I just want a regular old pilsner!
An honest review of Dude, Where is my Beer?
I’ve written about my passion for the indie point and click adventure games currently being produced before.
We’re living in a time where my favourite genre of games seems to be seeing a revival, and I’m loving every second of it.
Perhaps with lockdowns all over the world, people are finding they have more free time and want to channel their creativity into creating video games.
Maybe people like myself, feel it’s time for the genre to make a comeback.
Either way, I can’t wait to see more of the wonderful creations being released at the moment.
The Power of Twitter
Honestly, I use Twitter a lot, but I find it can be a pretty toxic place. It does however come in very useful for finding indie developers and their games.
And that’s exactly what happened with Dude, Where is my Beer.
I noticed their Twitter account would occasionally like my tweets about point and click adventure games and my curiosity led to me looking to find out who they were.
I went over to their page and was immediately drawn in by the art style for their upcoming game. Upon further investigation on the Steam store page, I knew this was a game I just HAD to play.
The Back-Story
I won’t give away too much of the plot because I want you guys reading to go and play this for yourself. But here’s the gist of it.
We play as a middle aged man who arrives in Oslo, Norway on a bus.
He decides he fancies a beer and asks the bus driver where the nearest bar is. After being given directions, he heads off to the nearest place, called The Underground Pub.
He quickly realises that his quest to find a regular pilsner isn’t going to be simple though. Everywhere now seems to be full up with young hipsters sipping over-priced craft ales and participating in pub quizzes!
There also seems to be something hidden. A panic around the word ‘pilsner’ and a shiftiness to the bar staff in all of the different drinking places.
A CONSPIRACY!
Classic Point and Click Style
So let’s talk a little about what you can expect from Dude, Where is my Beer.
The first thing you’ll notice is it uses the classic point and click interface with the standard verbs such as ‘use’, ‘give’, ‘pick up’ and so on.
There is a new addition though, a drunk-meter in the top corner adds an extra dimension. How many beers you drink affects how drunk you get. This in turn affects whether you’re able to make certain actions.
And I’m a big fan of this. Sometimes you’ll need to be drunk to do something a little gross, other times you’ll need to be completely sober to do something that requires a lot of precision and a steady hand.
As with your typical point and click adventure games, you’ll need to solve many different puzzles to get items for people, gather information, and uncover mysteries.
I wouldn’t say the puzzles are difficult as such, but they do require a lot of thought and analysis. Something that I really enjoy, but certainly not a game you can just speed through on your first playthrough.
I’m not a fan of flying through games without having to stop to work out the solutions to puzzles, but I know some people are.
For that reason, I’d say the puzzles are quite difficult, but not impossible or illogical in any sense. They’ll have you scratching your head, but not banging it against the wall in frustration.
Music & Animation
One of my favourite things about Dude, Where is my Beer is the soundtrack that plays throughout the game.
It’s relatively simple, and there’s only a few tracks but they set the scene and vibe of the game perfectly.
Often with indie games, I’ve found they have good soundtracks but they don’t really add to the overall experience of playing.
That, or they just don’t actually match what you’re playing.
This is different though, and combined with the quirky, hand-drawn animation style, I found both drew me into being entirely immersed in the game and it’s environments.
I could just wander around the streets of the game without needing to solve the puzzles. Just experiencing the streets and the people in the game is fun on its own.
Potential Improvements for “Dude 2”
Throughout my time playing Dude, Where is my Beer, I’ve been lucky enough to be in regular contact with Arik (one of the developers who created the game).
He tells me that he’s open to the idea of making a sequel to Dude, Where is my Beer.
And, in the final episode of my series, I went through a couple of points that I thought could be incorporated into a potential sequel if it were made.
First up is having little cutscenes to show changes that happen as a result of solving certain puzzles in the game.
Given that the puzzles are often linked, solving a puzzle in this game will cause a character to change location to elsewhere in the game, or a completely new person to show up.
Having a small cutscene showing this as it happens, would help guide the player to what they need to do next, instead of having to wander the game to discover what they need to do.
I also feel the story could’ve been expanded just a tiny bit. I won’t go into this too much because I’d like to avoid spoiling it for those of you who’ll go on to play it yourselves.
But an evolution of the story and the main character would definitely take this from being a very good game, to a fantastic game.
It is however worth me reminding you that this is Arik and co’s very first game and I’m sure their story telling will only get better and better with future games they produce.
Perhaps having some voice acting could be a feature in a potential sequel? This would of course be an added financial cost to the project, and bad voice acting can actually ruin a game in my opinion.
Done correctly though, it might really add to the playing experience.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time playing Dude, Where is my Beer.
Indie games can be a little hit and miss but this was a wonderful experience to play through.
This was only enhanced by my conversations with Arik who regularly checked in with me to see how I was enjoying the game and if I’d encountered any bugs or problems.
This is something I feel more indie developers should do. Getting to know their players is something that can only benefit them and their future projects.
I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next game released, whether it be a sequel or a different game entirely.
9/10
If you’d like to see my full playthrough of this game over on my YouTube channel, you can watch right here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKoQcABlBCdYMBWPcWDmSPEdpM1l6la5n
