Video Game Review - Life of Delta

Rob reviews Life of Delta on PlayStation 5…

Point and click adventure titles aren’t that common when it comes to the current console generation. Gone are the genres heyday with the likes of Monkey Island, and Broken Sword wowing with their simplistic gameplay, and engrossing storytelling. In-fact I can’t think of the last time I played an old fashioned point and click. Enter Life of Delta, a charming 2D point-and-click adventure that’s packed full of charming visuals, all wrapped up in a post apocalyptic sci-fi tale.

Life of Delta tells its story way into the future where humanity has become extinct and a race of bipedal lizards rule what’s left of planet Earth. You play the role of Delta, a pint-sized service robot that’s coming to the end of its lifespan. Set for decommission by being dissolved in a vat of acid, Delta is spared from its fate by a fellow droid called Joe. No sooner has Joe saved Delta’s life, he’s then taken away by the lizard people to a military base on the other side of the vast city. With Delta needing to repay its gratitude, you’ll guide the robot across the post apocalyptic landscape in an effort to save your new friend.

That’s about as deep as the story gets along the 3/4 hours it’ll take to see the game through to its finish. While there are some semblance of world building nothing is fleshed out. Your fellow droids will often only speak about the here-and-now, and the alien lizard people always shoot on sight. It would have been nice to delve into the lore of the world as even in its brief existence - there’s a world waiting to tell its story.

When it comes to its gameplay, Life of Delta leans on all the tropes that make up the genre. As you progress each scene you’ll be clicking on items, reading descriptions, and dealing with the local characters. Your inventory is very reminiscent of every other point-and-click where you’ll be combining items, to then use them to solve the games many puzzles. These puzzles aren’t too difficult and due to the simplicity of the games graphics there’s not a lot to see and do. There’s not a great deal of thought involved in finding the solution and it’s pretty much impossible to become flustered, or plainly stumped in finding the correct way. It’s extremely linear and it’s as if you’re being shuttled from place to place. Again, this would be okay IF Life of Delta actually had an interesting - and in depth - narrative to tell.

Puzzle interactions are not fun either, with each just being there for something to do. There’s some pretty odd choices too with one instance seeing you set a cows fart on fire to knock out a guard. Considering the world is full of robots and lizard people this seems a little backwards, and a very odd design choice. Occasionally the sci-fi setting does reach the surface as some puzzles will have you interacting with computers to perform tasks that reminded me of the old Windows 95 games you’d play in primary school. These “challenges” often involve manipulating a wireframe grid in order to reroute a circuits power, create an overload, or block a digital projectiles path. While they’re a nice distraction to the environmental puzzles, each is pretty simple to complete and none ever posed any challenge.

While its gameplay is pretty lacklustre, Life of Delta’s visuals and sound design are its crowning jewel. The sc-fi setting is a gorgeous mix of apocalyptic desert - complete with dust covered shanty towns - to futuristic cities - with all the elements of a bustling metropolis thrown in. Character design is also of a similar calibre and there’s plenty of unique droids and other creatures roaming the environment. The games soundtrack is a cool mix of calming tones that whispers on the breeze as Delta performs his quest. Its all comes together to create a soothing and relaxing experience even if it is a linear.

Overall, Life of Delta is a simple point-and-click adventure game that doesn’t seem to ever leave first gear. While its presentation and sound design really tries to sell the narrative it’s let down by some very simple puzzles, and largely forgettable gameplay.

Rating: 4.5/10

A code was kindly provided for this review.

Life of Delta is available now and can be purchased via the PlayStation Store.

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow us on X/Facebook @GeekCultureRev, TikTok/YouTube @Geekculturereviews, and BlueSky @geekculturereviews.bsky.social

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