Game Review: Life of Delta

By Teepu

Player(s): 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, XBox, PlayStation 5, PC

I’m a sucker for an old-fashioned point and click adventure game, so I went into Life of Delta with some excitement. It’s a genre that is either done to emulate Myst, or meant to look super retro these days, so seeing one that is designed to have a gorgeous modern look was already a plus in my book. Does it hold up in the genre though? Let’s find out.

Before saying anything else, it’s important to note that this review is based solely on the PS5 version of the game. The PC version likely addresses some of my complaints. The main one is with the controls. With a point and click adventure game, the navigation and interactions are dealt with exactly as the genre’s namesake indicates: by pointing and clicking. Using a freeform cursor with a controller can be hit or miss depending on how the acceleration and sensitivity are handled. In Life of Delta, even on the lowest sensitivity, you can’t control the speed based on how hard you push the stick. This means that when you need fine movement, you’ll find the cursor flying across the screen at the slightest touch which can make the game extremely frustrating to control. The developer tried to overcome this by adding some features to assist with navigation, with varying results. 

Speaking of minigames, puzzles are one of the two main draws to the genre. This game handles it beautifully, offering unique gimmicky puzzle minigames for some parts and having puzzles around how to use what you find. It’s a nice balance of all, and while a small handful of puzzles can be a little obtuse, none of them are overly complex once you experiment a bit. The puzzles are on the simple side in the game, though that’s not exactly new to the genre. Still, the variety is welcome and didn’t leave me feeling bored. In fact, it made me want even more because I was engaged throughout.

Speaking of minigames, puzzles are one of the two main draws to the genre. This game handles it beautifully, offering unique gimmicky puzzle minigames for some parts and having puzzles around how to use what you find. It’s a nice balance of all, and while a small handful of puzzles can be a little obtuse, none of them are overly complex once you experiment a bit. The puzzles are on the simple side in the game, though that’s not exactly new to the genre. Still, the variety is welcome and didn’t leave me feeling bored. In fact, it made me want even more because I was engaged throughout.

The other main draw is the narrative. Sorry to say that the narrative in Life of Delta is uninspired. The actual setting of a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk world where humanity is dead and only sentient mutant animals and robots live, is quite enticing. The story of Delta searching for his friend is very basic and dull though, and ends on a very irritating cliffhanger that will leave you feeling incomplete. The character interactions and dialogue are pretty fun at least, but due to the short length of the game you’ll be done before you are able to properly enjoy these interactions. 

Choosing to have the dialogue audio be made with gibberish sounds may be hit or miss for many, but I enjoyed it. The overall sound design and music were solid as well. I especially liked the visuals, everything looked and ran smooth and had that Monkey Island feel to them while still feeling very modern. Aesthetically speaking, I left the game very satisfied.

In the end Life of Delta is an adventure game with a lot of potential, but is marred with its share of issues that start to add up and can take away from the enjoyability of the game. At the price of $19.99, this approximately 4-hour long game is hard to recommend. Had these issues been ironed out it’d be an easy recommendation, but as it stands I’d suggest waiting for a sale before picking this one up. I don’t regret my time with the game, but I don’t think I’d be happy if I had paid full price for it either. Take that as you will.

For More Information on Life of Delta:
https://airogames.com/

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Story: C
Gameplay: C+
Graphics: A
Music/Sound: A
Value: C

OVERALL: B-

Pros:
+ Beautiful art that looks great and runs smooth.
+ Enticing world that leaves you wanting to explore more.
+ Puzzle variety is a welcome thing for this genre.

Cons:
- Controls are quite bad and frustrating, even with some of the assists the game provides.
- Main narrative is dull.
- Game is too short.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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