If you follow Penny Arcade, you've probably heard that they have been working on a video game based on the comics. On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One came out this week and I had a chance to sit down and play it yesterday.

The verdict: Not bad.

I went in expecting something typical of licensed media. Mediocre quality, rushed production, or some other unsightly mar on the presentation of the game. Pleasantly, I was treated to polished looking, true to source content. Game play is simple to pick up, requiring little more than mouse clicks and the spacebar or arrow (or WASD) keys. The interface is so intuitive that most people should be able to figure out how to perform the most basic and common tasks without guidance. Despite the simplicity of the control scheme, perhaps even because of it, you are able to smoothly navigate what basically amounts to the unrepressed psyches of Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins.

The game begins, of course, with character creation. The options are limited, although in truth I kind of prefer it this way. Any time I am given complete control over a character's appearance, I end up spending a half hour fiddling with the different sliders just to come up with something that looks remotely human. Since everything needs to fit in with a predetermined style, then at least you can be assured that the character you create will look correct from all angles.

A short animated scene transitions you from character creation to the actual gameplay where you are introduced to the shockingly, although humorously, fourth-wall breaking narrator. After the initial area, where he guides you on some of the less obvious gameplay elements, you won't hear much from him again throughout the game. After a few lines of monologue from your guide, during which you acquire your faithful weapon, a rake, another animation comes in setting up your character's motivation and giving you your first sighting of Tycho and Gabe. The animations are fantastic, and really help set the tone of the game world. The initial area serves mainly as a tutorial of the navigation and combat systems, leading you through a few battles, instructing you to interact with objects, and choose dialog options. The basic skills you pick up here will serve you through the entirety of the game.

In terms of gameplay, OtRSPoD:E1 (Not the easiest thing to type) comes across as an item-collecting, simple puzzle-completing adventure with a bit of RPG battle and leveling systems. You'll collect parts to upgrade your weapons, odds and ends that various NPCs demand in exchange for vital items, and a small range of battle related items. Leveling up occurs automatically based on experience received from defeating enemies, and there are no options to customize your character further. The collecting aspect was not terribly tedious, as it can sometimes be. There isn't a whole lot of ground to cover, so if you aren't sure what to do next, it is easily possible to return to previous areas and wander around until you stumble upon something. I only found one instance where someone was asking me for an item that I had no idea how to find, and the above method turned up an NPC I had missed.

The battle system is simple, and some people may tire of it as it can become a little repetitive. It rarely becomes frustrating, but performing the same actions over and over can be tiresome. Each of your main characters has three main options in battle, Items, a Basic Attack, and a Special Attack. Once a character has performed an action, the icons representing these options become available based on the speed rating of the character. The options are tiered, so that the ability to use items fills first, followed by the ability to use a basic attack, and then the ability to use a special attack. The winner of an on screen initiative roll prior to battle starts off with more time on their options, with a 20 causing all meters to be filled immediately. Basic attacks will often work just fine, and you may be tempted to skip the delay and use the lower powered option. Occasionally, however, you may face enemies that you need special attacks for that are able to debuff your speed, making the wait nearly intolerable. Special attacks are unique to the character, and during the course of the game, each character will learn three different special attacks.

In addition to having unique attacks, each character has a different way of increasing the damage of those attacks. Gabe's requires mashing the spacebar to fill a meter, followed by stopping a moving bar inside of a target with the same. Your character requires you to hit the space bar four times as an arrow rotates past four targets in a circle, and Tycho's attack asks you to match arrows that appear on screen with either the arrow or WASD keys. Killing an enemy with a perfectly performed special attack will fill in a special slot that permanently adds to your damage. You get five of these slots per character per weapon upgrade, and it is to your advantage to get them filled in.

In addition to the individual special attacks, if more than one character has their special ability charged, those characters may perform a team up attack, which generally does the equivalent to the total amount each would have done on their own, but without the need for all of the button pressing.You'll also acquire three support characters. They each only have one ability, which is on a slow timer that carries over between battles.

The other major aspect of the battle system is blocking. As an enemy performs an attack, their health bar will flash white. Pressing space bar at the correct time will block the attack, usually for greatly reduced damage, and preventing any debuffs that the attack might cause. Good blocking is essential when facing difficult enemies to prevent untimely death, but it also serves another purpose. Every time you hit an enemy with a character, that character builds up meter that lists the number of attacks. Being hit by an attack reduces this meter to zero, but a succesful block will allow you to continue increasing your hit meter, which carries over between battles. Once you get more than 3 consecutive hits, you build up a bonus to your attack rating. Although I was not able to build this meter over about 15 without missing a block, it appears to add half the amount rounded up to your attack, which can cause significant extra damage over the long term.

The one major flaw in the battle system that I found is that your inventory seemed rarely useful. Using an item counts as an action, and resets your timers on all of that character's abilities, meaning if you have a special ability charged up and ready to go, or nearly ready to go, and you decide to use an item, you'll have to wait for the meters to fill again. The buffs and debuffs could certainly make a difference, from making you 50% faster, to reducing an enemy's defense by 100%. But, the enemies were usually too weak to bother with it, or too tough meaning I had no time to waste on things that probably wouldn't last long enough to really benefit me in between getting hits in. By the end of the game, the too tough aspect had disappeared almost completely, and there was no real challenge to the battles, they were simply obstacles to overcome on my way to the end of the episode. There were some items that I did need to use on occasion. Bandages will not only return a certain percentage of your health, they will also revive someone who is knocked out, and a few of the enemy types can be distracted with thrown objects. Beyond this, I was usually saving my meters to get my special attacks out.

The lack of difficulty is further seen in the mechanics of the game. You can save your game at any time outside of battle, and transitioning between screens will perform an autosave, so even a fight that goes badly will rarely set you back more than a few minutes. In addition, all but a very few battles can be fled from at any time.

The other real problem is that the game is episodic. The entirety of Episode One should last about five hours on average. Part of that is just going to be scenery-gawking, and running around like a half-wit trying to figure out who has what item you need to move on to the next bit. A lean and determined player could probably complete the game in an even shorter period of time. This first installment comes in at a reasonable $20 USD, which when thought of objectively is the same cost as Portal, which takes less than half the time to complete. Unlike Portal, there really isn't anything new here, but it does share that title's penchant for humorous settings. The real question is, are you willing to spring for some solid, although not terribly innovative, gameplay set in a story world that is interesting and full of humor that is literary and high-brow one moment and hilariously vulgar the next. If you genuinely enjoy the Penny Arcade comics, and could see immersing yourself in that strange world, if only for a few hours, then you could probably safely purchase the game sight unseen as I did. If you aren't a fan of the comics, or you are looking for more challenging gameplay, try the demo first, this game may not be for you.

Both the demo and the full version of On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One can be found at playgreenhouse.com for Windows, Macintosh and Linux operating systems. It is also available on Xbox LIVE for the Xbox 360

Awesome review, Anon. I'm really looking forward to playing this - if nothing else, it's the first time a turn based game has come out that isn't some garage hackjob.

Sounds like I'll find it enjoyable but not life changing.

I agree almost completely, Anon, with the caveat that the complete use of mouse control for the battle interface is at times clunky and slow. I personally would have preferred an option to use keyboard commands to select options - something like tabbing between 'active' characters while the meters charge, hitting 'a' to select attack, 's' for special and 'i' for inventory, and then using the mouse actions to select a target. Fusing the mouse only actions of the current system, as it were, with a more 'traditional' FF-esque combat style, which OtRSPoD:E1 emulates even now.

I haven't finished the game yet, but have no doubt that I will continue to purchase further episodes as released. The game is fun, attractive and hilarious to play. A solid gem.


-Andiyar

I've been curious about this. I think I shall indeed try the demo. Thanks for the review.

I just bought it, and will give it a play tomorrow.

I feel that I owe PA more than the 20$ the game cost for years of laughter, so any enjoyment derived from the game will just be bonus.

Bought it, it's pretty entertaining so far. Still getting the hang of blocking specific enemies' attacks, which is a -major- thing in coiming out victoriuos. Then again, I'm at a relatively early point in the game.

Also, is it just me or are some special attacks far easier to perfectly execute than others?

Another point: there are special characters you can call in to help you from time to time (their cooldowns are pretty long and they cannot be called upon every or every other fight). Like many other options, they may or may not be useful, but I find them to be entertaining, at least. I especially like the cat.

Well. Finished the episode, and highly enjoyed it. A few thoughts:

Must disagree on the uselessness of items in Anon's review... some items proved very useful indeed in certain fights, especially the anti-enemy stat effectors. Dynamite is also valuable Oh, and some enemies prove immune to special attacks, so yes, sometimes it's a waste!
The ending is nice and resolved, and educates me to believe there will be four episodes in total, at least listening to the final narration as compared to the beginning one. I hope so, as this has been a blast.

Oh, and Celestial Storm, blocking is useful, but as you get higher in level not *as* useful. Don't forget, you hit space to block when the enemy health flashes, not based on the animation... it took me ages to realise that :S. Oh, and combat does get increasingly easier in the game, as you get more powerful and as you get more proficient at timing.

Looking forward to episode two .Wonder if it'll have a fun and exciting subtitle to complement the already existing and incredibly long proper title!


-Andiyar

Really looking forward to this game. I have the demo but I haven't played it yet. I have always loved Tycho's writing and the interactions between Gabe and Tycho in the comic, and if there's more of that in the game I'll gladly shell out $20 for it. I've never bought a single piece of P-A merchandise, so I've basically been enjoying the comic for free for five years. Buying the game is the least I can do.