History Videogame / Deponia

*** The entire Porta Fisco chapter can prove to be challenging to figure out on your own. It has to be solved by using multiple characters (Rufus and [[spoiler:his two clones]]) that are restrained to three distinct areas and have unique inventories. The already expected Moon Logic puzzles become even harder to figure out, because the game doesn't makes it obvious enough that the trio can exchange items between each other[[note]]Every location has a place with a window or a grate. If two characters will be standing in areas connected like that, they can exchange items between each other[[/note]].

*** The tradition continues with 12 collectible hats. Again, no middle-mouse guide and they're well-hidden.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Rufus has done terrible things to reach Elysium, from drugging his girlfriend to plugging up the local radio lines. But even ''he'' thinks it's horrible to just wipe out the Deponians who are his neighbors just bceause they're in the way. Finding out from Cletus that Deponia will blow up is what starts his CharacterDevelopment.

* BigDamnVillains: [[spoiler: Cletus, after seeming to have fallen to his demise in the final part of ''Goodbye Deponia'', turns out to be okay, and tries to stop Argus after he reveals his intentions to carry out the invasion of Elysium and almost kills Rufus.]]

* InherentlyFunnyWords: "Drogglejug!"

* NotSoDifferent: Rufus gets this a lot from or in reference to [[EvilTwin Cletus]]. It's especially prominent in ''Chaos on Deponia'', in which Goal's deciding between Cletus and Rufus stretches over the whole game.

** [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in the fourth game. Rufus runs into a "love-meter" blocking his progress that requires a photograph of himself and Goal to show they are deeply in love with each other. Naturally, Rufus sets about concocting a scheme involving taking a picture with a fake Goal, only to be intercepted at the very end by [[TheStraightMan Goal herself]] saying she'd [[CuttingTheKnot convinced]] the GateGuardian to let them pass and reacting with appalled surprise by what he'd cooked up. At the beginning of the next chapter, it's revealed that [[spoiler:she had pulled off ''the exact same scheme'' with roles flipped while Rufus was gathering materials for his own. She [[NotSoDifferent gives Rufus a smile]] as he finds out about it.]]

* DummiedOut: The ''Complete Story'' version on Steam has the Droggeljug mode and its associated achievement rendered inaccessible despite still being present in the game's files.

** Also in the hotel of "Goodbye Deponia", Rufus can crawl into a closet and cry behind the closed door about his fears to fail saving Deponia from doom. Aftwerwards, he comes out and tells himself with greatest confidence: "I'm the best!" - thereby very much mirroring the behaviour of J. D. in an early episode of [[Series/Scrubs]].

** Ronnie is a cloyingly cheerful AI whose avatar is [[{{Undertale}} a flower with a smiley face]]. Over the course of the game (with thanks to [[PersonOfMassDestruction Rufus's interference]]), he goes off the rails and becomes murderously sadistic and evil, completing the shout-out.

* GoodAdulteryBadAdultery: Rufus is portrayed with relative sympathy towards his pursuit of Goal, even though she's engaged to Cletus, and Cletus at least considers it a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage despite him being a jerk. Rufus to his credit won't lie to her about being Cletus when [[spoiler:impersonating him several times]], but Goal does kiss him several times in Game two. Part of it is that Cletus loves Goal but doesn't respect her; he thinks he can control her. Also, he doesn't know about the kisses.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: You get a Steam achievement for blowing the dust off the sign in the escape pod at the start of ''Chaos on Deponia'' enough times. The achievement is called "Blow job" and the description is "Actually, that would have been Toni's job..."

* RuleOfThree: A RecurringMotif. Three Goal personalities. Three [[spoiler:Organon Prototypes]]. Three Rufus Clones. And so on. This being obfuscated in ''Deponia Doomsday'' is a major plot point as it's revealed that there are [[spoiler:three time loops intertwined with one another and causing all the chaos, and three different Goals involved with the same (a young Goal before she went to Deponia, a Future Goal who failed to travel back in time to save Rufus and lived to an old age in Paradox City, and a Future Goal who did manage to make it to Rufus' fall.]]

* {{Sequelitis}}: ''Deponia Doomsday'' is a stylistically metaphorical deconstruction of needless sequels and reboots vis-a-vis time loops, showing how endings aren't necessarily bad things, as they give the lead-up to them weight and meaning, whereas contrived conflicts and repetitive narratives can rob them of the same.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Apart from some snippy remarks that Toni directs at Goal or about her, the two women don't interact onscreen about how they are or were in love with Rufus. Toni's annoyance is understandable considering that Goal's presence caused the Organon to invade Kuvaq, but Goal, as she points out in the director's commentary, was unconscious for most of it. Game four provides a prime opportunity after [[spoiler:Elysium falls on Deponia, and Goal strives to move forward from Rufus's death, but Toni only appears in the first part of the game before the time travel shenanigans start]].

* BewareTheNicesOnes: [[spoiler:In game two, Lady Goal in Donna's body shoots Donna's henchmen who took her hostage]].

** [[TrilogyCreep Fourth game]]: [[spoiler: Goal is convinced by Time-Traveller!Rufus to stop trying to rescue Original!Rufus in order to prevent a time loop and TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, with [[HeroicSacrifice both Rufuses dying in the process]]; Elysium eventually crashes, Goal lets go of the past and [[RidingIntoTheSunset walks towards a new life on Deponia]].]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In the penultimate act of ''Goodbye Deponia'', [[spoiler:most, if not all, of the Porto Fisco survivors are stuffed into the tank and shot at the highboat bound for Elysium.]] Some are missing: [[spoiler:Janosch, Cowboy Dodo, Cyndi, Hotti, and Cutis, who are presumably still locked inside the Organon headquarters and won't be rescued since no one knows they're there.]] There's also [[spoiler: Donna, who disappears once Seagull shoots Rufus.]] It's also not revealed what becomes of [[spoiler: Argus, and the 11,000-strong Organon army that's still aboard the highboat even if he died.]]

* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler: In the first game, Rufus obtains the codes and saves Deponia for the time being, but has lost the trust of Goal, which makes her return to Elysium with Cletus. In ''Goodbye Deponia'', Rufus must make a HeroicSacrifice to save Goal, having her escape to Elysium with Cletus, who has taken Rufus's identity. Whether Goal fully knows if the Rufus she is with is really Cletus or not is left to the players speculation.]] [[spoiler:The fourth game makes matters more complicated: Goal is revealed to know the truth, the original Rufus cannot be saved no matter how hard she tries and she eventually gets over her loss, but a second Rufus and Goal from an AlternateTimeline end up being stuck together in the Deponian age of the dinosaurs.]]