When I went to see Daedalic last year, industrial-flavoured concept art for The Devil’s Men plastered every wall of a corner room in their Hamburg studio. A bunch of journalists were placed under strict orders not to talk about it until everybody else knew it existed.
So what was the purpose of showing us at all? I think they were simply proud, and wanted to let us know that between classic RPG Blackguards and the Tell-coat-taling 1954: Alcatraz, they were still making traditional 2D adventure games.
Not that traditional, though. Puzzles in this steampunk rendering of Victorian England will be solvable in several ways, and might even redirect the flow of its occult story to match.
Two young ladies have taken it upon themselves to solve the murders of several scientists – a group of academics investigating the supernatural who call themselves The Devil’s Men.
Puzzles will be found throughout the game’s environs (a seaside resort and commune of “waifs and strays” feature), and Daedalic say it’s “up to you if you get lost in the mystery or if you find the one answer everyone is searching for”.
Very mysterious, and due for release in the spring next year. The other event in Daedalic’s calendar is the return of Sadwick in The Whispered World 2 – but without his grating English-language voice actor.
“Adventures seem like a lost art form,” said Tim Schafer in the original pitch for Broken Age. “They exist in our dreams. Our memories. And in Germany.”
Have you ever tried any of the German adventure games Daedalic make?
Ta, RPS.