Developer: Arrogant Pixel LTD
Publisher: Arrogant Pixel LTD
Platform: PC, Mac
Tested on: Mac
The Tale of Doris and the Dragon Episode 2 – Review
In episode 2 of The Tale of Doris and the Dragon, we are back at it again with Doris and her adventures in The Divide. The last time we saw her, she helped a married couple reconcile, killed a demon with classical music, and found her way to cross the river to the Other Side. And all with the help of Norb the dragon. Will Doris get one step closer to finding her late husband Albert in this latest episode?
Story
The tale of Doris and her new dragon friend is quite a peculiar one. We follow Doris, an elderly woman, who fell (out of nowhere) down into The Divide, which we better know as Limbo or Purgatory. The name might have already given it away: The Divide is a place between the land of the living and the afterlife, dividing those two worlds. Lost and confused, Doris explores Limbo to figure out what is going on, while meeting interesting characters such as a dragon named Norb in the meantime. With the help of Norb, who is also the Administration Assistant down there, she works her way through The Divide to find answers and hopefully also her beloved late husband Albert.
We continue the story right where we left off in episode 1 where Doris joined The Ferryman on his boat to cross the river to the Other Side. There, Doris is looking for Management who might be able to help her out of the strange situation she’s in. There are still a lot of questions to be asked. And we need answers! How did she get there? Why is she there? And where in God’s name is Albert??
Graphics
This point and click adventure game is inspired by classic and retro titles from the ’90s. The pixel art style that is used here is colorful, charming and yet simple. The game doesn’t need the complexity of outlines and minuscule visual graphics to give the game more detail. The detailing and sense of dimension in every shape and surroundings is created by only using a darker tint of color in the right places. To put the cherry on top, there are subtle animations throughout the game that bring every scene to life.
The only thing that could’ve been better is the graphical design of the cursor. While in a neutral state, the cursor is just a plain white square with a bit of added drop shadow. Some animation or an interesting design would’ve been nice so the mouse cursor icon could stand out more.
Sound
Every scene is accompanied by fitting music and/or sounds and the whole is remarkably thought out. It’s never silent, every scene is filled with some kind of subtle background sounds or music to boost up the ambiance. You can actually feel the mood of the area by only listening to the sounds without even looking at the screen. This could be from the dramatic music in intense cutscenes to the sounds of a busy lobby or even an empty hallway.
The game also has enjoyable voice acting that really suits the well-written dialogue, bringing the characters and their personalities to life.
Gameplay
Like any other point and click adventure game, The Tale of Doris and the Dragon isn’t any different. You just have to point and click to play. Walk around a little, talk to different characters and solve problems by using the items you have gathered in the right place at the right time. For example: using a key you found earlier in the game on a locked door you come across later on. The items can easily be accessed in the drop-down inventory which only appears when placing the mouse cursor on the upper side of the screen. When you find something in the game to interact with, you can right-click to receive two options: ‘look at …’ and ‘use’. You can also drag an item from your inventory to interact on a particular spot. By hiding these actions on a neutral screen, it keeps the scene neat so you can fully focus on what’s going on.
What makes this game a bit easier than some other point and click games is the indication that there’s interaction available. By hovering over a specific point, a text like a name or description will appear above the cursor, indicating that you can interact with it. Not all of the games in this genre provide this luxury which makes said games much more difficult. This could be a treat or a downside, depending on the player. Although, there’s definitely one downside to an easy game: the easier the game is, the faster you play through it. And unfortunately, that’s the case for this episode. While the gameplay of episode 1 could last up to two hours, episode 2 falls short and might only last up to approximately 90 minutes.
Conclusion
Finding items is fairly easy, so the puzzles/problems are not that hard to solve making the length of the playthrough of this episode fairly short. The story is quirky, intriguing, and the dialogues are well-written and witty. It’s unfortunate that the game is so short because waiting for the next episode would feel like being in actual Limbo.
The Tale of Doris and the Dragon Episode 2 – Review,
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