Duke Grabowski: Mighty Swashbuckler (PC) Review

Duke Grabowski, Mighty Swashbuckler is an interesting title.  Being a point and click adventure game as a spin off from Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island created by ex-LucasArts staff, it all sounds great, like it should make for a legendary point and click adventure title.  It is as it turns out though, much more of a bit of fun than legendary.

Duke Grabowski is a pirate who recently lost his captain.  As the ship decides who is going to take the helm as captain, Duke throws his sword in to the mix.  With his less than intelligent brain the ship decides to send Duke off to prove his worthiness where he must be a real swashbuckler by wooing three women.  The adventure then follows Duke attempting to woo three women in on the island that the ship is docked at, through many obscure means.

Dukes character is very dumb and speaks in incoherent sentences, which is very much intentional.  Sometimes it comes off as a charming oaf, other times it is lain a tad thick and cringeworthily, which to be honest sums up the tone of the game.  Many jokes made me chuckle out loud and some landed flat, but on the whole it felt relaxed as well as fun and it is really important that it landed that way.  Other characters are for the most part good and thanks to some good writing, engaging.  Other people tend not to take advantage of Dukes dumbness but embraced it which made for a sincere story.

The art design is very cartoony which is at its best with the completely out of whack proportions, most notably with buckles which widen meaning they are completely impractical, but very much in a similar style to Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island.  The only thing that threw me off aesthetically was regularly talking characters did not look like they were close to looking at each other and with Duke, his resting face has his mouth open in a strange and creepy way.  That is nit-picking a bit but something about the permanent mouth breathing threw me off.  The voice acting is a bit of a mixed bag with some being great and some being painfully average, but the music on the other hand throughout the game was great.

It is also not a long game, being about two to three hours if you take your time.  This is not necessarily a bad thing as it is supposed to be the first episode, but it also does a decent job of being a self-contained story.  It very much starts and ends with a good enough resolution, so while the story is not begging me to come back, I will certainly be eager to return with episode two.

One of the important factors in a point and click adventure is its puzzles.  Some go the hard route which appeals to some and some go the easy route which appeals to others.  Duke Grabowski, Mighty Swashbuckler very much goes down the easier route meaning it appeals to casuals of the genre like myself more.

All in all, Duke Grabowski, Mighty Swashbuckler is not going to blow minds or likely will not win a sleuth of awards, but it entertains in the way it sets out to.  While it may not appeal to people looking for a point and click obscurity challenge, it certainly should for a more casual fan who wants something relaxing and silly to play, to get a few good chuckles, a few good cringes and some at the same time.