmusical as it gets could solve it quickly. Thanks to the reactions basically and to how we could see how far away we were from the right note every time. In general, the game does a very nice job again with providing hints. Just like the two previous ones. If you talk to the characters and use all your items, you will find little tips on many occasions. And make progress. Here I can also elaborate a bit on the slums down there, the sewers if you want to call them that. Also truly brilliant and hilarious. Look at the creature Rufus mistakes for Goal in the dark. Look at the vegetarian monster there resisting the temptation. Many other examples. Of course, the three Rufuses being able to exchange items was also an interesting inclusion, even if it made the game more difficult. The sewer scenes with the pedophile and the Black woman posing as a monkey were pretty edgy though. I still liked them because I object political correctness.
Finally, I must of course mention Bozo, maybe my favorite character from the entire series. Really nice we find out a bit about his family. Meet his mother, granddad, little brother. And also get to cure him, which results into an unexpected moment of anger from Bozo. But hey, Rufus destroyed his ship. As for Rufus, the end with what happens to him is pretty controversial and you can argue if Rufus had reacted like that in this specific scene. Maybe more likely than the other two, so it makes sense. And you can still like an ending, even if it makes you a bit sad I suppose. So I would not really have needed the next chapter. These three chapters here (this being the third) are magnificent really and I highly recommend checking them out. Then again, just play the first and decide for yourself if you want to keep going. The quality stays the same luckily. Much more to talk about here. Barry did not do too much for me. Where did he come from in the end anyway? Seagull's return was okay. Toni is always a welcome inclusion, also in the tutorial. Janosch too. As for Doc, not sure. Where are his legs though? We'll never know. The reception desk clerk was quite funny. I felt pretty bad for Oppenbot. Awesome Super Mario tribute here.
The plot is taking really new directions too and some of those are incredibly spectacular. Let's look at Rufus dying in the middle of the story pretty much and how he basically manages to revive himself with the help of his self-sacrificing creator. Or look at Goal dying too (does she really?) and how Rufus saves her too while she is transformed into a baby version of herself. Rufus finds out that he is one of many clones, but one of only three who survived and there we have the explanation why he looks so much like Cletus. I guess Poki really had to come up with a proper explanation now that he brought in a second Rufus lookalike. As for Goal, we meet her father towards the end, but yeah this felt a bit like a rushed inclusion, also how she is the young woman there on board with him and he never would have pulled the trigger on Deponia (and himself) if he knew his daughter was present as well. Now a few words on the commentary: Rufus' bragging there is as appreciated as Goal's pouting. It's kinda true. She once again does not really have the lead moments. Transformed into a baby, pretty much unconscious again for the long first sequence at the hotel and in the end waiting for Rufus inside the car. Pretty cool car though. Yeah, on the negative note, in terms of the commentary I want to say that once again I did not like the inclusion of a famous German let's player, even if him playing the game had a positive effect on sales figures. But they really should not include him for one screen where he does the commentary and his talking is really just pointless brambling. Sad, but true. Not as sad though as him (with a character that looks just like the man) even being included as a voice actor in this game. This character was already featured in the second chapter Chaos on Deponia and here his story is even bigger. At least, it was a kinda decent story and really terrible what Rufus does to him and his ingenuous sweetheart. Instead, as Poki even stated, the focus should have been on characters loved by the fans such as Lotti, who easily could have replaced Goon.
Aside from that, I also could have done without Poki's really long singing sequence when Rufus wants to enter the place and see the new general. Here and there, Poki was a bit too full of himself maybe, also when we are in this washing machine screen and first thing he says is that he is one of the people there and also pretty much the only one talking on his own on two occasions or so. This could have been alright, but Poki having forgotten the names of other Daedalic employees there was surely a bit embarrassing. The rest of the commentary was really nice though and it would be an amazing inclusion if every video game developer did that. Which is of course impossible. As for the laundromat scene I just mentioned already, this summarizes the absurd genius of this franchise nicely. What do we have here? Oh yes, an apocalyptic cult performing strange washing machine rituals. Enough said. Now I think I will just brainstorm some moments and inclusions that stayed in the mind. One thing is of course the growing romantic relationship between Rufus and Goal. Be it the prospect of them together in the same bed. Be it Goal admitting that she sees cuteness in the weirdest Rufus commentaries and she says herself she is so stupid because she does. Be it the voice in Rufus' head telling us that he finds her so sweet when she is in a specific mood, but cannot specify said mood. Goal looked hot there, not gonna lie. Or be it the end of course when all three Rufuses (or Rufi) know that Goal will save the real Rufus and all three of them say they are him. There are some cute romantic moments for sure. And of course there are tons of minigames again. Poki loves them we must not forget. Maybe the toughest for me was the one with the toothbrush. It may not seem so difficult at first sight, but people with poor eye-hand coordination like myself can have a truly hard time there. I have seen others struggle with it as well while some solve it within seconds. Of course, I must also mention all the "Your mother" jokes on one occasion in the game. Maybe you will find them childish, but if you like this game, liked the previous games, I have a feeling you won't.
The voice acting is again really good here from everybody involved. It feels smooth. I played the German original of course. Monty Arnold delivers from beginning to end even more than he does in the two previous parts and surely sounds younger than he actually is. Or was back in 2013. This game was also the first time that Sinikka Compart (Goal) really won me over, maybe because she did not have a gigantic amount of lines in the previous games, especially the first. But also in those very dramatic moments like when she tells everybody that they would have been just as lost if not more without Rufus she does a pretty good job and I would like to hear Compart in other games too. But also those who give their voices to really minor characters are convincing. I could talk a lot about Smudo and Cowboy Dodo of course too, but I won't as for that you should just listen to Poki's in-game commentary. So it is also a good watch and listen for fans of German hip hop group Die Fantastischen Vier. But even with a pro like Smudo in charge of this character, the biggest music thumbs-up goes to composer Finn Seliger. His Organon hymn is so incredibly catchy, no matter if we are talking about the situation when we hear it from the three soldiers up there or when we hear it from 11,000 soldiers. The latter was combined with a music riddle, but even I as somebody as unmusical as it gets could solve it quickly. Thanks to the reactions basically and to how we could see how far away we were from the right note every time. In general, the game does a very nice job again with providing hints. Just like the two previous ones. If you talk to the characters and use all your items, you will find little tips on many occasions. And make progress. Here I can also elaborate a bit on the slums down there, the sewers if you want to call them that. Also truly brilliant and hilarious. Look at the creature Rufus mistakes for Goal in the dark. Look at the vegetarian monster there resisting the temptation. Many other examples. Of course, the three Rufuses being able to exchange items was also an interesting inclusion, even if it made the game more difficult. The sewer scenes with the pedophile and the Black woman posing as a monkey were pretty edgy though. I still liked them because I object political correctness.
Finally, I must of course mention Bozo, maybe my favorite character from the entire series. Really nice we find out a bit about his family. Meet his mother, granddad, little brother. And also get to cure him, which results into an unexpected moment of anger from Bozo. But hey, Rufus destroyed his ship. As for Rufus, the end with what happens to him is pretty controversial and you can argue if Rufus had reacted like that in this specific scene. Maybe more likely than the other two, so it makes sense. And you can still like an ending, even if it makes you a bit sad I suppose. So I would not really have needed the next chapter. These three chapters here (this being the third) are magnificent really and I highly recommend checking them out. Then again, just play the first and decide for yourself if you want to keep going. The quality stays the same luckily. Much more to talk about here. Barry did not do too much for me. Where did he come from in the end anyway? Seagull's return was okay. Toni is always a welcome inclusion, also in the tutorial. Janosch too. As for Doc, not sure. Where are his legs though? We'll never know. The reception desk clerk was quite funny. I felt pretty bad for Oppenbot. Awesome Super Mario tribute here.
