Adios Review: A Story of Turmoil

To me, Adios is all about internal and external turmoil. Internal being the struggle you, the main character, endure by choosing to assist the mob. External being the juxtaposition between the gameplay and the narrative. While the narrative turmoil is its driving force, the turmoil created between that very narrative and the mechanics is anything but positive. Adios is a superb heartbreaking story about a pig farmer, wrapped in a product that feels unfinished.

Presentation

Immediately upon dropping into Adios, I was uncertain if I was actually playing. You start by sitting on a porch swing swinging back and forth, unable to do anything but look left to right. After many minutes and attempts to move, or hit absolutely any button at all, I thought the game wasn’t functioning properly. I was eventually able to move by using the directional analog stick, something I tried many times before. This feeling of confusion never left my play time. Dropping in this way was meant to be a tone setter, but it ended up being a tone setter for the game mechanically rather than narratively.

Adios features a more than serviceable simplistic art style. However, like most other things Adios offers, it feels half baked. For instance, you sit down for breakfast with your would-be killer only to find that your breakfast is just a plump yellow blob. Throughout this meal you discuss various life and mob related things, but end the meal by saying you are full. All the while, you both never once move and the food remains on your plate in the exact same state as before. The game will mechanically take you out of the experience often, so doing so in the presentation really hurts the quality of this specific scene. 

Speaking of scenes, the game plays out that way. You enter each scene by visiting specific locations on your farm. At first, walking around your farm from one scene to the next seemed like a means to an end, but I found myself liking that approach more and more. While the presentation on this farm needed more work, work was definitely put in as even background locales are talked about within the narrative on more than one occasion.

Gameplay

As I mentioned briefly above, there is no real introduction to starting or how to play. This tone setter works for the narrative, but not the gameplay. I had to guess on inputs as well as how to progress scenes until I found a journal that is never introduced to you. There’s simply way too much guesswork to progress, but more importantly, even play at all. When you do have the controls under wraps, they can be very late making it even harder to understand if you are doing what’s asked of you.

Adios is practically all dialogue. You do complete some actions, but it’s always a mundane task that asks you to simply press a button to grab and another to let go. I can say, however, that even though you walk around your farm doing things like fishing, playing horseshoes, cooking a meal, repairing a vehicle or vending machine, milking goats, or even shoveling poo, I was completely intrigued with where the conversation was going, so these tasks never felt overbearingly dull.

Before I was able to become overly bored with the monotony of the gameplay, the game introduces a subtle twist. Dialogue options disappear as you choose from the options provided. These options would drop out of the available choices as if the narrative was forcing me to tell a certain story. I find out later that this happens more and acts as background thoughts of our pig farmer, rather the things he would want to say but cannot for many reasons. This subtle addition acted as a perfect change of pace for me as the player. I felt more and more intrigued in the narrative and seeing it through from this point on.

Story (Spoiler-Free)

The narrative of Adios is absolutely it’s saving grace. While the game’s presentation and gameplay feel unfinished, the story feels thought out and expressed with love and care. It’s a tale of regret, heartbreak, sacrifice, and acceptance. A tale that takes place entirely on an old farm doing mundane tasks with your friend and would-be killer. I mention above that turmoil plays a key part in this game’s faults, but when used narratively in the internal struggles of our pig farmer, it absolutely compels the player. You simply want out, but your friend does everything he can to convince you otherwise because there is no out. I don’t usually like to mention a game’s ending at all, but I think it is worth mentioning that while the ending was both expected and anticlimactic, it did truly feel like the correct ending for this narrative.

Breakdown

Game: Adios

Developer: Mischief

Availability: XSX, XBO, PC

Reviewed on Xbox Series S

Runtime: Approx. 2-3 hours

Pros:

+ Compelling Narrative

Cons:

- Contradictory Gameplay

- Feels Unfinished

- Too Much guesswork

Final Thoughts

While I really like the heartbreaking story Adios tells, I cannot get past the game's flaws in presentation, mechanics, and an overall feeling of being unfinished. Adios feels like the main course if it was slightly undercooked and lacked any real side dishes. Its flaws aside, the narrative is absolutely worth telling and very well written, just not wholly executed upon with its surrounding cast. Overall, Adios is unfortunately defined by unrealized potential.

Review Written by Austin Ernst