Have you ever wanted to go to hell? I mean, just to visit, poke around and participate in some extremely random and in many cases nonsensical fetch quests and puzzles? Or are you a social media influencer who wants to see what you might have to resort to when the likes on your makeup tutorial start drying up? Then perhaps it's worth taking a look at Angelo and Demon. One Hell of a Quest. It's a classic point and click style adventure game inspired by the best works of LucasArts and Double Fine Productions, developed and published by Special Bits Studio and available on Steam right now for £6.19. But the question is, can the game live up to its lofty premise of a hellacious journey to hell? Or is the game a point and click title, the kind that makes you wish for the sweet release of death? Well, let's take a look as we review 2019's Angelo and Demon. One Hell of a Quest. The game's synopsis reads, a lightning strike ignites a breathtaking chain of events, and a blogger, Angelo, follows the Grim Reaper to hell. Angelo's channel suffers from a lack of likes and views. He needs them, at any cost. Deciding to record his journey to another world with the Grim Reaper, he hopes he can create the most trending, most liked, most hyped video of all time. Unfortunately for Angelo, the world is hell itself, and it's inhabited by people. with more than a few problems, who will all need his help. Make a visit to the devil themself, but be careful because, well, you'll see, in hell, Angelo won't be travelling alone. Even a blogger needs a sidekick, and that guy is D-mon. So as is the case with many point and click adventure titles, the story is the main hook here. And while the premise sounds frankly a lot of fun, something about a point and click adventure does something to dampen the severity of the situation. I mean... You're in literal hell, and I feel no sense of urgency or wacky overblown danger. A bit like in Skyrim when it's the impending dragon apocalypse, and yet somehow you can just put it on the back burner while you chase butterflies. Angelo helps Death get his phone charged after a mistake leads William Sadler to his door, which results in them taking an elevator to the afterlife, and a chance encounter with a battle-wrapping train station attendant called Demon, who decides to team up and help Angelo as he traverses hell. Looking for people who can aid him in producing the greatest online content since Piano Cat. To do so, he'll need to traverse with a biker who needs a thrash metal song, deal with a fraud peddling Buddhist monk in a frozen section of hell, Donald Trump, and Satan themselves, and a whole cast of oddballs scattered amongst the dam. Now I will say, the cast of characters in the game are quite humorous, but Angelo? I hope you're supposed to hate him because my god what an annoying git he is. A demon? I get the sense he's supposed to be cool but he ends up feeling like that guy who always somehow has a better story than everyone at the party. So yeah the world is fine, the cast is fine, but the story execution and its main characters started to lose me after a while. However, while I find the story a bit convoluted and overall a bit meh, the gameplay is where I was roped back in because for a novice point and click player like me this game does all it can to make playing through it as easy or as hard as you like. Now the puzzles are... well they're puzzles in a puzzle game so of course they don't make a licker sense half the time I mean why would I put a wad of cash in a turbine? And how exactly does a sweater get reincarnated into an electric heater that has no power source? Anyway the game offers you the ability to highlight all interactive aspects of a level and even an app on your phone that you can ask for guidance as to what to look for or where to go next Which is handy given none of the puzzles make a licker sense You want an example? Well, to get to see the boss of the bar, Satan, you have to pass a test that you're a good person In hell, you know, where all the good people wind up Then, you've got to get some ice from a bartender Ice, in the fiery depths of hell To do that, you need to get a sweater, and then turn it into an electric heater for said fraudster monk Who then provides you with ice Which you then have to put in Demon's mouth to stop it melting Because sense! Now, puzzles notwithstanding, you can pause the game at any time, skip conversations if you've had them before, and traverse the map at your leisure. And if you pay attention, use your Sara app regularly, pay attention to the characters and what they say, you'll sail through the game quickly enough. And just a friendly bit of advice, I hope you're the kind of person that loves snapping everything and anything with your phone, because not only are you gonna be clicking on everything in sight, as a blogger, you need to take a million pictures too, which is one of the achievements in the game. And, in fairness, it does help remind you of the whole point of the adventure to begin with. As far as the overall product itself, I have to say that the game's design is impeccable. Everything from the graphics, animations, sound and music, they all come together to give you a very slick, solid experience, with no bugs or glitches to speak of. The backgrounds are all designed with a lovely hand-draw feel, the maps are all ambience, sounds and effects to really sell the desolation of hell, the character animations when talking are moving are crisp and sharp. The only notable exception to this is the voice acting in conversations. Oh, they're beautifully acted, but you try to make sense out of some of these exchanges, notwithstanding some of the grammatical errors here or there. But the game does make a lot of nods, puns, and references to pop culture, and does get very meta at times to various effects. Sadly, for some reason, the game seems intent on adhering strictly to stereotypes even South Park would find garish. Its depiction of Latino, Chinese, and Japanese characters are... well... iffy at best, let's just say that. Potential stereotypes aside, the biggest aspect of the game that I would have liked to see some improvement is the game's narrative. Is it meant to be a parody? A satirical take on religion? An allegory on the ills of social media? Or an excuse just to make fun of various character tropes? I really can't tell. As a result, its world feels a little disjointed at times. But I can't deny I wanted to see this ride all the way to the end, and I was glad that I did. Overall, I found Angelo and Demon One Hell of a Quest to be a game of high quality, and for a novice to the genre like myself, super easy to get into and a lot of fun at times. Nonsensical at others, but it shouldn't take you more than 4-6 hours of time to beat it. If you're the kind of person who enjoys narrative driven experiences without the harsh challenge of a typical point and click puzzle game, with a few laughs along the way, then Angelo and Demon One Hell of a Quest is devilishly charming, and a damn fine game when it decides to make sense. And that'll about wrap it up for us, thank you very much for watching this edition of the Halcyon Show, I've been your host Lorne Risely, please like, share and subscribe, stay tuned for more reviews and videos in the future, and as always, take care of yourselves and I'll see you on the next episode.