DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue Reviews

Overall positive reviews of DeathSpank expansion/sequel Thongs of Virtue continue to stream in, with an overall lack of changes/improvement from the original the biggest general complaint. Kotaku no score.

Surely they changed some things worth mentioning? Your co-op buddy can play as a guy named Steve who rides a unicorn and shoots throwing stars. Steve’s cool based on his name alone, but he’s merely a drop-in/drop-out buddy, as was the returning other co-op option, Sparkles the Wizard. More interesting is the addition of guns. Flamethrowers, machine guns and bazookas, once you master using them, make boss battles easy and combat a more varied mix. Bummer about DeathSpank being so vulnerable to his own grenades, though.

Game Zone 9/10.

The same wit and characteristic dialogue is back as well, with DeathSpank still unable to say no to any one in need of help. Even though this game is packed with just as many hours of gameplay as the first one, and seems to be everything we wanted out of such a quick sequel, I still can’t help but be disappointed in the unchanged inventory system that is as horrid as ever. I don’t mind only being able to carry a certain amount and I even overlook what a pain it is to compare weapons and armor to what I have equipped. But I can not ignore what a pain it is to move around in the inventory screen and the stupidity of having to pick up, then drag objects I no longer want onto the grinder. Why can’t I just select it and hit a trash button? It would make things so much simpler.

Digital Chumps 7.8/10.

More disappointing are the sections that either replicate or mirror the original experience. You’ll still need to blow a whistle to summon a Greem Queen, use the Thongolith to conduct some research, kill invulnerable undead things with a specific weapon, and go collect crystals in caves for the spelunker. Worse, the “new” mechanics are largely reskinned versions of the old ones. Guns and firearms play a much more prominent role in Thongs of Virtue, but mechanically they feel the same as the previous projectile item, crossbows. Special guns with limited ammo seem to be clones of the special arrows from before, and the runestones are, well, still runestones. Even the legitimate problems of the original, such as the awkward block mechanic, the cumbersome inventory, or the annoying healing system remain unaddressed.

Game Focus 7.6/10.

Essentially everything that was in the first DeathSpank is also in Thongs of Virtue. From its hack and slash combat to the plethora of different and out-of-the-ordinary quests that people will task you with, there is a lot happening in his world. The only difference this time around is that there are more of both. The new world that you explore is significantly larger than the first which means new environments to discover and foes for you to do battle with. On top of new baddies, your weapons have also seen some nice changes. This time, the flavor is ammo based weaponry. While the first game essentially only had one type of ranged weapon – the bow and arrow – here the ranged weapons vary from a standard pistol to submachine guns, bazookas and even an alien blast-ray, just to name a few. The new weapons add more variety in combat as even your foes have access to the same ones.