You are a just and wise ruler, passing judgement where necessary. A man has committed a crime. Do you hand down a jail sentence? Preposterous. That’s just boring. Have the town crier imply he’s a pedophile instead, tarring his reputation for life. That’ll show him. Did a man produce a smelly poo that was later stepped in by your squires? Sentenced to the gallows, of course. In Death of the Reprobate, that’s just how life goes.
During SXSW Sydney 2024, I went hands-on with this upcoming game, and I must conclude the game’s developer Joe Richardson is deranged. Wonderfully, hilariously deranged. Death of the Reprobate is one of the funniest games I’ve ever played (it might be in fisticuffs with Jacob Janerka’s Paradigm) and if you get the chance, you absolutely must make time for it.
The premise of the adventure is relatively simple, on the surface. Your royal father is dying, and on his death bed, he wishes you to be a better man. Specifically, you must perform a range of noble tasks, to ensure you live a life fulfilled and humble. But who wants to do that?
Instead, you drag your feet and embark on a spiteful journey to force yourself to do good – and wind up doing the complete opposite instead. The hero of Death of the Reprobate, quite honestly, is a grade-A bumhole. This is the same man who’s happy to spread rumours of pedophilia as punishment, after all. He also dislikes children, obnoxiously plays the flute, doesn’t mind a spot of violence when it suits him.
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His head-empty, fists-first behaviour lends itself well to an incredibly bizarre, slapstick journey through a medieval townscape brimming with high chaos and elevated by a wild Renaissance painting art style. As you can see, Death of the Reprobate is like a living art work, with imagery and characters taken from classic paintings. They all move a bit like shadow puppets, complete with chattering mouths, giving Death of the Reprobate a lovely, jarring sense of action.
Each frame of the game is beautiful, with its painterly style allowing for sweeping river vistas, intricate townships, and eye-catching scenes. But in the way it’s animated, Death of the Reprobate is also extremely odd and occasionally hideous.
The game is silly, to reduce it down to one word. Absolutely silly and strange in design, and therefore delightful.
It’s also got an incredibly sharp wit to elevate its comedic tones, with dialogue in the game being particularly gut-busting. Short, sharp, and punchy lines elevate even the most over-the-top scenes. A trader tells you he won’t give you the fruits you want to feed a crying baby. In response, he gets, “What if I threaten you with violence?” As it turns out, a polite threat is what works, and so you’re free to pillage the vendor’s goods.
When you get to the baby and try to solve its particular needs, it looks at you with veritable disdain in its eyes. And when it opens its mouth, a very adult phrase issues forth.
Of course, a swearing baby on its own isn’t exactly the height of humour – it’s in all its aspects that Death of the Reprobate elevates its tone. There’s the fascination of using real Renaissance paintings to illustrate its drama, and the re-interpretation of these images through a modern lens. There’s elements of the bizarre in the staging and body language, and in how characters are animated in stop-motion style.
There’s a cadence and rhythm to the game’s humour that is rarely grasped so well.
In the mix of these elements, Joe Richardson is crafting a compelling point-and-click adventure that feels so unlike others in the genre. It’s a ridiculous game, really. Absolutely ridiculous, silly, and exceedingly strange. But it’s equally fantastic and memorable, and it proved to be a standout during SXSW Sydney 2024.
Keep an eye on the game’s Steam page. This is one game you’ll want to watch as it continues in development.
