Upon booting up the game, I was welcomed by a rather serious opening scene from a title I didn’t quite expect that from. Detective Daryl, alongside his partner Alan, find themselves in a tense stand-off with a trench-coat-wearing man. With the aid of a pistol, he begins making demands, using it as leverage to gain the duo’s cooperation, but that’s not all. You see, his other arm is tightly wrapped around the heroine’s neck, aptly named “The Princess”. Despite the man’s attempts however, Daryl doesn’t seem too perturbed, choosing to remain silent. Unfortunately, when all is said and done, both he and Alan are shot dead.

That’s right, a few minutes into the game and you’ve met your maker; welcome to Super Daryl Deluxe.

Developer: Dan & Gary Games

Publisher: Dan & Gary Games

Digital Only // $19.99US/$24.99CDN // 10+ Hours Played // Review Copy Provided by Dan & Gary Games

Despite the tension of the opening cut-scene, Super Daryl Deluxe is absolutely filled to the brim with tongue-in-cheek humor and dad jokes. For example; not long after the opening, you meet-up with Death high above a cliff. When you initiate a conversation, Daryl is warned that he should be careful when climbing down because the reaper doesn’t save lives. This is just one example of the excellent writing and humor you’ll see throughout the game. What I truly appreciate is that none of the dialogue reads like a script. Every character you meet has a distinctive personality and speech.

Now, I’m not afraid to admit that I very much adore nerd culture and my favorite genre is Role-Playing. So I was absolutely tickled to see that D&D plays an integral part to Super Daryl Deluxe. It’s because of this premise that Dan & Gary Games were able to excellently interweave the tutorial into character interactions. For instance, a female student explains the basic mechanics but disguises it as banter you’d usually hear at D&D sessions.

The final thing I’d like to mention about the writing is that, surprisingly to me, I genuinely felt awful at one point. What I initially had thought as a random occurrence was in fact part of a later quest. Perhaps I’m soft-hearted but the relatability and the way the words screamed with emotion tugged at my heart strings.

Dan and Gary Games have affectionally referred to Super Daryl Deluxe as a “RPGvania”. Personally, I understand this to mean that it’s a healthy serving of Metroidvania with Brawler cooked into its DNA and sprinkled with RPG elements. There are many quest giving NPC’s and merchants scattered around the school. You’ll also encounter unique enemies in the form of switchblade wielding mice or trumpet playing ghosts.

The levelling system is pretty standard fare if you’re accustomed to RPG’s. Essentially, you’re murdering enemies or completing quests to gather experience points. However, in Super Daryl Deluxe, you’re able to rank-up skills you purchase with skill points. This plays into the amount of EXP you can earn because that number is indicative of both. I found this to be a nice touch and it helped soften the blow when you had to backtrack. It made killing weaker enemies a worthwhile endeavour, opposed to a must skip.

I’ll just go ahead and say it, I really enjoyed my time with Super Daryl Deluxe. It’s a beautifully drawn, funny adventure that had me smiling throughout. I also got serious Napoleon Dynamite vibes from not only the setting, but the goofy characters. However, this game wasn’t without flaws and while they can be considered subjective, I feel I should mention it all the same.

The sound design in this game is very well polished and even the official theme song reminds me of an anime opening. That’s why it’s a shame that the volume of the Background Music (BGM) and sound effects (FX) seemed wonky. Be it handheld or on my TV, the BGM seemed to always be overtaken by FX. This can be remedied to an extent by toying with the options but it isn’t perfect. While my TV experience vastly improved, the issue on handheld remained. Even though the FX were lowered, the music didn’t seem to use the speakers, coming out dull sounding. When games like Bayonetta with excellent handheld sound exist, I’m wondering why this falls short.

Another small complaint is the lack of an auto-save feature. In this day and age where it’s available in almost every title, it’s easy to forget. I know I had to restart three times because I refused to enter a save point in favour of continuing. I forgot that auto-save wasn’t a feature or maybe it was my overconfidence. Regardless, my advice is to take advantage of the plentiful opportunities to save that the developers provide. Don’t be like me, learn from my mistakes.

Overall, Super Daryl Deluxe is a fun adventure with out of this world characters and crazy amounts of charm. I highly recommend this game if you’re on the hunt for that next great experience.

As always, if you’ve enjoyed this review, maybe check out our Warp Shift review, or perhaps look at our new Sling Ming review.