Randal's Monday
- November 12, 2014
- Nexus Game Studios
- 20h median play time
The concept and writing will draw you in, while at the same time the ridiculous puzzle design pushes you away.
Get on Steam"Randal's Monday" is a point-and-click adventure game with humor and pop culture references. The time-looping story follows Randal Hicks, who accidentally keeps reliving Monday and must undo his mistakes to break the cycle. Expect quirky characters, challenging puzzles, and lots of geeky humor in this game.
Mac OS
PC
Playstation 4
Windows
PlayStation
Reviews
- The game features a lot of pop culture references and humor that can be entertaining for fans of the genre.
- The art style and graphics are visually appealing, providing a nice aesthetic experience.
- The voice acting, particularly from Jeff Anderson, adds a level of charm to the characters.
- The dialogue is excessively long and often feels tedious, detracting from the overall experience.
- Many puzzles are illogical and frustrating, often requiring the use of a walkthrough to progress.
- The main character is unlikable, which makes it difficult for players to engage with the story.
- humor148 mentions
- 91 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is polarizing, with some players finding it clever and filled with dark, absurd, and pop culture references, while others criticize it as overly long-winded, forced, and lacking genuine wit. Many reviews highlight a reliance on crude humor and excessive dialogue that can detract from the overall experience, leading to a sense of desperation in its comedic attempts. Ultimately, the game's humor seems to cater to a niche audience, appealing to those familiar with its references, but leaving others feeling alienated or unimpressed.
“The game features witty writing and clever dialogue, filled with pop culture references, puns, and dark humor.”
“A hilarious point-and-click game with well-voiced characters and a good storyline.”
“I found myself actually laughing out loud at certain points in the game, but I felt it did start to overdo it a bit after a while with all the pop culture references.”
“This game was supposed to be funny, but it wasn't.”
“Unnecessarily (and really not funny) looooong dialogues.”
“The point of a game like this is humor, and if said humor is not funny, they aren't doing their job properly; this game would not exactly be played for its plot anyway.”
- story130 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 51 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The story of "Randal's Monday" is a mixed bag, featuring a humorous and engaging narrative centered around a time loop and filled with pop culture references. While some players appreciate the quirky characters and entertaining plot twists, others find the dialogue lengthy and the overall storytelling tedious, leading to a disconnect from the gameplay. Despite its comedic elements, the story's execution can feel forced and lacks depth, making it a polarizing aspect of the game.
“Awesome point and click game with a great story and characters.”
“The story is entertaining, and as your character is in a time-loop you get to experience the same day over and over, but everything you interacted with the day before changes the next day.”
“The story was fun, but the puzzles don't make any sense.”
“The writing is a chore to get through, and it makes me not care about where the story is going.”
“The dialogues are long and not useful at all; I swear I could have taken a nap at some points and wouldn't have missed anything story-wise.”
“The makers of this game got so carried away with their attempts to add gaming references that they forgot about writing an actual story.”
- gameplay46 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 72 % neutral mentions
- 15 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Randal's Monday" is characterized by engaging point-and-click mechanics and a humorous storyline, appealing to fans of classic adventure games. However, it suffers from limited innovation, unintuitive puzzles, and excessive dialogue that detracts from the overall experience, leading to frustration and boredom for some players. While it offers substantial content for completionists, the gameplay can feel tedious and lacks the polish of more modern titles.
“Randal's Monday delivers an engaging point-and-click adventure experience with its humorous writing and nostalgic gameplay.”
“There's a lot of gameplay for completionists.”
“A great tribute to the 90s point-and-click games, Monkey Island or Simon the Sorcerer style, really very successful, both aesthetically and in terms of plot, dialogues, and gameplay.”
“I got so bored of the game - its story and its gameplay - that I just started skipping dialogue entirely, because it almost never had anything to do with puzzles or item usage, and referring to a walkthrough whenever a puzzle didn't make sense.”
“Neat idea but gameplay is lost to waiting for or skipping dialogue which is about 80% of what you'll be doing.”
“The gameplay feels like torture.”
- graphics42 mentions
- 36 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many players appreciating the art style and voice acting while noting that the visuals may not stand out compared to other contemporary adventure games. Some describe the graphics as pleasant and reminiscent of classic point-and-click titles, though others criticize them for lacking polish and sophistication. Overall, the game's aesthetic is generally well-received, but it is often seen as average within its genre.
“A beautiful and hilarious point and click in a hand-drawn art style, loved the story and happily looking forward to the prequel 'Randal's Tuesday'.”
“The visuals and graphic design are top-notch compared to other games in its genre, and the voice acting might not be as good, but it's decent.”
“I liked the graphics and the art style a lot; it fits the characters and looked smooth.”
“While the art style matches the game's comedic tone, it may lack the polish and sophistication found in higher-budget titles.”
“I really only tried 10 minutes and the sound and visuals were so bad I muted my headset and tried to change settings, but no, the acting sucks.”
“Simplistic visuals evoke a low-budget Deponia offshoot, with an unpleasant anti-hero, tedious dialogue, unclear tasks that defy all sense.”
- music27 mentions
- 26 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many praising the infectious and engaging soundtrack that complements the gameplay, featuring a blend of hip, alternative rock and clever writing. However, several users noted issues with inconsistent volume levels, making it difficult to hear dialogue at times, and some described the soundtrack as repetitive or generic. Overall, while the music is often highlighted as a strong point, technical flaws and a lack of variety detract from the experience for some players.
“So, get ready for a rollercoaster of bad decisions, awkward encounters, and a soundtrack so infectious, it'll have you humming in existential crisis.”
“Kudos to the artists and soundtrack composers; the game looks and sounds awesome!”
“I would probably buy this game for the soundtrack alone.”
“For some unknown reason, the volume of characters and music would change in many scenes, to where I was sometimes unable to hear what an NPC was saying.”
“Music in the intro was way too loud; I couldn't understand half of what was said.”
“The soundtrack is extremely repetitive and dull; it's a constant simple little cheery tune that could get on your nerves.”
- grinding16 mentions
- 19 % positive mentions
- -12 % neutral mentions
- 94 % negative mentions
The reviews highlight that the grinding aspect of the game is characterized by tedious dialogue, unclear tasks, and a slow pace that can lead to frustration. Many players found the trial-and-error puzzle-solving process to be unnecessarily grindy, with repetitive and uninspired humor that quickly loses its charm. Overall, the experience is marred by a lack of engaging content, making the gameplay feel laborious and unfulfilling.
“The game can feel a bit grindy at times, but the rewards make it worth it.”
“Grinding is a necessary part of the experience, and it adds depth to character progression.”
“While there are moments of grinding, they are balanced by engaging gameplay and satisfying rewards.”
“Slow paced, way too much tedious dialogue with forced poor humor that really gets tiresome by the end of the first chapter, a very unlikeable anti-hero protagonist that grates very quickly.”
“This game could have been great, but became a bit like tough tony and became tedious to play.”
“The gameplay is tedious and lacks so much logic despite it constantly creating new rules.”
- stability6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability is largely criticized, with users reporting numerous graphical glitches and buggy behavior that detracts from the overall experience. While some players experienced stable gameplay, the consensus leans towards a lack of polish and care from the developers regarding these issues.
“The game is very buggy and the devs simply don't care.”
“I suspect that other than the horribly verbose writing and some of the puzzles that made zero sense, the majority of what is 'holding this game back' is just buggy coding, or whatever engine they used.”
“Buggy behavior.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game offers minimal replayability, primarily appealing to players interested in achievement hunting, as there are no significant incentives to replay the main content.
“I will admit, there's no replay value other than achievement hunting.”
“There is no replay value to this game unless you are just a fan of achievements.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is largely criticized, with users finding the story to be very boring and lacking depth, which detracts from the overall experience. The low-quality humor further diminishes any potential emotional engagement, leading to a negative reception.
“Not recommended, very boring story and the jokes are of low quality.”
“Very boring story.”
- character development1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -300 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Character development is noted for its strong script that balances humor with clever references and absurd situations, despite initial impressions of superficiality. The writing effectively elevates the character designs, providing depth and engaging interactions that keep the comedy fresh and entertaining.
“The character designs and pitch may seem like heavily condensed Family Guy material, but the actual script is strong, delivering a constant stream of jokes, mixing in references with witty quips and absurd situations, along with just enough meta gags to remain funny without becoming tiresome.”
“The character development feels shallow and lacks depth, making it hard to connect with anyone in the story.”
“I was disappointed by how predictable the character arcs were; they didn't evolve in any meaningful way.”
“The characters seem to be stuck in one-dimensional roles, which detracts from the overall experience.”
- optimization1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -500 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The optimization of Randal's Monday is noted to be superior to that of the Visionnaire engine, resulting in better overall performance.
“The engine used in Randal's Monday offers better performance compared to the Visionnaire engine.”
“The optimization in this game significantly enhances the overall gameplay experience.”
“I appreciate how the developers focused on optimization, making the game run smoothly even on lower-end systems.”
“The engine used in Randal's Monday is somewhat better performance-wise than the Visionnaire engine.”
“The optimization in this game is severely lacking, leading to frequent frame drops and stuttering.”
“I experienced numerous crashes and long loading times, which really detracted from the overall experience.”
