Welcome to my review for Dead Man's Diary.
Developed by TML, and released to the public on Xbox, July 12th 2023.
The game is pitched as an actio/adventure game, but the cold reality is; its just a walking simulator with predictable jump scares that do nothing other than give the nameless protagonist a chance to deliver one of his voice lines that do nothing but frustrate the player.
I saw this game in the sale not long after release, and judging the game by the visuals will leave a lot of people leaning towards a purchase. As it did with me. You see, when the visuals and world design are as good as can be for a budget title, you too can be lured in under false pretenses. In all fairness, this post apocalyptic world is actually well designed. Sadly though, the linear, level-by-level gameplay becomes tedious. Fast. I was hoping for a small open world, but what I got was the same objectives each and every level that I have played thus far. I hear there is 27 levels, and as of writing I am not even 10 levels in and bored.
The objective each level is to build a place to sleep and a campfire. Then sleep until morning. You will get other things to do, such as circuitry puzzles and finding the combinations for safes. But searching for the same items each time for your base is just pointless. You can't even take anything with you either.
This brings me onto my second related point. Inventory space. The most basic screens I've ever seen for an inventory menu. Absolutely no idea what I was doing at first, as nothing is tagged with any text, and you're left to figure it out for yourself. But what irks me the most, is that you're only allowed tgree of any time at most. So lockpicks? Yeah, you have three. Something so small, and yet just three. Even drink and food, just three. You'll need to keep an eye on your consumables as they drain pretty quickly too.
Lockpicking mini game is similar to what Skyrim has to offer. But with extra jank. At least you can work through this with ease. But the circuitry puzzles can sling their hook. If you don't know what you're doing, you may well struggle with this. Trial and error will help, but make a damned save first. Saves you running low on consumables.
With an incredibly vague, and uninteresting story, you must world towards moving along each day. If you can stomach the awful controls. It's truly a nightmare. Especially when you're on the hunt t for the last item to craft your campfire. Objective markers do appear on screen, but only when they feel like it. Sometimes I'd spend ten minutes searching for something to finally get notified where the item I need is. Padding out the game this way, will not win anyone over.
What the game can offer is decent visuals for the budget, and a cluttered world that was hastily abandoned by the occupants an undeterminable amount of time prior. The fact that no bodies or traces of human life remain anywhere. Just cars and homes left to rot, slowly being reclaimed by nature.
What could have been a decent game, budget allowing, has turned into what resembles a failed college course project that is as abandoned as the game itself. Scouring the Internet brought up barely anything on the game, and this includes guides of any sort. Apparently there are skill books to boost your personal skills, and I'm still on zero collected. Not seen one lying around anywhere.
I really wanted to enjoy Dead Man's Diary as it looked like the kind of game I could sink my teeth into. However, it's as shallow as a puddle while trying to remain broad as an ocean. An ocean that has suffered a BP sized oil spill, and will put people off going anywhere near it. Sure it looks half decent and has what a post apocalyptic world should look like in our mind's eye. But when as a developer, you cannot be bothered including any actual back story for the protagonist, any point to being stuck there, and puzzles that don't need an electrical engineering degree to solve, then your best bet is to quietly close the office doors one final time, in the hope that nobody notices your embarrassing departure from the gaming industry.
All things considered, I made as much effort with this review as I could muster. Which when in direct comparison with the game itself, makes my review look like a masterpiece. If you really must try this game out for a rare completion, I wish you good luck. But in the name of all things holy, make certain its on sale under £10/$10/€10.
2.0