Dropsy is a Point and Click centered around the adventures of the world’s most horrifying clown. It starts off with you making your way out a burning tent only to later awaken in a bed realizing it was a dream. Even so you will quickly notice that the actual world is just as weird as your dreams and everyone in it is depressed. It is up to you to bring joy back into their lives, shockingly enough for such an evil locking clown. Your only real means of interaction is opening up your inventory and mashing an item into an object or person in hopes of some kind of result. Dropsy has very little in the way of hand-holding and no tutorial so it is up to you to explore this pretty large open world in search of random objects that may lead to opening up a new area or just making someone happy.
Sounds simple enough but there is not a single word when talking to characters instead they talk in a made up language and express themselves via speech bubbles containing a vague few pictures in them. It is up to you to decipher what is ailing them and finding some way to put a smile on their face which can range from giving them a simple hug to finding their father. It is easier said than done as you will gather up quite a bit of items in your inventory in no time and the solution is very rarely near the target. There is no way to lose, get hurt or die in this game so it is all a matter of patience and brain power. Fast traveling is unlocked near the end of the game and only then for a brief time meaning you will spend a lot of your time walking around to your destination. It is both a blessing and a curse as you will often times find something you missed your first time going through yet it does get slightly irradiating as Dropsy is move fast and the world is pretty large.
Accompanying since the beginning will be your loyal puppy that is equally as creepy as Dropsy. He will follow you wherever you go and can dig up items as well as sniff out important objects. Two more pets will join you as the game progresses. A mouse to fit into tiny areas and a baby bird to reach objects that are out of reach. You can control any of them at any time so if you are stuck it is likely you are not examining the area closely enough for things seemingly insignificant things like a crack in the wall or a vent. These extra skill sets available to you make the game feel far more involving as you are not just looking for an item but how to best utilize your characters in the environment you are in. The world itself is quite odd featuring downed planes, vampire hunters and aliens. Though this is a game about playing as a 500 pound demonic looking clown out to hug everything from trees to said aliens so I guess it’s to be expected.
Hugging people and making them happy rarely have any benefits for you other than the occasional achievement or important item. At the start everyone hates you but as you make them happy the only thing that really changes is them having a smiley face speech bubble when you pass by. Dropsy features a day and night cycle that has time advancing as you switch between areas. Different events occur during the night so it’s not just a meaningless feature and can be the clue to solving a problem if you are stuck. There are a few beds scattered around the world that allow you to pick what time of day you want to skip to but they are far between and a simple wait for X amount of time option would have been preferable. Speaking of options the menus also follow that no text rule meaning it is just a weird mess of symbols annoyingly enough. You can save the game using the floppy disc with red arrow symbol which is useful to know if you don’t want to rely on the autosave feature or want multiple saves.
Music ranges from jazz to other solemn melodies that makes the grim world of Dropsy feel even more strange and depressing. I’m sure there is a story that surely puts meaning to this madness but it completely flew over my head and I left probably even more confused than when I started. Puzzles are simple enough though often times obscure in what needs to be done. The real challenge comes from finding exactly what you need to complete the job at hand which does at times lead to a wild goose chase across the map. There is no puzzles that require timing or can be messed up so with enough patience any obstacle can be overcome even for people terrible at this genre such as I. When all is said and done Dropsy doesn’t have anything terribly unique on the gameplay front but it’s weird and stylish presentation certainly draws it out from the crowd. So if you ever wanted to play as a clown straight out of a horror movie going around hugging children, animals and an angry man in a chicken costume, I can think of no better game.
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