Editors’ Choice Games

February 2021

Mutropolis

Review by Angie Kibiloski

I love the PC adventure game genre, and I’m always super happy to see a new title come out.  Back in the Fall, I was thrilled to get to play the demo of Mutropolis ($19.99), from Pirita Studio and Application Systems Heidelberg, during the GamesCon conference.  Last week, the full game version finally hit the Steam store, and it was even better than the demo made me think it would be.  This title is a classic point-and-click sci-fi adventure, with a cast of uniquely charming characters, fun and colorful graphics, and an interesting mystery storyline, filled with witty little jokes and tongue-in-cheek cultural references.  I’ve had quite a good time playing it for this review!

When you first enter the game, you’ll step into the shoes of Henry Dijon, a ginger-haired, Martian archaeologist from the year 5000.  With his small team of fellow scientists, he’s at a dig site on the long-abandoned Planet Earth, attempting to find evidence of the mythical city of Mutropolis.  When his mentor and team leader, Professor Totel, gets kidnapped from beneath their professionally-observant noses, Henry will need to uncover clues to track him down and rescue him from entities unknown.  You’ll explore the dig site, the labs and grounds of their research center, the unexplored wilderness of Planet Earth, and more.  Where has Totel been taken, and by whom?  It must relate to his research on the lost city, but why?  Could Henry’s beloved antique trowel be the most useful tool ever made?  These questions and more will be answered as you delve into the entertaining mystery, and enjoy the highly inaccurate, but extremely funny observations of the many items our civilization has left behind for this future generation to find.

Every one of the 50+ hand-drawn environments is fun to explore, with even the most irrelevant details adding enjoyment, and often humor to the game.  The multitude of characters you get to talk to are all fully voiced-over in English, with optional subtitles in 9 other languages.  They each have little personality quirks that come alive by being well-acted.  I appreciated not having to read all of the dialogue, and just be able to watch and live the story.  As in most adventure titles, game play is as expected.  You need to pick up found objects to use in solving puzzles, have prying conversations with colleagues and suspicious individuals, interact with local flora, fauna, and any clickable artifacts, and get mildly frustrated by how many times you have to back-track from room to room, because the people and things you need to interact with are never conveniently placed together.  All of this is part of the charm of the genre, and I love every bit of it.

Mutropolis was a joy to play, and I can’t wait to dive back in and finish the story.  Especially for their debut adventure title, Pirita Studio has developed a really fantastic game, and I will look forward to their next endeavor.  Application Systems Heidelberg always publishes quality content, so I wasn’t surprised that they picked another winner with this one.  If you enjoy adventure games, witty dialogue, pleasing graphics, and a good sci-fi mystery, grab your copy on Steam today, and start exploring the “ancient wonders” of Planet Earth alongside Henry and his team.

Minimum System Requirements

Windows:

• OS: Windows 7 64-bit
• Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core
• RAM: 4 GB
• Graphics: 1024MB VRAM
• Disk Space: 4 GB

MAC:

• OS: Mac OSX 10.11
• Processor: Intel 2 GHz Dual Core
• RAM: 4 GB
• Graphics: 1024MB VRAM
• Disk Space: 4 GB