Hadean Lands is an old-school text adventure with a $35 DLC that's a PDF certificate
Hadean Lands isn't like most modern games. It has no graphics or sounds, for a start. It's an old-school text adventure that tells the story of an alchemist stranded on an alien planet. It also has a premium - and extremely bizarre - DLC.
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Hadean Lands has a $35 DLC that's literally a PDF. It's a certificate that you can print out and sign. You're supposed to write on it to say you won't cheat by looking up guides. It's a joke. It's a $35 joke.
"This DLC pack contains a high-quality certificate saying that YOU, the player, solemnly promise to finish Hadean Lands without looking at any hints or walkthroughs on the Steam forums or anywhere else on the Internet," says the official blurb under the DLC.
"That's all! You print out the certificate, sign it, and hang it on the wall. This is strictly on the honor system. The DLC does not change the behavior of the game at all."
It's kind of ridiculous, but the game is pretty cheap. I'd think of it as a nice way to throw some more cash at the developer if you really enjoy the game, though obviously only if you can afford it. Not me, mind. I have better things to buy, like candles - $35 of candles.
The game itself is $11.99 and has received positive reviews.
Thanks, Eurogamer.
Backed it. Loved it. Still haven't completed it. I poke it every now and then but interactive fiction writers are complete bastards who craft some of the strangest puzzles I've ever seen.
I still remember the "I know more dinosaurs than you!" contest with a kid in one IF game which was only solvable with 'imadethisupasaurus,' if you get my meaning.
I can't do interactive fiction too much any more. Too hard on the old eyes. Especially since I have a degenerative optic nerve condition, sigh. I did actually like reading. I do as much as I can, still.
Anyway, yes. Hadean Lands! Quite the thing. Quite the incredibly abstract thing that will contort your brain into a möbius loop, given the chance.
You can't back this sort of behavior!
Seriously though, As the Pope of the Internet I will bless each and everyone of you for $35, heck $34, IF! and only if you promise not to read a walk-through. Also, I'll write you all a pretty email and include a fancy cat picture.
What do you say?
Did you... did you seemingly fail to get the joke and then make the joke yourself? I find that baffling! How does that even happen? Did you think that this 'DLC' was being offered unironically, so you'd make an ironic joke about it to be clever, whilst not realising that the original 'DLC' was satire in and of itself?
FDHagohadfj ... buh??
You sir, are a complete idiot. Good Day!