I love games like Diablo (I and II) or the older Fall Out games, which feature a 2D-esque camera point where you traverse fast lands and choose your own adventure (in a way). So when I first watched the trailer for Beautiful Desolation, it felt like a mix between the two, and it did not disappoint. Even though the start was a bit.. rough?
Mark, a man out of time, searches for his lost brother Don in a far-flung futuristic era ruled by highly advanced technologies revered and reviled. Your surroundings hold echoes of a desolate past and glimpses of a dark future that has yet to be written by your actions. Be prepared to face many tough choices that will shape this land long after you complete your journey.
Beautiful Desolation
Yeh, sorry, that’s all I’m going to tell about the story of the game. The key to games like these is finding the route you want to play. Make your own choices and focus on what you find interesting. Then, you can compare it to the moral system in games like Mass Effect or Star Wars KotR (2). To strengthen this concept, the inhabitants of this world will help and hinder you as you make discoveries and navigate the spectacular African-inspired landscape. Negotiate your passage with local leaders, healers, and warriors, or find yourself embroiled in a battle against nanite swarms, enormous scorpions, and rocket-equipped robots.
Even though it starts in a run-down 80s arcade/airport hall, the game shifts quickly to scenes Diablo II would be jealous of. It felt a bit lite isometric borderlands in times, and the overworld ranged from thriving villages to crumbling cities, petrified forests, and bone-dry ocean beds. It’s a real joy to travel through this strange new world, which holds many terrains to uncover, beautifully rendered in 2D isometric art.
Tread carefully
To make the game even more challenging, they did not include a quest log. However, they equip the player with a journal (called a codex) in which all important information is saved. This can range from anything like clues and tips to random numbers that can open certain locks. This makes it harder to put the game away for extended periods of time since you don’t get a refresher when you open up your save file. One of the things I read online when the game was first released was using good old pen and paper. This felt a lot like drawing your own dungeon maps and cheat code sheets back in the days, and yes, I can see why it’s easier to write down clues than opening and closing the codex constantly. And you will need the codex. I still preferred the digital option, though.
Bugs and nags
One other thing that bugged me is that there is still an element of pixel hunting. I had the same with Diablo back in the day… (luckily, they included the show items option). While exploring an area, you can run past something on the floor a few times before you see it. There are gold items that you can turn in for credits to buy items in the game and they are very well hidden.
The game did score bonus points on using South-African slang. Since I’m Dutch myself, many South African words can be translated or linked to words in Dutch; but I can understand that most of the nudges fly over people’s heads. I appreciate the inclusion of local flavor in games like these since it adds a different layer to said game.
Conclusion
So, to conclude! Beautiful Desolation is a game that will appeal to people that like games in the style of old school Fall Out and Diablo mixed with the depth of a Dungeons and Dragons game (like Neverwinter or Baldurs Gate). It does take a lot of commitment to keep up with the extensive clues, information, and storyline if you put the game away for a few days (like I tend to do, thanks to my newborn). But, if you have a few free days and like games like these, dive into that rabbit hole; you won’t be disappointed.
