This Review was Frelanced by Johnathan Sawyer; you can find his other work here.
n 2012, Zeboyd Games picked up what was thought to be a dead series with Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, and with it, brought life back into it with the release of Episode 3. The risk seemed great into changing it into a classic console-style RPG, but it wound up being a major improvement over the two previous games. While the game itself was a blast, missing story elements and other needed improvements prompted a little to be desired.
But here we are in 2013 with the release of Episode 4. it takes every aspect of Episode 3 and either corrects or improves upon any issues that one would have seen in the last episode, and definitely leaves all of your senses smiling (you know, if they had mouths).
Those who know me know that the game's soundtrack almost always trumps all other aspects of the game. Episode 3 had some promising tracks that I still listen to on occasion, but it seemed average overall.
Enter Hyperduck Soundworks. From the first piano tones of the game's Title Theme, I was absolutely mesmerized. Truth be told, every time I heard a new track, I was waiting to find a part that I didn't like. That never happened. The entire soundtrack is pure gold; everything fits exactly where it's needed, and several of the tracks suck players right into the game because they feel so incredibly epic. Other than the title track, my other favorite is the desert theme. These two tracks alone give the game a whole new feel, and it will stay with you long after the game has ended.
There are also several tracks in the game -- mostly battle tracks -- that now have a hard rock feel to them. Granted, I still love the battle theme in Episode 3 the best, but the new one is almost just as good. Listening to the guitar licks as my Scream Cone bites into the rungs of a Ladder Mimic brings a certain joy to me that can't be explained any better. The selection of music available is also nearly double of what was available in Episode 3, so the repetitiveness is no longer an issue. Even if it were, I don't think it would be an issue this time around due to the sheer quality of the music. Hyperduck has gone above and beyond my expectations for this RPG soundtrack, and I look forward to hearing more of their work in the future.
The Penny Arcade charm is just as present here as it is in the comics, and in full force. The story continues from the end of Episode 3, as all of our characters (Gabe, Tycho, Moira, Jim, and Dr. Blood) wind up in the Underhell and separated from each other. They must travel across the Underhell, the Overhell, and the... Underunderhell (among others) to try and find their counterparts, escape all hell, and bring about a new world. With the exception of Jim, who has a new body, as well as a voice, our friends are still the same characters we fell in love with in Episode 3. They'll definitely keep you entertained, whether they're making you think, cackle, giggle, smirk, chuckle, rage, or just laugh out loud. Did I mention cackle?
The writing? I love the absolutely absurd and immature presentation. The story may not be as deep as one of the famed Final Fantasy franchise, but that is balanced quite well by the amount of humor injected into the game. It's Penny Arcade at its finest, and is even funnier than the last episode. Each character has his/her way of making you smile while fitting their personality perfectly, and from start to finish, you'll be hard pressed to not just burst out with laughter at one point or another. Unless you don't have a soul. Do you have a soul?! Oh wait, I think I meant sense of humor. Yeah, that thing.
The gameplay is very similar to Episode 3, but with one major change: Instead of having the Penny Arcade characters fend for themselves in the Underhell, they recruit several monsters along their journey to do their bidding. Of course, they won't be normal monsters. You'll start out with a spirit named Leviathan, a demon-bird called Mr. Beaks, a flying creature called the Philosophy, and a gun-wielding rat from the streets called Brodent. Each monster can be paired with one of the characters (or Trainer, if you will) to give them another set of skills inherent to the trainer. As you level up, each monster and trainer both will gain new skills; the more monsters that are added to your party, the more of a range of types that you will have. In this way, it is still very similar to the job system of the last game, but instead of jobs, you just rotate monsters.
The battle system still has the time gauge, much like the IP gauge seen in the Grandia series. There are WAIT, CMD, and ACT areas on the gauge. CMD is where players input commands, and ACT allows players to carry them out. You will be able to use skills that can interrupt enemy commands if they're between the CMD and ACT gauge, which puts in a whole other level of strategy at your disposal. In addition to the normal attack and monster skill commands, you'll have items, as expected, but not in the contemporary RPG way. At the end of each battle, every time you have will regenerate, so instead of saving them for when you really need them, just use them every battle if you like. You also don't need to worry about healing between battles since everyone is brought back to MAX HP at the end of each.
Again, as with Episode 3, players fight dozens of unique enemies along the journey. Among my favorites so far was the Moss Golem, who looked kinda like a Chia Pet... hence, the description: "Then, just spread the seed mixture on your golem!" There are even little Wyrmlets, "For those times when a whole wyrm is too much." Again, only a couple of examples, but you'll be grinning every time you discover a new enemy.
Enemies aren't the only things with this treatment, either. Items and equipment have it as well, like the extremely expensive Self-Help Book, which allows you to "Increase all your stats by using this one weird tip." The amount of detail gone into these enemies and items is staggering, and it shows the amount of love put into this game.
When it comes to difficulty, there's are several options to cover all bases: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Insane. All are pretty self-explanatory, but keep in mind that Normal may be slightly harder than what one may consider Normal, if your battle methods aren't well tuned. Insane Mode is not for the light-hearted, but if you love to punish yourself or have slightly masochistic tendencies toward such, then this game is for you.
Outside of the battles, you have the same RPG exploration as featured in Episode 3. Navigating in four directions through towns and dungeons, opening treasure chests, and running into enemies. As before, random battles are eliminated, allowing you to move right past some enemies as long as they're not in your way. If they are in your way, though, and it's off the beaten path, there's a good chance that there's a goodie waiting for you at the end. The only drawback to this is that there isn't a decent way to grind for levels. But luckily, there seem to be enough extra enemies placed in just the right spots to assist with that.
Before, the "world map" wasn't too impressive; it was more like Super Mario World, with different "dots" for destinations. Now, there is a full-fledged world map, featuring tiny Gabe and Moira and large buildings. With this comes additional freedom, as when you travel, you'll find several paths leading off to elsewhere, usually into a cave or pedestal that has some items (and sometimes enemies) worth checking out. Go to the edge of the traversable path at some point, and you'll see the awesome background of the Underhell.
Keeping with the look of the last game, the graphics once again appear in 16-bit form, with the resolution up to 720p. This time around, more detail has gone into the environments, as well as the aforementioned world map. There are several new enemy sprites this time around as well, each adding to the library of ridiculous mobs that you normally wouldn't find anywhere else. Being that it has the look of a 16-bit game, don't expect anything mind-blowing. However, if you were, I don't think you'd be here in the first place. 16-bit is where it's at.
As with the last game, it's pretty linear and it still lacks random battles or even the option to generate a battle, so each playthrough should be about the same. Several side quests/exploration opportunities have been added, so there's always the chance you may have missed something the first time around, even if it's small. But when you pair together the writing, gameplay, and music, it's neither a chore nor a pain to play through the game more than once.
Ever since the end of Episode 3, I've been anxiously awaiting the release of Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4. I said in the last review that if they keep this up, Zeboyd Games will have a customer for life. Not only did they continue along the path of excellence that I expected, but they far surpassed it and provided the perfect end to the series. For $4.99, it's more than a steal -- it's a no-brainer. I would normally say that anyone with Steam should have this in their library, but that's just simply not the case... any gamer, Steam or not, needs to have this game. It's definitely a one-of-a-kind experience that should be discussed for years to come.
