Second Opinion - The Beginning of the End (DLC)

To conclude discussion of the story-driven DLC for Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3, I will be discussing The Beginning of the End, a sort of prequel to the main story. While this post will end up a bit short, I still want to discuss my opinion on this, as it presents something rather interesting.

The main purpose of this bit of DLC is to explain exactly what happened to you after the events of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episodes One and Two. At the Startling Developments Detective Agency, Gabe is feeling a bit jumpy, so Tycho takes him to Desperation Street to help take care of something for him. When they see You at your once again ruined home, Tycho stuffs You into a sack and ties it up, leaving eye holes for You to be able to cooperate (this solves the issue of You being customizable in earlier episodes). The humorous events that follow confront Gabe and Tycho's roles and do an interesting job of explaining what happened to You and why it wasn't brought up much in Episode 3. While the revelation is a little strange, it does at least acknowledge what it needed to (but still no answer to what was in Dr. Stripe's safe deposit box).

Combat is a little faster paced this time around, if only due to the overall length. There are no class pins in sight, justified by when this takes place, so as a result, each ally only has one class and strategy is more focused and linear as a result. You, for instance, are a Gardenar and have more rake-based attacks. Also, potions are the only items, but they hardly got used in the end. I was still satisfied and the enemies were still able to provide a good source of entertainment in their descriptions. The music is also still good and the environments are well-designed with some interesting exposition about them.

While The Beginning of the End may only last about 90 minutes, it's still an essential part of the experience that Rain-Slick 3 owners should definitely not miss out on. The combat is simple, but it still retains the edge that made the parent game so great to play. If you have Rain-Slick 3, play it. If you don't, the $5 to get it, and the $0 to play this, are very well worth the time and money. Now to see how Rain-Slick 4 ends up when it releases this Friday.