This review was originally written on 11/29/2018.

Technical Information

Developer: Tendershoot, A Jolly Corpse
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Release Date: September 10, 2015

Dropsy is a point and click game that tells the tragic story of a clown whose circus caught fire and was cruelly blamed for this.
His mission is to leave as many people in his city as happy as possible (by distributing hugs and helping them solve their problems), despite the aggravating fact that everyone hates or fears him.

Final Thoughts – Analyzing the Game as a Whole

Graphics and UI

Well-made pixel art, with an original stroke. The only thing that particularly bothered me is that most of the balloons don’t adjust to the top center of each character, which at first glance makes you think the balloon doesn’t belong to the character.

The game doesn’t have any text. The UI and HUD are represented by icons, some of which weren’t very intuitive to me.

Soundtrack and Sound Effects

Wonderful soundtrack! Awesome songs, full of hook and that stick in your head.
Each area has its own music, just like each time of day does as well.

The sounds were also very well-made, when you talk to some character he makes a sound like he’s speaking an unknown language.

Gameplay

The gameplay is simple, it uses only the mouse. Characters move around according to the time of day within the game, you have total freedom to go wherever you want.
The game also gives you the freedom to save the game whenever you want and has more than one save slot.

This adventure is a curveball for the point-and-click genre, since it doesn’t have any text or dialogue. Everything is expressed through balloons that show the characters’ emotions.
Winning over each person’s trust will cost you hours of exploration within the city, which has events changed according to the time of day. The most interesting part of the game is that it’s an open world, with many things to be explored.

During gameplay, some social criticisms are made, situations that put us to reflect.

Replayability and Game Retention

Considering the game is not yet complete, the replay factor is quite high because you feel more and more immersed and want to know how everything will end.
After finishing the game, I didn’t feel much desire to play again… particularly I found the ending quite sad. 🙁

[blur]I was really shocked by the game’s ending, something totally unexpected for me.
The most sad part was seeing Dropsy’s brother shooting him, when all the clown wanted was to help and make everyone smile.
The game explored and exposed egoism and envy very well. I confess that it shocked me a bit.
It wasn’t very clear to me whether Dropsy really died or was rescued, but seeing him with his family was quite touching.[/blur]

It’s a game with a beautiful message, showing us that there can still be pure-hearted beings, and that this goes far beyond physical appearance.