"D3AD HAND", my Adventure Game Hotspot review!

Read my full review on Adventure Game Hotspot!

Excerpt: "Lasting at least a puzzle-filled four hours, the two standalone chapters now collectively comprising D3AD HAND are a welcome diversion and some much-needed laughs in our war-plagued real world, gently poking fun at the Russian military machine. Especially in the larger “R3D STAR” update, the ongoing switching between human and cat brings greater gameplay diversity, and overall the combination of humor, wonderful pixel art, exciting music and variety of puzzles make you wish for an even longer game. Instead I’ll look forward to Duck Made Of Wood’s next game already in progress, as D3AD HAND is such a promising debut for a developer that shows the potential for stardom."

Reached one of the endings of "R3D STAR"!

Continue the game!

After playing D3AD HAND, by Duck Made Of Wood, it was only natural to continue the story with the next chapter, R3D STAR. You can start this second game from the main menu of D3AD HAND, but personally I think it should just start automatically since it is essentially one big story.

A raging river and a ravenous polar bear, easy peasy...

In R3D STAR, the Sputnik satellite has crashed into earth and as Yuri, you go and investigate. This time, there aren't that many mechanical/logical puzzles. Instead, it's mostly inventory puzzles, but a new gameplay element has been added as well: this time, you can also play as Stalin the cat!

Stalin, the fabulous feline!

Stalin can squeeze through small places and climb on ledges and thus access areas Yuri can't get to. This way, you can reach items and make them available for Yuri. Stalin can also scratch stuff open or sever them. And he can sniff out clues and so link hotspots together, informing Yuri there's something more to them. 

Remember to explore this map thoroughly!

I must admit I got stuck pretty early on, but that's because I didn't listen very well to my orders. I received a map of the area and was told to explore fully, but this means you can and have to also check the areas where there's no obvious location. After I realized that, the immensity of this chapter compared to D3AD HAND really became apparent.

I'd be careful around this hole...

After three hours, I finished the game but my particular ending wasn't exactly environmentally friendly. So I'm going to dive back in and see if I can play the end game a bit differently this time. After all, another character informed me there were three different tactics I could use, and for now I just did the most obvious. So hopefully I can dig a bit deeper and figure out how to achieve a more peaceful ending...

You can find D3AD HAND and R3D STAR together on Steam and on itch.io!

I just saved the world from nuclear annihilation in "D3AD HAND"!

New game!

Duck Made Of Wood is a very charismatic solo developer. I bumped into him at AdventureX in London last November and sat down to play his game D3AD HAND. I didn't finish this hour long game there and then, because there were lots of other games and people to check out, but I promised him I'd definitely play it at home because I was quite enjoying it and loving the humor, and he even was so kind to gift me a free copy! So finally, here I am, making good on that promise! (Sorry it took me so long, Duck!)

Monday mornings...

I'm Yuri, a Soviet military man in charge of a nuclear missile base. My direct supervisor there is a white cat with a black "mustache" patch under its nose named Stalin. The systems at the base should be automatic, but, you know, it's still man-made... So it's my job to make sure no missiles are fired accidentally, leading to World War 3 and total annihilation.

Let's keep these things closed, shall we?

But before I can do my job, I have to find my way inside, which takes a couple of fun puzzles. There's a gear puzzle, and a code puzzle, and a password you have to uncover. The game is actually full of these mechanical/logical puzzles and it's perfectly balanced with the more traditional inventory puzzle stuff. D3AD HAND also has cool pixel art, full Russian-accented voice overs, and funny dialogues which often break the fourth wall, but not to excess. I particularly enjoyed the sound of crunching snow beneath your boots as you walk, and the synth soundtrack.

Shoddy piping...

As soon as I've entered the base, a pipe bursts and steam is blocking my way, so I have to turn some valve wheels to shut down the system. Then I finally meet Stalin, my boss so to speak. But the cat refuses to come into action until I've fed it, and apparently only eats caviar-flavored cat food...

Thankfully this isn't a translation game...

Then all hell breaks loose, a missile is about to be launched and I have to reset all systems to prevent catastrophe. With a fun series of puzzles I'm able to save the day!  I'm not quite sure how some of the puzzles actually worked, like the one with the seismic sensors, but I'm happy I seemed to click the right buttons by chance and didn't get totally stuck on it. It was rather a short experience, lasting only for an hour, but there's more to come with the second part of the story, R3D STAR! 

Plenty of logical puzzles in this game!

So I'll be back soon with a continuation of my playthrough. I've already heard R3D STAR is more extensive and even offers Stalin the cat as a second playable character, so that's definitely something to look forward to!

You can find D3AD HAND and R3D STAR together on Steam and on itch.io!