2 
0 Death of the Reprobate is the follow up game to The Procession to Calvary from solo indie developer Joe Richardson, and the final game within the Immortal John Triptych. Those unfamiliar with Richardson’s work and who love Monty Python style humour really should rectify this immediately. And yes I am saying this because I am biased! The games are literal works of art. Renaissance art to be precise. However, if you’re of a sensitive disposition this is not the review, nor game for you.
Nudity, Vulgarity and Renaissance Artwork
I have been a fan of Joe Richardson‘s works since I stumbled upon The Procession To Calvary during the good old Covid lockdowns of 2020. With nothing to do aside staying in my house working and parenting a toddler, I slowly lost my mind. Giving me the perfect mindset to play Richardson‘s games. The Procession To Calvary and Four Last Things gave me exactly what I needed at the time, a chance to laugh and be silly. Have you played any of the Immortal John Triptych games? Let us know in the comments below!
Gameplay
Death of the Reprobate is a point-and-click puzzle game at its very core. There are no different game modes, you load the game and you’re instantly transported into a medieval-scape where your only modes of communication are via your mouse. You play as Malcolm, son of Immortal John. Or to give you your full title, Malcolm the Shit: Interim Leader of the North. Whilst running through your usual morning duties of handing out very fair punishments to those who have dared to tax evade and poop in the streets, you receive news your father is dying. Worse still he wants you to visit him, which of course fills you with one thought…inheritance.
Of course, you rush to be by your father’s side, galloping across landscapes by coach and horse to get there. However, you soon find out that despite being on his deathbed your father is less than satisfied with your efforts as interim leader. In fact, you must commit seven good deeds by the end of the day to prove that you are indeed a good person and very worthy of his vast estate.
Click Away
Having had minimal input so far, aside from choosing from some pre-set options, which as far as I could work out didn’t actually have any bearing on the story, this is where the game truly begins. Hovering your mouse at the top of your screen will bring down your item list. This is where you’ll find your To-Do list if you need a helpful reminder of what you need to do. Other than that your mouse is your best friend in this game. Which quite frankly you’d expect from a point-and-click game!
There are a few helpful tools within the game if you become stuck. You can press and hold H to highlight hot spots. This is especially handy if you’re having trouble knowing what you can or can’t interact with. I liked this feature as often I would forget that there was more to interact with than just the obvious mission goals.
You can also go to visit the spiritual advisor within the town. Run through the options and they will explicitly tell you exactly what to do next and just how to do it. I was very grateful for this when I came across a particularly hard puzzle. And I use the term puzzle loosely because I genuinely don’t know if it can actually be solved or I am just very very bad at maths. The puzzle? The dice game within the local inn. I furiously wrote notes, and listened keenly to Alan and Colin after visiting their portraits in the gallery and still, still I could not solve it. I ended up taking the easy way out. And how did the game repay me? By hinting I’d lost out on an achievement. So of course I’ll be trying to solve that another time.
I don’t want to give the story of the game away, but of course, nothing is ever as it seems. Overall the connections between puzzles in this game are very clever. I enjoyed meeting the vivid characters and knowing I’d probably need something from them very soon. It made me feel quite competent when I knew immediately how to help someone and tick off another good deed from my list. Even if this feeling was short-lived as I soon realised I needed to do something entirely different.
I will say the settings menu is limited in that all you can adjust is the audio settings, turn off drag-and-drop items and alter the dialogue boxes. However, the game itself is quite a simple mechanic game so this is to be expected. The only thing I would like to see added, would be some accessibility options such as text size.
Graphics & Audio
Death of the Reprobate will not win any awards for graphics, at least not in the traditional sense. With each character, object and piece of scenery originating from actual Renaissance-era paintings, the game is beautiful. Which is what makes the whole game that much funnier. It must have taken Richardson hours to not only find the perfect paintings to use, but to craft the characters in a way that you almost forget they were not just created for the game. The artwork and implementation of it within the game setting make for a perfect point-and-click game.
There is no voice acting aside from the odd sound effect, such as the subtle snores of your dying father. These sound effects work really well in conjunction with the music of the game, which is of course very era-appropriate. The classical ditties are all thanks to Eduardo Antonello and recorded using real Medieval and Renaissance instruments. I often found myself humming along as I performed silly tasks such as trying to convince a greengrocer to give me strawberries via violence. You know usual game things.
The graphics and audio work perfectly to create immersion into the silly world that is the Immortal John Triptych.
Longevity
At the time of writing, I have played about 3 hours of the game, and have somewhat completed it. I say somewhat as although I may have technically completed the main questline, I still have to deal with the devil himself. Even putting the devil aside, there is so much more I want to explore with this game. In the name of journalist integratory I ignored all my intrusive “what if I did this” thoughts to play the game as unintended. But now, now there is no stopping me. I can’t wait to play Death of the Reprobate again and see what happens if I choose different options in different scenes. Just as Richardson himself would want. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself.
As with all point-and-click games, longevity and re-playability comes down to the individual. The game has a satisfying storyline whereby one play through could be enjoyable enough. But is equally compelling enough to warrant another play through with different approaches. The puzzles are just tricky enough that you could spend a good deal of time wondering what to do. Or even knowing what you need to do, but with no idea just how to accomplish it. I’m looking at you dice game.
Final Thoughts
I have been following the development of Death of the Reprobate for a while now, eager for more Renaissance silliness in my life. This could have easily been a disappointing game. After all, aren’t the third games in a series infamous for being terrible? But, praise be it wasn’t.
Whilst I played through the game, my partner was sitting on his computer and would periodically look over bemused, as I sat at my PC snort laughing at something utterly ridiculous. Usually, this was due to a swear word in pretty script whilst a character was doing something equally vulgar. A true gift.
So, what can I truly say to summarise the game? The storyline is funny. The art is pretty. The classic music is catchy. Altogether they create a juxtaposition of perfect absurdity.
I have no other choice than to award Death of the Reprobate the Thumb Culture Platinum Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received to write this review.
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