Editor’s note: This look at the humor of Deathspank is probably as close to a review as anything I’ve ever promoted to the front page (we don’t normally feature straight-up reviews)…but whatever, now I really want to play it! -Demian
In life and in games, sometimes it takes an outside observer to find the real humor in a situation. Take the Grand Theft Auto series, developed by Scotland-based Rockstar North, for example: The game parodies U.S. culture, politics, and media with a biting wit that probably wouldn’t be quite so on target if it was homegrown. Similarly, this is why, in my opinion, designer Ron Gilbert has been able to so craftily weave his humor into his latest release, Deathspank, which skewers not just the action-RPG genre but also the entire game industry.
Gilbert’s famous as one of the main guys behind classic LucasArts adventure games like The Secret of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion, and though he’s bounced around the industry this whole time, he hasn’t fully unleashed his sense of humor since the LucasArts days. It’s clear from the outset of Deathspank, however, that the designer has had his pulse on the industry for the duration of the last decade.
Deathspank, at first glance, is an open-world action-RPG with a stylized look and feel. However, the game is done a great injustice by thinking of it in these terms: Deathspank’s success owes as much to humor as it does to its style and core gameplay mechanics. Now while humor alone cannot carry a title, the way in which Deathspank openly pokes fun at game industry standards is nothing short of stellar, and is what elevates it above the rest of the genre.
Take Deathspank’s very first quest — the titular Deathspank has to go out into a field and kill 10 “Vicious Chickens” to collect their lips, in an obvious parody of the World of Warcraft-style early collection quests that have shown up in just about every action-RPG since someone switched on the sun. It doesn’t end there, however, as Gilbert takes his turn ridiculing the stupidity of fetch quests, color coding (i.e. the red keycard opens the red door), and the general banality of enemy design to name but a few deserving targets.
But it’s not all just poking fun at clunky game design — Deathspank’s own brand of wit combines stereotypes, slapstick, and satire to great effect. It breaks the fourth wall sparingly, and the game is partially self-aware, but thankfully not in the overdone sense of The Simpsons Game or Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. Things that would be strange or out of place in a game about questing with swords and shields are taken at face value — so when a little orphan girl demands Deathspank buy her a cell phone before she will allow him to rescue her, Deathspank merely quips back, “A cell phone, I can’t afford one of those!” without missing a beat. The surreal nature of the writing plays entirely into the absurdity of the game itself.
The vocal talent is outstanding, with voice actors that reflect their character counterparts better than any in (my) recent memory. Deathspank himself is a particular highlight: Actor Michael Dobson delivers a larger-than-life hero, sounding like a more booming version of Captain Qwark from the Ratchet & Clank series. Combine this with Deathspank’s egotistical, self-obsessed, and slightly stupid character and you have a winning performance.
The visual style of Deathspank has a distinct charm: While the characters are 3D models, most of the scenery is in mock 2D. The trees and buildings in the game look like they’re made out of cardboard to be used in a Rob Schrab animation. Combine this with the rolling landscape effect, similar to that in Animal Crossing on the DS, and it creates a really striking pop-up book effect.
However, Deathspank has a glaring flaw. If we now take a step back, as Gilbert did, and observe Deathspank for what it is, perhaps we won’t be clever enough to derive humor, but what we can see is the shallow nature of its commentary. While Deathspank does poke much-deserved fun at the nature of game design, it doesn’t bring enough new ideas of its own to resolve these issues it so happily ridicules.
The game takes notes from last year’s Torchlight with the item “Grinder,” which literally crunches up unwanted equipment into coin and reduces boring backtracking, but that’s a baby step, and just one. It’s fine to say that gameplay elements X, Y, and Z are tired and no good, but when those statements aren’t backed up by new methods to progress the genre, Deathspank’s arguments lose a lot of their force and become simply satire for satire’s sake.