Video Game Review - Beautiful Desolation

Rob reviews Beautiful Desolation on Nintendo Switch...

Beautiful Desolation is a post-apocalyptic 2-D isometric point & click adventure. Developed and published by Untold Tales , Beautiful Desolation takes you on an adventure into the far future where rampant use of alien technology has set humanity on a much different path. It's all a bit District 19/Fallout as you attempt to undo the events that lead up to this shocking future...

The game takes place in a world much different from ours. This world is ruled by a race of people who have sacrificed their humanity for immortality thanks to reverse engineering various alien technologies. The story begins back in 1980 where a large spacecraft appears in the skies above the Atlantic Ocean. This craft dubbed -  Penrose is the source of much scientific interest and as such leads to rapid advances in human technology. 

10-years after the arrival of Penrose, our protagonist, Mark Leslie convinces his security guard brother to allow him access to the interior of the craft. Whilst on the Penrose Mark unwittingly activates something which teleports the brothers into the far future. Now stuck far from home the brothers find themselves in an inhospitable wasteland that's ruled by humanoid machines.

The world of Beautiful Desolation is incredible. At first glance, it's very reminiscent of that seen in the early Fallout games. However, as the game progresses it becomes completely different. Whereas other titles use nuclear war as their catalyst here its rapid technological advancements. Traversing this world we stumble across plenty of monstrosities that are now more machine than human. If anything it's a thought-provoking insight into the relationship between Man and Machine, albeit with a disastrous outcome. 

Player choice also comes into play and there's plenty of moral choices throughout. The game doesn't necessarily tell you what's right or wrong and it's interesting to see how the story pans out due to your actions. Dialogue also plays a part in how the story plays out, with each NPC offering great insight into this horrific future. 

Beautiful Desolation follows the tried and tested formula that's reminiscent of so many point-and-click titles - if it's not broken right!? We control our characters by clicking the screen as to where we would like them to move to, or interact with. 

Inventory management is fairly simple and I felt was a more refined version of that seen in the recent Wasteland 3 title. The game highlights what tool we need to use, so there isn't any faffing about with any micromanagement. We're also given a fairly robust codex that allows you to recall past conversations, and the ability to quickly travel to previous locations if needs be. This I found to be a nice touch as all the information can be a little confusing, and it was nice to go back and take it all in. 

Throughout the journey, Mark and Don will have to complete various mandatory mini-games. While these serve to break up the gameplay, they are often long-winded and a bit tedious. I found that forcing you to do something broke the immersion of the title. I would have preferred a more environmental approach in that we solved something, without breaking character. While the game does already give plenty of this, more wouldn't have been a bad thing. 

Visuals are fairly impressive and The Brotherhood Games have done an excellent job in conveying the "beautiful desolation" of this world. The world feels incredibly real and is swimming in detail and mystery. The characters also work wonders in crafting a believable world and are presented in a visually pleasing way. Naturally, the Nintendo Switch comes with its limitations. On occasion when trying out handheld mode, the game felt a little too zoomed out. However whilst playing docked the game is quite impressive and the hybrid console handled the game quite well. 

The only real downside comes with the titles visual interface. The character models don't look all that great when they're superimposed. Considering that dialogue plays a part in the story, it didn't work all that well in conveying how the conversation was going. In a sense, it's very similar to that seen within Fallout and Fallout 2 and is a clear downgrade when you compare it to the overlords design. 

Audio comes from veteran composer Mick Gordon - yes DOOM! Mick Gordon. Beautiful Desolation takes on a more 90's sci-fi vibe which again fits this mysterious world incredibly well. The game's characters are also voiced by a great and diverse range of talented actors. With each doing a wonderful job in bringing this game to life. 

Considering Untold Tales is made up of two people, Beautiful Desolation is a well crafted and thought out game. If your a fan of point and click games there is a lot here that will appeal. We get an appealing story set within a rich and diverse post-apocalyptic world. Whilst Beautiful Desolation doesn't reinvent the genre, it does a grand job of being something memorable. 

Rating 8/10 

A review code was kindly provided for this review.

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow Geek Culture Reviews on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev