Angelo and Deemon: One Hell of a Quest is a point-and-click adventure from Specialbit Studio that will land you in Hell… literally. Even the Grim Reaper makes mistakes, which is exactly where your adventure begins. You play as Angelo, a blogger on TheTube, who is accidentally swept away to the afterlife when the Grim Reaper mistakes his apartment for that of the poor soul he intended to reap. From there, you’ll have to find a way out of the fiery depths and back to the world of the living. 

WE’RE OFF TO SEE THE… DEVIL?

Despite all of the social media worthy selfies you can take and all of the sights you can blog about to boost your numbers, you’re probably going to want to escape Hell at some point. To do that, you’re going to have to solve quite a few puzzles. From finding out how to bribe the politician at the docks to figuring out how to make the drunken, hole-riddled clown at the bar happy, the puzzles you’ll face are wildly varied and full of humorous surprises. For a point-and-click game, they’re also surprisingly difficult at times. While you’re likely to get stumped and occasionally frustrated throughout your journey, there is a nice sense of accomplishment when you finally figure out how to beat that pesky puzzle and progress forward.  

I UNDERSTOOD THAT REFERENCE

As you set out to solve puzzles, you’ll have to interact with some of the locals. Though your dialogue options are brief, each of the characters manage to stand out in their own right. This is partially because of the great voice acting, and partially thanks to the humor. 

With pop culture references galore, there is never a missed opportunity for some wit or humor. The nods at vloggers who will do anything for views and the various tech jokes all help to add in some relatability to the humor. The Easter eggs scattered throughout, like a certain six-stoned gauntlet or a futuristic car, are also fun to come across and discover. However, if you don’t spend too much time on social media or know much pop culture, this title might not be for you, as most of the jokes and dialogue revolve around those aspects.  

HELL’S TALES

Despite how fun and cheeky some of the jokes are, the emphasis on humor does come at the expense of the storytelling. Angelo is happy to take a few selfies with the other trapped souls to post on his blog, but he never actually seems concerned by the fact that he is trapped in Hell. Because of that light attitude, he doesn’t feel particularly desperate to leave, and there’s no sense of urgency to complete anything. In spite of the title, there’s not much of a relationship between him and Deemon either, apart from some light banter between the two. 

The story also doesn’t have much of an ending. Though you do feel a sense of accomplishment from completing the difficult puzzles, the fact that all of your combined efforts don’t really lead to anything is a bit of a letdown. There is future potential for them to lead somewhere, but it will likely come in the form of a sequel or DLC. On top of this, it took me a little under four hours to beat the game and given that the puzzles can only be completed one way, there’s not much incentive to replay. For four hours of gameplay, the price does feel a little steep.

FIERY POLISH

Despite the lacking story elements, Angelo and Deemon: One Hell of a Quest is impressively polished for a point-and-click adventure. Right off the bat, the artwork is stunning. Each area and character is beautifully drawn, even if they aren’t so beautiful themselves. The fact that almost every character is fully voice acted is also a nice touch and really helps to make the title feel polished. The animations are smooth and I didn’t encounter any bugs, crashes, or stuttering during my playthrough.