Deadfall Adventures Review

Deadfall Adventures is a first-person shooter with puzzle elements that takes the essence of early 20th-century pulp adventure novels.


Published: December 22, 2014 1:00 PM /

Reviewed By:


Deadfall Adventures Key Art

The traditional way to consume B-movies, whether terrible in every regard or so bad it's awesome, is with a couple of cold beverages, the company of good friends, and the ability to enjoy something that's so low-budget it's hard to imagine how anyone thought they would get anything out of it. Bad acting, terrible writing, and just insanity for about an hour and a half. Now, imagine they made that experience into a video game, and you'd have Deadfall Adventures. 

Deadfall Adventures - Story

Let me sum up the entire game with this quote: "Arctic Nazi Submarine Mummies? Any other time that might be unusual" What kind of image does that conjure in your head? Maybe something like a movie trailer directed by Peter Jackson with explosions and mummies and guns and no plot? Good, because that's basically what happens in this game. Nathan drake ripoff that tries to be lovable but everything he says is groan inducing? Check. Love interest that tries it's hardest to support legalizing cardboard marriage? Check. Shallow and boring gameplay with puzzles that anyone who looks around their surroundings at least once would be able to solve? Check, check, and check!

Of course this kind of description probably wouldn't be enough to sell people on buying this kind of game. But, if you're like me, then you find games like this at least once during a Steam sale. I stumble through the list of games on sale, when something like this catches my eye. Never heard of the game, nor the developer, the game looks kinda fun. What really sold me was the 80% discount on it. I knew it wasn't going to change my life, but it might as well killed a few hours to enjoy something.

Deadfall Adventures - Gameplay

I certainly did enjoy it, too. I really wished I had some booze while I played, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It gave off the kind of vibe that this is the kind of game you play with a couple of friends, drinking at every terrible one-liner and poking fun at the game as if you were watching something straight out of Mystery Science Theater 3000. In fact, some of the parts in the game are so ridiculous there's no conceivable way the developers looked at the finished product and thought people would take this game seriously.

Wait... now that I think about it... Every part of this game is just equally as ridiculous. After all, when your friend the Nazi scientist betrays you (spoilers, by the way, but honestly whoever thought the Nazi would be one of the good guys), you encounter a Russian group almost immediately trying to kill you. The situation was rather bizarre at the time, but nothing could have prepared me for the mine cart escape that came after that. There's a strange feeling that comes over you when you're in a mine cart shooting at Russians standing next to explosive barrels which are stored underground. It's pretty obvious what you're feeling by the time the mine cart exits the tunnels to reveal that the Russians drilled down to an ocean of lava.

Deadfall Adventures - A Case of the Afternoon Sillies

It's the realization that everything is so out there, so incomprehensibly silly, that nothing can ever be taken seriously in this game. This was the Saturday morning cartoon of games. This was the kind of game that is so bad, so unappealing, that it's one-of-a-kind. This is exactly something that people would only realize was insanely ridiculous that they wouldn't even notice how bad the game was until after they beat it.

So... I have two conclusions about this game. The very first time I've ever been split on how to judge the worth of a game, and it's on DeadFall Adventures. I should mention that while writing this review, I totally forgot the main character's name and the title at least three times. This doesn't change the way I've reviewed this game, but it should be something to take note of in case you want to play something, you know, memorable.

The game is terrible. The story was a mash-up of cliches that the developers looked up on TVTropes and took it to the ultimate extreme. There was no sense of individuality for these characters, everything felt hamfisted, and the voice acting, especially on the main character, was recorded with just as much enthusiasm as a goat in an MMORPG. There was multiplayer, but I knew that it was dead without needing to look for a match. As a game, this is probably one that you would be better off not taking a look at. The only good thing that has come from this game is the fact that now the book this game is based on, Kin Soloman's Mines, is now on my reading list.

The Verdict

As an example of going so far off the deep end of irony and taking everything to the highest of extremes, however, this game delivers and knocks it out of the park. Over the top doesn't even begin to describe just how insane this whole concept is. Not even the game itself; the concept of it was insane. There's no way this game isn't meant to be intentionally "bad," and it's probably the first of its kind I played without realizing it.

But... I'm still rather torn about what to think about the game. Should I recommend it to people who want to experience the ridiculous Indiana Jones ripoff in existence? Should I suggest that people steer clear of it and spend their money on something else? Well... I can't really do either cause the judgment will be up to you, loyal readers. What do you think about the game? Is this something that should be praised as so ridiculous it's good or so poorly made it shouldn't even be on your radar?


TechRaptor reviewed Deadfall Adventures on PC via Steam with a copy purchased by the reviewer. It is also available on Xbox 360. This review was originally published on 12-22-2014. While care has been taken to update the piece to reflect our modern style guidelines, some of the information may be out of date. We've left pieces like this as they were to reflect the original authors' opinions, and for historical context.

Review Summary

6.0
Perfect for fans who enjoy over-the-top action with B-movie grade story. (Review Policy)

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I'm a PC player. I tend to spend all my time doing things I enjoy, games, Netflix, anime/manga, browse interweb, what-have-you. When those things pique… More about Steven