Dropsy

$9.99

Release Date:: Sep 10, 2015
Metacritic:: 80
Developer:: A Jolly Corpse, Tendershoot
Publisher:: Devolver Digital
Platforms:: Windows Mac Linux

Indie Adventure Family Sharing Single-player

About This Game

Warm Damp Hug Edition

The Dropsy Warm Damp Hug Edition includes the official Dropsy digital soundtrack by Chris Schlarb, the Eternal Hug music EP by Jay Tholen, and Dropsy's Book of Secrets - a collection of over 100 pages of tips, sketches, concepts and ramblings from designer Jay Tholen.

About the Game

After a deadly circus fire shatters his world and tarnishes his name, Dropsy the Clown finds himself on a journey of self-discovery through a story that harnesses themes of love and unmerited kindness. With his father gravely ill and the world turning its back on the once celebrated clown, Dropsy will need to help those in need, hug total strangers, and unearth dark secrets on the winding road to redemption. Oh, and Dropsy can also talk to animals.

Dropsy is a non-traditional take on the classic point and click adventure formula starring the game's perpetually carefree namesake clown as he explores a richly detailed world full of colorful characters and sinister secrets, doling out hugs along the way. Rather than lead players on a singular narrative path, players are free to determine which avenues of adventure they want to explore in an open world setting and can piece the puzzles together at their own pace.

Open World Adventure – Players are free to choose which avenues of adventure they want to explore in an open world setting and can piece many of the puzzles and story bits together however they choose.
Text Free Experience – Communicate with a bizarre and colorful cast of characters through an innovative use of visual icons rather than traditional text-based dialog trees.
Puzzles and Hugs – Challenging puzzles and complex conundrums stand between Dropsy and the secrets behind his shrouded past. With clever thinking, tender hugs, and the help of his animal friends, Dropsy can overcome evil and win the hearts of the people around him.
Evocative Soundtrack – From gentle electric piano and saxophone melodies of the starting area, to the space echo drenched dub reggae tracks of a vampire-hunting swamp village, to the bombastic fuzzed out quasi-prog-rock of the endgame sequences, Chris Schlarb and his band of minstrels give every area in the game a distinct sense of place.

Screenshots

User Reviews

Overwhelmingly Positive

2 user reviews

100%

Positive

User #661196 english

5 hrs at review

Recommended

Dropsy has a weirdly put together story with a lot of loose ends. It's based off a "choose your own adventure" forum post that end up having parts cut or vastly changed for the game to work. Although the core concept remains, saying the story was "made by the internet itself" is a bit of an overstatement — the original thread is much shorter and the changes result in a mix of questionable plot points and sudden lore dumps on the final chapter. I reached out to the developers back in 2018 and found out the game was meant to have one more map, but they ran out of time and had to cut it out. I can't tell whether the Beach episode update fills in the plot holes or not; to be frank, I just found out about the update. Either way, this is a very good introduction to the adventure point and click genre. The day/night cycle and character swapping mechanics keep things interesting even though you can't combine items. It also teaches players to search for leads around maps and knows not to ove...