DeathSpank

[h1][i]“Never pay more than 20 bucks for a computer game.”[/i] ~Guybrush Threepwood[/h1] Even though I was in my 20s already, I still managed to make one heck of a lot of good memories in the 2000s. Of that specific kind you may call nostalgic. I mean, come on. Internet just stopped being all about those ugly “home pages” (remember those?) full of unholy [b]GIF[/b] images and exploded with things like [b]Flash[/b]-powered cartoons and webcomics. Online entertainment is taken for granted nowadays, but back in the day it was something fresh, something new. The fact that we were able to get indie content online for free? It was mind-blowing. Also, yes. [b]Xbox 360[/b] just came out. Watching [b]Happy Tree Friends[/b], reading [b]Penny Arcade[/b] and playing [b]Gears of War[/b], that's what it was all about. Like I said, lots and lots of great memories. In order to fully understand [b]DeathSpank[/b], though, it's important for us to travel much further back in time. To the times when I was just a little kid. [b]Maniac Mansion[/b]. Released in 1987, it was a quirky horror-comedy adventure that quickly became one of the most beloved games in the genre. Who made it? [b]Ron Gilbert[/b]. It was he who wrote it, it was he who directed it and yes, he coded it too ([b]Maniac Mansion[/b] was [i]the[/i] game that gave us [b]SCUMM[/b]). Soon after, [b]Ron[/b] made [b]Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade[/b] and after that... Yeah. [b]Monkey Island[/b]. And again, he acted as both writer and director. Now, if you ever played at least one of those games, you know that [b]Ron[/b] has a very specific kind of humor. Almost one of a kind. And since his [b]LucasArts[/b] times were long over (and so were his times in [b]Humongous[/b] and [b]Cavedog[/b]), he just fooled around, making things online. One of which was that [b]Flash[/b] cartoon that had a character called [b]DeathSpank[/b]. The idea was to create an over-the-top character who was absolutely, completely absurd. In order to fight stereotype, of course. And the result... was so strangely charming that [b]Ron[/b], his friend [b]Clayton Kauzlaric[/b] (who worked with him at the time) and everybody around them instantly fell in love with it. One thing led to another, but since [b]Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness[/b] already proved that web content can be turned into a video game ([b]Ron[/b] actually helped to make that game as a consultant) and be successful, well, here we are. [b]DeathSpank: The Video Game[/b]. What exactly did we get? Well, [b]Ron[/b] described his project as “[b]Monkey Island[/b] meets [b]Diablo[/b]”. Because that's... essentially what it was. Naturally, one should not expect anything complicated here. Pretty much everything in this game is simplified on purpose. The whole idea was not just to make a funny [b]Diablo[/b] clone, but to make it dumb. You hit things and they die. No classes to choose from, no points to spend (stats go up automatically on level up), no builds to worry about... It's a parody, remember? Doesn't sound like a lot fun, though. That's probably why publishers weren't that excited and [b]Ron[/b] had some pretty hard time convincing them (his time with [b]Penny Arcade[/b] helped again here). I mean, parodies can be fun in things like cartoons and comics, but in video games? Like I said, it didn't sound like a purposely dumbed-down game is a good idea. Worry not, though. [b]DeathSpank[/b] did have an ace up his sleeve. The thing is – what we have here is one of those juicy little [b]Xbox LIVE[/b] co-op games. Just press the button on the second controller and here we are – [b]DeathSpank[/b] is joined by his trusty companion [b]Sparkles the Wizard[/b]. Yes, [b]Sparkles[/b]. [b]The Wizard[/b]. Because... [i]justice[/i]. And also bacon. [i]Anyway[/i], [b]DeathSpank[/b] is one of them co-op oriented games. And while fully playable in single-player, it's in co-op where it really shines. Just because what looks like a tiny little world map and a very lacking length (you can easily finish the whole game in one sitting), in co-op becomes “just the right size”. What's even better is that [b]DeathSpank[/b] is not just about [b]Diablo[/b]. It's also about [b]Monkey Island[/b], remember? They did try to make quests here a bit more tricky than usual and while there was a risk in that (overly complicated quests can ruin all the fun, especially in co-op), they almost succeeded. “Almost” because there [i]are[/i] some quests that need slightly more polish, but thanks to the fortune cookies mechanics, which was designed to give you hints up to the “no, seriously, dude, go there and do that, it's that simple!” point, it actually worked. In other words, it's no [b]Uru[/b] here (remember that “puzzle” in [b]Uru[/b] that wanted us to stand still and do nothing for ten bloody minutes?). So yeah, it's... Quite a thing, really. Looks charming too. I mean, sure, those [b]Flash[/b]-like cutscenes are only [b]720p[/b], while the graphics itself are anything but high end (again, it was an [b]Xbox LIVE[/b] game, designed for limited download speed at the time), but it came with its own signature style, which, years later was imitated in popular games like [b]Don't Starve[/b]. So... is [b]DeathSpank[/b] one of them forgotten gems? Kinda, yeah. But not without “buts”. The problem with [b]DeathSpank[/b] is that pretty much everything here is kinda... flat. Nothing it does, it does with a bang. Jokes, for example, are fun, but not hysterical. They'll make you smile for sure (especially if you enjoyed [b]Ron Gilbert[/b]'s previous works), but they'll rarely (if at all) make you [i]laugh[/i] (as long as we're not talking about [b]Michael Dobson[/b], who voiced the lead character — [b]Michael[/b] is downright hilarious and his voice will stay with you long after you'll uninstall the game). Gameplay? It sure works. The game is fun to play, but you'll also feel like you'll be fine without it. Like, there's no “five more minutes!” element here. And when you're done (another bad thing about [b]DeathSpank[/b] is that it ends with a cliffhanger and no, it's not an element of a parody, they just didn't have enough time to finish everything they'd planned and therefore decided to split the game in two)? You won't feel like you need more. Still, [b]DeathSpank[/b] is totally worth catching up with if you've somehow missed it back in the day. Not only is it one of those games that captured the mood of the time (make sure to listen to [b]Crazy Frog[/b] songs in the background for the full effect), it also aged surprisingly well. Sure, sure, [b]720p[/b] cutscenes and UI won't look good, controls won't be as smooth as in modern alternatives, while there are some rough edges related to the PC version specifically (in order to play alone with the gamepad, for example, you'll need to change settings accordingly, otherwise you'll end up starting a co-op game instead since the gamepad is tied to the second player by default), but the thing is – [b]DeathSpank[/b] is a very... relaxing experience. That's its strongest point. It doesn't ask anything from you. It allows you to just sit back and have simple fun. The game just doesn't take itself too seriously. Heck, even the in-built leaderboards are not about how good you are, they're about things like how many chickens you've killed. Yes, [i]chickens[/i]. Because why the heck not, right? So yeah, if we'll judge [b]DeathSpank[/b] by our usual standards and start asking it to do certain things? It's obviously lacking. In pretty much everything. It's not one of those games you buy for $999.999. Flat soda, remember? You don't buy it for the price of the real deal. But just for fun? It's totally a thing. Flat soda is still sweet and let's be honest, we all need some sweets now and then. That's just this game's philosophy. Not to try too hard and be funny. Exactly why it never became obsolete. And the best of all? It's below 20 bucks.

To change the game language to Chinese 游戏汉化可以使用分享文件：戴斯班克汉化数据.zip 链接：https://pan.xunlei.com/s/VOi6d94M2j0ATsrU-chytAxjA1?pwd=8jiq#，解压后复制到游戏安装目录替换文件即可。

BOM VAMOS LÁ O QUE FALAR DE DEATHSPANK LANÇADO EM (2010) PARA PC (WINDOWS) , PLAYSTATION 3 , XBOX 360 E MAC OS X. É UM RPG DE AÇÃO EXTREMAMENTE BEM-HUMORADO, CHARMOSO E PECULIAR, CRIADO POR NINGUÉM MENOS QUE RON GILBERT (FAMOSO POR MONKEY ISLAND) E CLAYTON KAUZLARIC CONFESSO QUE COMPREI MEU XBOX 360 EM 2009 DESBLOQUEADO E QUANDO SAIU ESSE JOGO EM 2010 NÃO DEI MUITA IMPORTANCIA MAIS DEPOIS DE 16 ANOS COMPREI ELE NA STEAM ESTOU AQUI PARA DEIXAR MINHA OPINIÃO SOBRE ESSE JOGO MARAVILHOSO. O JOGO É FREQUENTEMENTE DESCRITO COMO UMA MISTURA DE DIABLO (AÇÃO HACK-AND-SLASH, EXPLORAÇÃO, COLETA DE ITENS) COM O HUMOR SATÍRICO E DIÁLOGOS INTELIGENTES DE MONKEY ISLAND. A NARRATIVA É O PONTO ALTO. DEATHSPANK É UM HERÓI OBCECADO EM "TRAZER JUSTIÇA" E ENCONTRAR O MISTERIOSO "ARTEFATO", MUITAS VEZES QUEBRANDO A QUARTA PAREDE E SATIRIZANDO CLICHÊS DE RPGS. O ESTILO ARTÍSTICO É CARTOON, VIBRANTE E LEMBRA UM LIVRO INFANTIL POP-UP, O QUE COMBINA COM O TOM BIZARRO E CÔMICO DA HISTÓRIA. É UM ACTION-RPG MAIS ACESSÍVEL E SIMPLES, FOCADO EM HACK-AND-SLASH RÁPIDO, USO DE UMA GRANDE VARIEDADE DE ARMAS E EQUIPAMENTOS. O JOGO É FOCADO EM EXPLORAR O MAPA E COMPLETAR DEZENAS DE MISSÕES, MUITAS VEZES CÔMICAS, INCLUINDO ENTREGAR ITENS PARA PERSONAGENS ESTRANHOS (O FAMOSO "FETCH QUEST" LEVADO AO EXTREMO). O JOGO POSSUI UM MODO COOPERATIVO LOCAL, ONDE UM SEGUNDO JOGADOR ASSUME O PAPEL DE SPARKLES, O MAGO. EM RESUMO VALE APENA COMPRAR E JOGAR DEATHSPANK NOS DIAS DE HOJE? SIM É UM ÓTIMO JOGO PARA QUEM BUSCA UMA AVENTURA LEVE, ENGRAÇADA E COM JOGABILIDADE SATISFATÓRIA PARA DESCONTRAIR, SEM A COMPLEXIDADE EXAGERADA DE RPGS HARDCORE. JOGUEI 32,7 HORAS JÁ VOU PARA O PROXIMO (:_:)

This is a game I keep coming back to. I've redownloaded it onto like 4 computers since 2010

8.2/10 [h3] “Greetings, DeathSpank!” [/h3] Replaying it this time, I finally realized what I truly love about [i] DeathSpank [/i]. It’s not just the surface-level dark humor, but its way of expression—one where deconstruction comes before content. It uses a straight-faced heroic narrative to carry utterly absurd, everyday nonsense, turning meaning itself into the punchline. In this game, quests can be ridiculous, the hero can be foolish, and morality can feel arbitrary. Imagine mixing grand, epic hero dialogue with mundane, idiotic chatter—[i] DeathSpank [/i] pulls this off brilliantly. It’s like a solemn knight from a classic chivalric tale suddenly starts spouting trash talk, or delivers something incredibly stupid with ceremonial gravitas. That contrast isn’t just black humor—it rises to a kind of “formalistic humor,” where the structure itself becomes the joke. That said, from a gameplay perspective, it’s relatively thin. At its core, it plays like an old-school ARPG in the vein of [i] Diablo [/i], but without much system depth. By the mid-to-late game, repetition sets in, and it’s easy to feel fatigued or bored. There’s also a slight sense that it starts strong but doesn’t quite stick the landing. These shortcomings are worth pointing out. Even so, its strengths far outweigh its flaws. What makes [i] DeathSpank [/i] special is how it constantly deconstructs things that are usually treated with gravity—“quests,” “heroism,” “morality”—without hollowing out the experience itself. You’re still progressing, still making choices, still invested; you just gradually realize that none of it needs to be taken all that seriously. In a way, it’s not really telling a story about an absurd world—it’s gently reminding us that meaning might be constructed, even illusory, but the experience is real. There’s a touch of mild existentialism in that idea, and I find it genuinely appealing.

Deathspank is still funny. It's funny that they made Thongs of Virtue another game because they didn't want the game to be too big so that it could be easily downloadable at xbox live arcade. Thongs of Virtue is like Act II and III of Deathspank the original game. This ends with a blatant and ridiculous cliffhanger. They should make a Deathspank: Definitive Edition combining the first and second games and making it free for owners of both games and then make a sequel with Ron Gilbert. He wasn't involved in The Baconing. I liked it all the same but some people say it's not a real sequel. Oh and it runs perfectly on Windows 11. A few years ago I had some problems. I don't remember exactly. Dunno if they patched it or anything but it can run at your default screen refresh rate now it seems but I limited it to 60 fps because it kept making the fans go fast every so often at 165hz.

Imagine Monkey Island as an action RPG rather than a point-and-click game, but also a bit worse. I feel mixed about this, given I'm replaying it after playing it back in 2011 or so. It plays fine on a modern PC, and I haven't had any problems with controls or crashing. I think a lot of issues are more quality of life problems and comparing this to later games, which I seem to recall did a better job of skill management. The story is also funny at times and a great demonstration of voice actor ability, but it becomes grating and a lot of the humor doesn't really work. You can only listen to Deathspank be an obnoxious ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ about women so much, or at least see it as a dialogue option, understand he's meant to be an obnoxious pastiche of a generic white male fantasy hero, plus a ton of ♥♥♥♥ and masturbation jokes (and maybe one anti-union joke, which, huh?), so many times before it becomes droll. The actors do a phenomenal job, and there are many quite elaborate and silly moments in this. I just started skipping through dialogue after a while because of how frustrating running back and forth trying to figure out where I was going was. It's extremely hard to figure out where quests are located, and you get a very limited number of fortune cookies for largely useless hints, some of which include things like, "The item is in front of [building you don't know the location of]", involving either meticulously combing through the entire map or just googling a guide. A related issue is that the map is often quite useless, as you can only see an overview of sections of it you're not in, rather than zoom in and out as you please, and when you're looking at the Outhouse map, you can't see where, say, quest markers are, so you have to arbitrarily click and hope you remember where the largely unremarkable map locations are. The only notable locations are Pluckmuckle, Von Prong's castle, and the Enchanted Forest, which cover only a small portion of the map, and are difficult in themselves to navigate. The one gameplay issue I had was using items in your inventory (e.g., the whistles). They required a lot of clicking to get Deathspank to register them. The other one is the limited inventory and inventory management problem. You get so much stuff, it's annoying to have to decide what to leave behind or just sell. Buying anything other than quest items and maybe potions is largely pointless, so it's not that big a deal, but you have a lot of stuff and some things, like nature weapons, are necessary for hurting certain enemies, so you don't want to trash anything but your highest level gear. It took me ages to find a crossbow with actually decent damage, so if I'd trashed the one I had, I'd have been out of luck for most of the game when dealing with ranged enemies. Another problem is that initially, and from what I remember playing this the first time, low level enemies would stop bothering you once you got high enough of a level. This worked for a time, but after like my third play session, vanished entirely. Even gray enemies would go after me if I wandered too close to them. It's a relatively easy RPG for folks who want that sort of thing, with an art style that hasn't aged but won't be everyone's cup of tea. I still love the spinning sword and wished there was a higher level one than the 800 damage one. It's the best weapon in the game, after the really nice crossbow. If you want to play more of this, all three of these games are on Steam, the third just isn't called "Deathspank": look for "The Baconing". I can't say I recommend that, given I remember it being the worst of the three, but they're all here if you want to play them.

Get in the bag, future criminal

Been playing this game for 16 years now. It is still funny. It is still cozy. It is still exists without a modern day successor. See you in the next year or two. 10/10

Игра - poop, разрабы - demons. Кто не понял, тот Farmer. Думайте.