Update Seventeen: 1 July 2017

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

A short first act of a three-part trilogy, the Journey Down is an Afro-Caribbean themed (though, unfortunately, not Afro-Caribbean created, the developers are Swedish) point and click adventure game. It’s a pretty standard point and click, and what ran through my mind as I was playing it was ‘Hey, this is Deponia but not misogynistic, annoying, and with a likable main character.’ (I really don’t like the Deponia games.)

Bwana, the main character, is goofy and a little dumb and a little lazy (which is pretty standard for the genre, for some reason?) but with a good heart. He’s approached by a woman, Lina, to help transport her to the Underland - to take her on the titular journey down - to a land where it’s mysterious and illegal to travel to. Like I was warned, this first installment is mostly about fixing up a seaplane to take her there, but it’s a good introduction to the world and the characters.

The backgrounds are beautiful, being hand-drawn and painted, and the 3D characters blend well into them. The mask-like stylization of the characters as well with the pre-rendered backgrounds reminds me quite strongly of Grim Fandango, though unfortunately it’s not good enough to hit that height. Frankly, few point and clicks can. (I really love Grim Fandango.)

The 3D animation is all right, though the lip syncs are largely off and pretty distracting. I would’ve preferred for them to really commit to the stylization of the masks and had them be literal masks and just have head-bobs instead, but that’s just me.The writing is humorous and goofy in a pretty mundane way, but it’s cute and it’s charming and not particularly offensive (there’s no cheap shots here) so it’s just nothing to write home about. I’m glad I got a taste, and I’m definitely going to check out the next two installments.

Next up: I’m taking down a big one for the monthly theme challenge!

See you soon!