"Theropods" reviewed: The adventure game that doesn't say a word
With "Theropods", indie developer Lost Token ventures into the point-and-click genre without uttering a single word – and it works.
The young warrior probably imagined her life differently: while out for a walk in the jungle, she and her parents are attacked by a T-Rex. Her brave mother defends her family but falls victim to the feathered glutton. A few years later, the child has grown into a young woman, and disaster strikes again. Her tribe is attacked by a rival one, her father's skull is smashed in, and she is forced to flee. Naturally, she wants revenge and to liberate her village.
Even if the cute pixel art suggests otherwise: «Theropods» is brutal. You might find dismembered corpses lying around – even if they are hard to recognize due to the elementary presentation. Besides that, the game offers interesting puzzles and a coherent story that manages almost entirely without words.
Gibberish instead of dialogue trees
I control the young, nameless woman. She is nameless because the game offers no text. Really none at all. Even the menu consists only of pictograms. When the characters talk to each other, only incomprehensible gibberish can be heard – so they are speaking in some way. The voices annoyed me at first, but over time I found the «language» charming. It reminds me of the adults in the «Peanuts». However, thanks to their gestures, I always know exactly what they are saying and what is going on.
Source: Lost Token
The idea is not entirely new. For years, the Czechs at Amanita Design have been telling stories without words in «Machinarium» or «Botanicula» and letting their characters babble in an artificial language. Nevertheless, this is the great strength of «Theropods». The game shows me the story and mood solely through the pixel images and the audio design. This makes the game accessible and simplifies localization because it doesn't need any.
The story is conveyed to me in cinematic cutscenes instead of the typical side-scrolling perspective. This complements the game well and feels consistent.
The soundtrack underscores the scenery perfectly. However, none of the pieces particularly stand out to me – neither negatively nor positively. The sound design is successful. The T-Rex sounds terrifying, and when the mountain rumbles, I actually get the impression that it is about to collapse. The combat sounds also feel authentic.
From hand axe to crash landing
In addition to the nameless woman, I later control an alien who crash-lands on the planet. So, I am essentially switching from a prehistoric setting to a sci-fi one. The twist is well-executed. When I control the alien, I interact with the environment differently than with the young warrior – the alien, for example, has a robot at its disposal. Later, the playstyles blend, especially when I switch back and forth between the two characters, which is well implemented.
I control both in the best point-and-click fashion. I use the cursor to show the characters where to go. If I can interact with something or someone, the cursor turns orange. This is practical due to the pixelated mess. Otherwise, I don't always see at first glance what I can interact with.
In the top right, there is an icon for my inventory. This opens when I click on it. Here I can select or combine items. Due to the pixelated presentation, I sometimes don't know what kind of object I have just picked up. For example, I mistook a blowpipe for a stick and therefore didn't immediately come up with the solution to a puzzle.
This is exactly where the only weakness of «Theropods» lies: the charming pixel look works against the puzzles. What looks pretty in a screenshot is sometimes a guessing game in the inventory. The fact that interactive objects light up orange when I hover over them with the cursor helps – but I still have to scan the screen pixel by pixel. A button that shows me all hotspots at once is missing. That is actually standard in 2026 and would have saved me from dead ends.
There is no hint system. It is rarely necessary because the scenes remain manageable and I hardly carry any items with me. I cannot die, and I can never make the game unsolvable.
Solid puzzle fare, no goat
Which brings me to the crucial part of a point-and-click game: the puzzles. The developers at Lost Token are not reinventing the wheel, but they do deliver solid puzzle fare. By experimenting, I always somehow arrive at the solution. They are sometimes logical, for example, when I have to press five buttons in a certain order, and sometimes absurd, for example, when I have to collect spit from a venom-spewing dino using a skull. The mix is fun and provides entertainment.
In doing so, I progress through the story at a brisk pace. In the roughly three hours it takes me to reach the credits, the game never feels dragged out. I also don't feel like I'm missing anything. The scope is just right.
In a nutshell
An adventure that keeps its mouth shut
Pro
- Story understandable even without text
- a successful mix of prehistory and sci-fi setting
- good mix of logical and absurd puzzles, none of them unfair
- no idle time, the scope is appropriate
Contra
- Pixel optics make it difficult to recognize objects
- the revenge story is predictable
From big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.
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