Dropsy hits Kickstarter and my nightmares

I got an email the other day about Dropsy, a point-and-click adventure game featuring a “loveable” and “huggable” clown. At first I thought it was a title far from what we’d cover due to its description – something cute, filled with positivity, rainbows, and love. But then I checked out what Dropsy truly was by giving the Kickstarter page a look, and it was terrifying (but still filled with those happy things).

Stylistically, Dropsy is filled with surreal imagery that borderlines on disturbing. The pixel art is quite nice and shows off a lot of visual variety from this open-world adventure game that’s influenced by point-and-click games of the past. Even featuring a creepy dreamworld of sorts, Dropsy contrasts gameplay that promotes kindness and love with a wonderfully disconcerting art style.

Despite his disfigured and unsettling appearance, Dropsy the clown is the good guy of this adventure game; he’s a kind soul that loves to hug everyone. After some unfortunate events left Dropsy and his father impoverished and no longer the popular entertainers they once were, the family was left to scrounge for scraps and do odd jobs to keep themselves afloat. Dropsy and his doggy Eughh (whom I presume was named by the vocally challenged Dropsy) explore the land around their once-proud carnival attraction to solve puzzles, speak to a variety of characters, and potentially discover secrets about Dropsy’s troubling past.

Originally conceived as a choose your own adventure game in 2008, Jay Tholen’s Dropsy will be coming to Mac, PC, and Linux next October. The game has already met its $14,000 goal and then some on Kickstarter, with additional animation, voice work, and development as stretchgoals.

As creepy as Dropsy looks, I can’t wait to get my hands on it and give the big clown a hug.

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