Developer: Nexus Game Studios
Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment
Platforms: PC, Mac
Tested on: PC
Randal’s Monday – Review
Randal’s Monday is Nexus Game Studios’ debut game, published by Daedalic Entertainment who are best known for the narrative-driven games The Whispered World and Deponia. Unlike these games, Randal’s Monday is a geek-themed adventurous click ‘n point game with a handful of Easter Eggs.
Story
As a narrative-driven game, there is plenty of story in Randal’s Monday. The storyline is a mash-up from many geek cultured references but the majority of it could be looked at a cross-over of The Lord of the Rings and any kind of movie that features time loops.
Randal, the main character, is one of the worst friends you can have. He’s a kleptomaniac, a sociopath, incredibly lazy and super-geeky. His best friend Matt has gotten engaged but the engagement party has gotten slightly out of hand. The morning after, Randal wakes up with a banging hangover and Matt’s wallet which held the ‘precious’ engagement ring. Financial troubles come along and Randal doesn’t think twice, selling the ring in an instance. Soon he finds himself reliving the same dreadful Monday over and over – learning that the ring is cursed. It only gets worse when Randal finds out that Matt commits suicide, every single morning. Randal has set his mind on recovering the ring and saving his best friend’s life but the task is not an easy one during a time loop.
Graphics
The visuals in Randal’s Monday is quite common for point and click adventure games – heavy cartooned with dark edges. There is certainly no lack of depth when it comes down to the correct placements of the buildings and items. The inventory is a feature that simply belongs in the game but it also visually somewhat refreshing since they are using a magazine-type of inventory. As the game features many different locations, they feel quite authentic and different from each other. The fact that they often change, depending on what Randal has changed due to the time loops is a great feature as you’re bound to find many hidden Easter Eggs.
Sound
The voice-overs in Randal’s Monday are not the best but they are not incredibly bad either. Most of the voices have a certain gruffness to them which will become slightly dull since you will deal with the same characters over and over again. Once in a while, they switch things around so that the characters have a different accent but they continue to have the same gruffness in their voices.
Gameplay
The controls in the game don’t differ from its genre. You’ll be able to play the game with just the mouse but one can also use a keyboard if it fits your playstyle. For its genre, Randal’s Monday uses plenty of puzzles – some more illogic than others. These can be brain hurting if you are reluctant to use the hint system but the game does provide a handful of useful tips by talking to other characters or when riding the subway. This brings me to the locations.
As a point and click adventure game, you’ll need to travel to various locations multiple times. For most games, this can become quite a hassle but they fixed this quite easily in Randal’s Monday. Traveling to and from locations is easily done by using the subway station which provides a handy map featuring every location you’ve unlocked so far. Once you’ve unlocked a new location, often by talking to characters, it will simply pop up on the map. Outside each location, you’ll find a subway station at the left and right thus the traveling in the game is far less time consuming.
Items that are needed to complete puzzles in the nearby future, or even for the next day, can be picked up and will be stored in the inventory. Most of these items can be combined to create an item that has an entirely different use to it. This is a common feature in the genre and the game hints about it quite often.
As a geek-themed video game, the game provides plenty of references. In fact, you can easily find five to ten references each day excluding the less obvious ones. Many of these references come back from time to time but I feel that the references have been overused. Too much is simply too much, although this is a personal opinion. One might like the countless references hidden in the game but that is something you’ll need to find out yourself. Here’s a list of a few obvious and personal favorites: Good Morning, Vietnam; X-men; Half-Life; Portal; American Pie; Back to the Future; Star Wars and Futurama.
As for the humor, it is clearly there but more often than not, the humor feels forced thus it loses the hilariousity. The humor is also quite dark and combined with lots of swearing, Randal’s Monday is not suitable for the under aged.
Conclusion
Randal’s Monday is a great point and click adventure game with a plethora of geek cultured references that will make any geek proud for figuring it out. Due to the time loop, each day feels familiar but the developers did a great job at mixing it up a bit so the game will not become a bore to anyone. Some of the puzzles are quite logical while others are overly complicated. This, combined with the many plot twists the game provides, you’ll be set for a decent amount of time.
Randal's Monday - Review,
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[…] Follow Randal in a crazy odyssey through the space-time continuum as he tries to set things straight before the universe collapses. The title features cynical humour, geek culture references and point & click adventure gameplay at its best. For more info, make sure to check our PC review. […]