Mutropolis

Developer: Pirita Studio | Publisher: Application Systems Heidelberg | Release Date: 2021 | Genre: Casual / Adventure / Indie | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

Mutropolis, the debut title from Pirita Studio, is a point-and-click adventure that stands out with its unique blend of science fiction and archaeology. Set in the year 5000, it paints a future where Earth was abandoned in favor of Mars, and most of humanity’s greatest achievements have been forgotten. Players assume the role of Henry Dijon, an archaeologist on an expedition on Earth. His mentor, Totel, is convinced that the legendary city of Mutropolis is real, but Henry and the rest of the team are a little more skeptical. However, their excitement over finally finding some evidence of Mutropolis is short-lived, as Totel is kidnapped. It also becomes clear that the police have little interest in solving the case, which prompts Henry and his team to mount a rescue themselves.

As far as debut titles go, especially ones created by a team of only two people, Mutropolis is undoubtedly a very impressive effort. Not only is the story, which mixes science fiction with archaeology, very humorous but the game is also filled with memorable characters and locations. Over the course of three chapters, players get to explore more than 50 hand-drawn scenes while solving more than a few head-scratching puzzles. We like to consider ourselves point-and-click adventure veterans after completing pretty much everything released in the genre’s heyday, but Mutropolis had us stumped on a few occasions. This is primarily because the game does not hold your hand, so you must pay attention to your surroundings and what is being said in conversations. Mutropolis is also not shy about throwing a few red herrings in your path, so we wasted a lot of time trying to acquire items we thought we needed only to find much easier alternatives. Whether you find this humorous or frustrating will depend on how much patience you have, though.

Visually, Mutropolis is a treat, with its attention-grabbing hand-drawn art and unique lanky character designs. The game’s scenes are filled with homages and Easter eggs, making exploration a delight. The animations are decent, and in terms of presentation, Mutropolis holds its own against games by much larger teams.

Pirita Studio opted for a very clean interface, so there is nothing onscreen to distract from the visuals. Instead, hovering the mouse cursor over something of interest will display its name if it can be interacted with. Players can then left-click on the item, which Henry will pick up if he can or describe if he can’t. It may feel weird at first for players who are used to right-clicking on items to get a description, but it works well overall. Once items are inside Henry’s inventory, players can drag them over an “eye” icon to get a description.

It is a little annoying that Mutropolis does not have a hot-key to highlight hotspots because this means that some pixel hunting is required at times. Old-school players will be used to this playing style, but newcomers who are used to some of the more forgiving recent point-and-click adventures will be less amused. Since the publication of this review, the developers have released an update that allows players to press the space bar when they feel lost, and the game will automatically highlight spots they can interact with. The puzzles are logical for the most part, but as is par for the genre, there are a few situations where some out-of-the-box thinking is required to make progress. In total, it took us about 14 hours to complete Mutropolis, but we were stuck a few times because we didn’t spot something vital in a scene or were chasing those damn red herrings. The game is fairly linear, so even with many locations opened up to players, it is possible to get stuck on a puzzle that will bring the story to a grinding halt. This means there isn’t much replay value once the game is completed, although Mutropolis does have a couple of optional Steam achievements for completionists to figure out.

Surprisingly, for a game by such a small team, Mutropolis features full voice acting for the entire cast of characters. Even better, the voice acting is really good and definitely elevates the whole experience. The way in which some lines are delivered, especially by Henry and Issis, also adds to some of the humor. The soundtrack is quite chill but very fitting, and the game has plenty of sound effects that add some life to the various scenes.

Overall, Mutropolis is a great point-and-click adventure with a decent challenge for both newcomers and veterans of the genre. The puzzles can be tricky, but it is impossible to die or do anything wrong, so players are free to try anything. The story takes a few unexpected turns, especially when the gods of ancient Egypt become involved, and the humor kept us entertained. Like most point-and-click adventures, it’s not a game for the easily frustrated, but players who are not afraid to put their problem-solving skills to good use will have a blast. With Mutropolis Pirita Studio has created an interesting game world with a charming cast that we would love to see in future titles.