Beautiful Desolation
- February 26, 2020
- Brotherhood Games
Beautiful Desolation is a deep, intelligent, puzzle adventure presented with a unique isometric view. It’s an easy recommendation to sci-fi fans who prefer narrative over action, but the Switch is not the best way to explore this apocalyptic world.
BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION is a 2D isometric adventure game set in the distant future. Explore a post-apocalyptic landscape, solve puzzles, meet new friends and make powerful enemies, mediate conflicts and fight for your life as you unravel the secrets of the world around you. FEATURING A story-driven adventure set in a dystopian post-apocalyptic future. A unique tribal punk aesthetic and 2D isometr…
PC
Reviews
- Beautiful hand-drawn and pre-rendered environments create an immersive visual experience.
- Engaging narrative with interesting characters and a unique take on a post-apocalyptic future.
- Deep, thought-provoking themes that resonate with mature audiences and encourage reflection.
- Clunky controls and a frustrating pathfinding algorithm hinder gameplay experience.
- Excessive loading times and performance issues, particularly on the Switch version.
- Overly cryptic puzzles and a lack of clear guidance can lead to player frustration.
- story4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's story is praised for its engaging narrative and vibrant characters, set against beautifully rendered environments and high-quality cutscenes. The combination of artistic visuals and a captivating soundtrack enhances the overall atmosphere, making the experience immersive and enjoyable.
“Beautiful hand-drawn environments, interesting story with colorful characters, great soundtrack and atmosphere.”
“Beautiful pre-rendered environments, high-quality cutscenes and character portraits, interesting story and world.”
“Beautifully rendered art and visuals, voiced characters bring life to the story, rich and colorful environments.”
- graphics3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The graphics are widely praised for their impressive visuals and beautifully rendered art, creating rich and colorful environments that enhance the game's alien sci-fi premise. However, some users feel that the controls do not match the high visual quality, detracting from the overall experience.
“Fantastic pre-rendered aesthetic, an interesting sci-fi premise, a world that truly feels alien.”
“Beautifully rendered art and visuals, voiced characters bring life to the story, rich and colorful environments.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is heavily criticized, with users reporting problematic controls, frequent stuttering, excessive loading times, and a reliance on repetitive fetch quests, which detracts from the overall experience.
“The optimization in this game allows for a smooth experience, even in the most demanding scenarios.”
“I appreciate how the developers have fine-tuned the performance, making it accessible on lower-end systems without sacrificing quality.”
“The game runs remarkably well after the latest updates, showcasing impressive optimization that enhances the overall gameplay experience.”
“The controls are awful and unsuitable, leading to constant stuttering during gameplay.”
“There are lots of loading screens and backtracking, which disrupts the flow of the game.”
“Around 90% of the quests are fetch quests, making the gameplay feel repetitive and unoptimized.”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere is characterized by beautiful hand-drawn environments and a captivating story featuring colorful characters, all enhanced by a great soundtrack that immerses players in the experience.
“The beautiful hand-drawn environments create an immersive atmosphere that draws you into the story.”
“The interesting story is complemented by colorful characters, enhancing the overall atmosphere of the game.”
“The great soundtrack perfectly matches the atmosphere, making every moment feel alive and engaging.”
- music1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is highly praised for its ability to enhance the beautiful hand-drawn environments and interesting story, contributing to an immersive atmosphere that complements the colorful characters. The soundtrack is noted as a standout feature, elevating the overall experience.
“The beautiful hand-drawn environments, interesting story with colorful characters, and great soundtrack create an immersive atmosphere.”
“The music perfectly complements the gameplay, enhancing the emotional experience and drawing players deeper into the story.”
“Each track in the soundtrack is thoughtfully composed, adding depth and richness to the overall gaming experience.”
- gameplay1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The gameplay is criticized for its terrible pathfinding algorithm and clunky controls, resulting in slow and frustrating interactions. Additionally, the combat system is deemed inadequate, and the game features empty locations with limited engagement opportunities.
“The terrible pathfinding algorithm, combined with an awful combat system, results in frustrating gameplay.”
“Empty locations with limited interactions make the game feel lifeless and unengaging.”
“Clunky controls lead to slow gameplay, making it difficult to enjoy the experience.”
Critic Reviews
Beautiful Desolation Review (PS4)
Beautiful Desolation is a mature game for mature audiences. If you like dystopian stories, classic point-and-click adventures, and you miss the magic of hand-drawn environments it will be right up your alley. On the other hand, younger audiences will have a harder time with the game, since it does not offer instant gratification, and the action scenes are utterly useless. Beautiful Desolation raises a lot of questions but leaves the answers open for most of the time. It is an experience that makes you wonder about humanity and what the future will bring. It is fun only for those who are looking for deep-reaching experiences, that will stick with you long after you finished the game. Review code provided by the publisher.
70%Beautiful Desolation (Switch) Review
Impressive visuals with controls that really miss the mark.
60%Beautiful Desolation Review
We were, as you can tell from the body of this review, consistently frustrated with Beautiful Desolation, another ambitious and lovely-looking game whose Switch incarnation just wasn't an acceptable way to experience it - shades of Genesis Noir's port (though that was better). It's especially unfortunate because this is exactly the sort of different that the Switch needs, but it needs to run better than what's on offer here. If you can muscle past the problematic controls, excessive loading and weak performance, you may be able to get into Beautiful Desolation. There is a lot to like in its worldbuilding, gorgeous backgrounds and interesting premise. But we felt like it just asked us to overlook way, way too many problems for the privilege.
40%
