Dexter Stardust: Adventures in Outer Space (Switch)
While it is inevitable that any human settlement on planets beyond Earth would eventually diverge in their cultural identity from the countries that founded them, so too would they retain some of that early influence. In the far off future setting of Dexter Stardust: Adventures in Outer Space, rather than leaning on typical cultural inspirations for space-faring societies like the U.S. or a European nation, outer space is presented with a distinctly Latin American flair, trips to other worlds just as interesting for the present day societies they are related to as they are for their science fiction elements. And since this future is part of a comedic point-and-click adventure game, little absurdities like a taco shack in orbit of most every world end up a delightful touch and part of building up this space-faring story’s setting.
In the past of this futuristic setting mankind has discovered they aren’t alone in the solar system, a so-called Planet X containing a similarly human race known as the Vreesians. Soon after first contact is made though, the Vreesians unleash a weapon upon Earth that completely wipes out all life on it. These are certainly some dire stakes for a game that is mostly going to be leaning on jokes and silly situations more than serious interplanetary relations, but humanity had already expanded into colonizing nearby planets and moons so life continued on as people struggled to understand why the Vreesians launched such an attack in the first place. Despite having ties to the explorers who discovered the Vreesians though, Dexter Stardust seems content working his delivery job with his good friend Aurora, the pair more interested in their paychecks and picking up fast food than interplanetary politics. Soon though Dexter gets wrapped up in Vreesian affairs, the mystery of his importance and their intentions when contacting him giving the sillier antics of the salesman something more focused to latch onto and carry the plot forward. In fact, by having a serious threat hanging over the story and a measured distribution of important details about the Vreesians, the story manages to construct a plot worth paying attention to even if a lot more work is put into trying to make exploring the planets you visit amusing.
Dexter Stardust: Adventures in Outer Space takes place across five episodes although they are numbered zero to four since episode zero is meant more to acclimate you to the inventory puzzles and central conceits of the setting. In a nice touch each episode has meters indicating how story heavy they are, how focused they are on puzzles, and their overall length so you have some small idea of what you’re getting into. Every character in Dexter Stardust’s adventure is voiced, and with the cultural influences of a few Central American countries layered over the experience there are moments character speak in untranslated languages. Even with a limited or minimal understanding of the Spanish expressions that pop up commonly though the game makes sure important details and interactions are either subtitled or spoken in English so the small sprinkling of other tongues doesn’t hurt the experience at all and actually helps to build up the cultural identity of places you visit even better. When you land on a new planet you’ll often find they are terraformed and thus not too alien, but by having a place like the moon Ganymede have a clear Haitian influence on top of its own new form of governance, visiting a new planet comes with the enjoyment of seeing how a culture has fashioned a space colony into something resembling their past but evolving it to match this science fiction future. The culture can even prove to be important to interactions like when you need to properly recite real Haitian proverbs, although much of the game does focus more on using objects you find to solve puzzles still.
The voice acting in Dexter Stardust: Adventures in Outer Space isn’t always spot on though, a few characters having less natural performances behind their words. Unfortunately one of those characters is Aurora, her voice actress feeling like she’s reading her lines off a script rather than embodying the role, and while Aurora can still have some decent story moments as perhaps the second most present character in the plot, the stiff delivery does weaken those moments. Similarly detrimental but not to too great of a degree is the comedy sometimes leaning back on the same punchlines. There are some genuinely funny moments including ones that emerge from a growing understanding of the small but interesting characters caught in Dexter’s sphere of influence, and a few character concepts like a man who makes sure to reply in only a single syllable statement or a guy who’s a pro at talking in his sleep are done quite well. Other times though the game leans back pretty hard on Dexter always talking about wanting to go get tacos, and while the abundance of that joke can lead to a few effective moments it also means at other moments you’re more likely to roll your eyes at the same line being trotted out at a weak attempt to earn a laugh. Some interesting physical comedy crops up and it’s not like the game as a whole lacks idea for some joke variation though, the generally amusing writing keeping the overall adventure lighthearted between the moments the serious mystery evolves or you get a chance to learn about the culture of a space colony.
When you are in control of Dexter, a lot of your focus will be on figuring out how to use items to open up the way onward or speaking with certain characters properly to make progress. On the Nintendo Switch the A, B, X, and Y button all form a useful interaction diamond where pressing one will interact with whatever is underneath your cursor in the associated way such as picking it up or talking to it. Other buttons like the shoulder ones are used for things like opening the inventory to select items for use, although the minus button contains another interesting touch where most areas in Dexter Stardust: Adventures in Outer Space have a short audio clip of the game director providing commentary. Little insights into the game’s development or inspirations can make entering a new area with interesting sights even richer, although perhaps stopping to hear every single one might be a bit disruptive to the game’s pacing. There is almost no hint system in place (save for a ukulele wall with small tips in Episode 3) although rarely do any puzzles require absurd jumps of logic and character dialogue will often highlight actions or items of importance in a different color to indicate they are important. Pressing a button will indicate areas you can interact with in a room at least and sometimes Dexter will just outright say out loud that he knows how to use an item once he grabs it. The enjoyment of the puzzles is usually connecting the pieces mentally as you learn what must be done and how to do it, but usually when Dexter does pipe up about how to use a new tool you probably already knew how it would help or the observation is a smaller nudge in the right direction. Little tips like acknowledging an item found in one episode won’t be useful until a later one are certainly appreciated, the presence of such things maintaining continuity but not leading to moments of confusion where the variables in play could have too many distractions.
When it comes to the inventory puzzles in Dexter Stardust: Adventures in Outer Space, their complexity and inventiveness varies from episode to episode. Some are conceptually interesting like needing to put together the pieces to 3D print a blaster in Episode 0 while others like trying to get a meeting with Ganymede’s viceroy or circumventing your Uncle Jedo’s attempts to keep you away from space-faring adventures involve more complex interactions chains as you need to collect a variety of items and interact with locals to proceed. Episode 3 in particular stands out for its intricate interconnected tasks as you try to get off Mars, a wide open area filled with little interactions that play into each other making for some of the game’s most interesting and deep puzzle solving challenges. Gradually making a note of everything available and then starting to make the logical connections needed to make progress is a satisfying process, especially when the right thing clicks into place and a cascade of solutions can suddenly be executed based on all the legwork you’ve put in learning your surroundings and gathering objects of potential use. Some would certainly sound like leaps of logic absent of context like using a skull to carry hot sauce at one point but usually the situation and your range of available actions will ensure that even the stranger actions don’t feel out of place. In fact sometimes the solutions can feel rather easy to intuit or simply involve exhausting all conversational options until you get the desired outcome, but usually if one area of the adventure is simple like the comedy or interactivity, it’s because another element like the plot or puzzle design is doing a good job of carrying the moment instead. The adventure does end in a cliffhanger unfortunately, but the main points of the five episode arc are at least addressed and the cliffhanger is more the establishment of new stakes rather than denying you the answers to the prevailing mysteries of the story.
THE VERDICT: Dexter Stardust: Adventures in Outer Space is a silly sci-fi adventure with a Central American flavor and effective stakes that don’t bog down the more relaxed and comedic moments. Not all the voice acting is up to par and there is a bit of a preoccupation with taco jokes but the game usually does a good job of juggling attention towards the characters, inventory puzzles, and creating cultures in its space setting that enhance how you interact with it. It can lean towards the easy side outside of specifically complex moments like Episode 3’s puzzle heavy design but it keeps up an entertaining energy to ensure the adventure is enjoyable and still providing something for your mind to latch onto.
And so, I give Dexter Stardust: Adventures in Outer Space for Nintendo Switch…
A GOOD rating. Things do get off to a bit of a tenuous start when the game seems to lean on food jokes and self-aware point-and-click quips in Episode 0, but once the stakes for the adventure and the history of the space setting starting adding more layers to the narrative then Dexter Stardust: Adventures in Outer Space has shown its greater strength. Certain elements of the package will know when to step aside when it wants to give more focus to something, be it the puzzle design, establishment of characters and places, comedic moments, or the developing mystery. The final episode may be light on puzzles but it cranks up things like the presence of the narrative and a look at an interesting location to compensate, but even when it’s focusing more on providing item use puzzles it’s not disconnected from the things you’ve come to understand about the game’s world and characters. It could have certainly benefited from more moments focusing on puzzling out complicated interactions and some polish in regards to things like vocal performances would strengthen other moments, but the overall adventure does end up working because it applies its attention to the proper areas and ensures that they’re enjoyable when they’re in the spotlight.
It is a bit of a shame this five episode adventure didn’t have the time to visit more worlds with their own silly situations and similarities to existing Earth cultures, but the careful application of focus is also what keeps Dexter Stardust: Adventures in Outer Space on a smart path. It doesn’t get overindulgent nor does it mire itself in pointless diversions, the game whipping out deeper puzzle solving when it has substantial challenges for them and turning the attention to interactions and narrative development when those have something to say or advance. Execution isn’t always its forte but a clear degree of thought was put into its design and you can even hear some of those thoughts in an accessible and intriguing director’s commentary. Its ideas aren’t always novel, but by combining them the way it did, Dexter Stardust’s adventures through space still remain interesting up to the end.