Death of the Reprobate review

Joe Richardson's zany Immortal John Triptych comes to a fittingly fun end just as it shows signs of wearing down

Joe Richardson has shown himself to be very adept at delivering Renaissance-era adventure games with a hearty blend of absurd, Monty Python-inspired comedy, presented in an ingenious art style comprised of mixed-and-matched classical paintings. Death of the Reprobate, the last installment in The Immortal John Triptych, following on from Four Last Things and its sequel The Procession to Calvary, largely succeeds once again. It is perhaps the weakest of the trilogy, as the humor is starting to lose its luster and the relative dearth of location variety seems like a step backward, but it still contains the same madcap humor, decent puzzling, and detailed environments and characters that fans of the indie UK developer’s work have come to expect, packaged in Richardson’s standout signature art style.

After the events of the last game, after a long reign Immortal John is now on his deathbed, and his son, Malcolm the Shit, takes time out of his day of punishing criminals to go and collect his expected inheritance. When he arrives, however, he finds that Immortal John is none too pleased with Malcolm’s debauched ways, and tasks him with performing seven good deeds to prove he can be righteous enough to be worthy of his inheritance. So, Malcolm sets off in order to find seven strangers in need of assistance.

Performing these good deeds forms the basis of most of the gameplay in Death of the Reprobate, including helping a man teach his children to fish, assisting a madwoman in fixing her hot tub that looks suspiciously like a well, and calming down the rowdy children of a father at his wits’ end. Of course, the solutions to these problems are convoluted and often chuckle-worthy, if not downright hilarious. For instance, soothing one of the father’s children involves obtaining disgusting “chocolate milk” from a cow, while another sees you helping a couple grow old together – literally, as it turns out.

As with its predecessors, puzzles here are generally of the inventory variety, whether providing the right item to the right character, or combining objects together in order to make something functional. Thankfully, no matter how absurd the objective, the game mostly avoids the irritation of needing to try everything on everything with a decent amount of clues and a limited number of combinations. There are a couple of logic puzzles, one of which involves a magic flute that can, among other things, turn wooden horses into real ones, and change the main character’s hat if the right notes are played. Less musically inclined players shouldn’t fear, though, as the solutions depend on matching correct symbols, rather than tones the flute makes.

Death of the Reprobate

Genre:	Comedy, Fantasy
Presentation:	2D or 2.5D
Theme:	Historical, Religion/Occult
Perspective:	Third-Person
Graphic Style:	Stylized
Gameplay:	Puzzle, Quest
Control:	Point-and-click
Game Length:	Short (1-5 hours)
Difficulty:	Low

The puzzles in general are not too challenging, which by now is par for the course for Richardson’s games, and has the welcome effect of keeping the focus on the humor. However, it is worth noting that one dice game “puzzle” turns out not to be a puzzle at all – a fact that is played for laughs but left me feeling that it was at the player’s expense, especially as I gave an earnest effort to solve it. If you do need help, the hint system is quite organic, taking the form of a soothsayer character whose dialogue options provide clues to the obstacles found throughout. The only real downside to this implementation is that the answers tend to be given in full, as opposed to providing a gentle nudge in the right direction for individual puzzle steps. Still, its very existence is an improvement over the previous games, which didn’t have a hint system at all.

Controls are basically identical to the previous games, with mouse clicks on hotspots bringing up icons for look, interact, and speak. The inventory and to-do list are found by mousing along the top edge of the screen, while the Escape key brings up the save menu, where one autosave and four manual saves are available. Tasks are automatically added to the to-do list, and crossed off as they are completed as a reminder if you momentarily forget what your present goal is.

The characters you encounter are quite diverse, from a group of stuffy old clergymen, to a bar full of drunken patrons, to a goat king who just wants to chill. Much of the humor comes from the (unvoiced) character dialogue, and it successfully retains the Python-esque flavor of the previous two games, with sarcastic gibes and goofy anachronisms, including modern slang and the occasional use of emoticons to indicate the mood of the speaker. Though experienced veterans of the developer’s games will appreciate more of the same, the humor is starting to feel well-worn at this point, with very little new ground covered. The snarky dialogue seems forced at times, and I found the use of emoticons, which is new for this release, off-putting, though the anachronistic clash with the Renaissance setting is not lost on me. But these are minor issues, as the humor retains its distinctly acerbic wit, and is once again a highlight of the game.

Graphically, Death of the Reprobate sees a welcome return of the remixed classical paintings that Richardson is known for, and his style still impresses, with well-composed scenes and animations that are notably smooth. The sheer number of source works used is impressive, such as Ernst van Schayck’s St. Sebastian and St. Roch, and Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Haymaking. You can familiarize yourself with most or maybe even all of them in the art gallery locale that has become a customary feature of the series. Unfortunately, locations are a bit less diverse than in the previous game, but still include scenic views of the countryside and the interior of grand churches, as well as homelier haunts like taverns and barnhouses.

Also as in Four Last Things and The Procession to Calvary, the music here is comprised of public domain recordings of classical music pieces, including dances from Michael Praetorius’ Terpsichore and Trumpet Tune by Henry Purcell. Most of it is diegetic, as characters within each locale are the ones playing the music heard there, a feature carried over from the last game. Altogether, the various scores add to the atmosphere and provide an appropriate sonic backdrop for each location. Sound effects, such as Malcolm slapping someone, and footsteps that change depending on the surface, to name but a few examples, are organic and inject further flavor to the scene.

Final Verdict

Overall, the 4-5 hour playtime for Death of the Reprobate is time well spent, featuring the same charmingly quirky aesthetic and more of the zany humor Richardson’s fans have come to love. Even newcomers can jump straight into the action here, although some context for the events taking place would be lost on them. Either way, the tasks to perform the required seven good deeds are appropriately silly, and with one key exception, the puzzles you must solve are enjoyable, if not overly challenging. It is often said that the third time’s the charm, but that might not hold particularly true for this game, as the developer previously set the highest of bars for himself and the novelty has begun to wear off at this point, particularly when it comes to the humor. Nevertheless, Death of the Reprobate is a solidly entertaining experience in its own right, and this final installment definitely gives fans a fitting end to the Immortal John Triptych. It’s time to move on to something new, but whatever comes next from Joe Richardson, I can’t wait to see it. 

Kacey played Death of the Reprobate on PC using a review code provided by the game's publisher.