Despelote (XS)
Reviewer’s Note: Due to certain story praises/critiques, it’s virtually impossible to avoid SPOILERS. Speaking from experience, you’ll find an extra bit of magic if you go into this game as ignorant as possible. Read on at your own risk.
Although the Collins Spanish Dictionary includes some less-popular meanings, ‘despelote’ usually means a fracas â a situation that’s chaotic or messy. That aptly describes JuliĂĄn Cordero & SebastiĂĄn Valbuena’s freshmen title in many ways. As a collage of 2001 Quito, Ecuador, it’s a selection of photographs transplanted onto a 3D map with simplistic paper cut-outs of characters, animals, and specific objects. As an interactive experience about this time, it takes turns acting as a quasi-sports documentary about this region’s hopes of making The World Cup, a semi-autobiographical slice-of-life experience, and a surprisingly effective analysis of the creative process itself. A thematic hat trick, if you will. But through it all, in spite of what its name suggests, Despelote maintains a coherent vision.
Before exploring part of the Ecuadorian capital in the standardized walking sim template, eight-year old JuliĂĄn is slowly introduced through his favorite game: Tino Tini’s Soccer 99′. Think monochromatic version of Kick-Off, for one of those bootleg consoles found at a flea market: top-down perspective on a soccer field where kicking is done with the right stick; flicking the stick forward is like a standard pass, while winding your leg back will boot the ball with full force. This arcane control scheme also acts as a subtle tutorial for how JuliĂĄn interfaces with soccer balls â or loose glass bottles if he’s desperate â in his 3D world.Â
No one can really blame him or other kids for their excitement when Futbol Fever is in the air. In the real world, following their win against Peru, the 2001 Ecuador national team was only five points away from its first ever World Cup entry. With only four qualifying matches left to reach that goal (one point for a tie, three for a win), the collective nation desperately yearned for a spot in Korea/Japan. Anyone even remotely familiar with South America knows how the game is practically a religion â a necessary salve to keep the people uplifted during harsh times. Hell, the local newspaper vendor always opens with national soccer news before pressing political matters; moreover, one historical detail that’s highlighted here is the attempted assassination of Ecuadorian manager Hernan Dario Gomez, for dropping the president’s son from the youth team.
Given the spread of each soccer match, Despelote’s episodic story structure is a natural fit. Each timeline jump begins with control taken away for Cordero’s narration to fill in important gaps before transporting to fictional JuliĂĄn. Whether initially sequestered at his school, home, or elsewhere, the routine is rather simple: the reins are taken off for you to explore the few blocks around his home, but you’re expected to be back somewhere by a certain time. A quick look down will make JuliĂĄn show his digital watch. An early chapter perfectly captures that age-old trope: an aunt telling you to stay sitting on a park bench for two hours while she runs errands. Naturally, you’re lured to get into trouble with friends, listen to a nearby performance, or watch the game with other bystanders from the TV shop’s window. So long as your butt is on that bench by 6:30, you get to pretend you followed instructions.
Playing by the rules isn’t your only option though, and it’s less fun overall. There’s a small layer of emergent design baked into its informal mission structure. Another chapter where you’re formally dressed for a wedding is practically begging you to ruin your hair and clothes. Even though your neighborhood friends recognize you’re dressed to the nines (all of them teasing about this being for a date), what kind of kid would ignore the chance to play with puddles during a surprise rainstorm? That’s the fun interactive catch here. Sure, this template is still a mechanically-light walking/running sim, but the way loose time limits and ancillary mechanics can be tested adds that tangible layer of interactivity.
It’s also more about the context than the depth. Sure, Tino Tini’s Soccer feels more antiquated and simplistic than a modern FIFA game, but you understand its utility as the camera slowly pans away from the TV screen and your family comes into focus, interrupting your attention in a way that’ll feel familiar to older gamers growing up with one TV. Again, drawing or writing something on paper with a controller doesn’t feel smooth, yet there’s something to the act when it’s circling answers on a pop quiz or playing with JuliĂĄn’s sister. Whether more interactive or cinematic by nature, Despelote always seems to have one extra flourish in its hand.
Even if not everyone’s cup of tea, said flourishes would likely not resonate as well were it not for its unique visual design. It’s reminiscent of Return of the Obra Dinn’s stranger visual options: various interior/exterior photos of what’s supposedly 2001 Quito were scanned and wrapped on top of 3D environments and then layered with a dichromatic dithering effect. Alongside Valbuena’s soundtrack and ambient sound design, it captures a type of… pixel-art documentary aspect that’s used to great effect.  And given the context of it being quasi-autobiographical, the paper texture for characters and certain objects feels purposive â rather than incongruous â to its themes. The only time Despelote unfortunately lives up to its name is when multiple character interactions can occur simultaneously; sometimes that may even be the point, but splashing the screen with so many English subtitle bubbles from Spanish voices gets overwhelming.
Admittedly, this adventure does get into that thorny territory of dollar-per-hour value. A little over two hours for $15 retail isn’t the best deal; in fact, the nuanced art style, episodic storytelling, and inspiration made me immediately recall Venba. But whereas its higher price point ($25) stung more, Despelote also makes a better case by avoiding precarious pitfalls.  For one, it has a more concrete case for replay value â although still limited â in exploring things missed the first time. A more subjective defense can also be made for how its economic storytelling is able to say more through its vignettes.
By the time the credits roll, Despelote leaves an indelible mark about a historical moment for this proud country. Granted, it’s still fair to see the game proper as limited in depth and breadth. But it’s in the ways Cordero & Valbuena mold their world â cinematically, & interactively â that make it feel more momentous. Like the national Ecuador team at its center, it’s a scrappy, fresh face that earns the spotlight. How far does it go in the Narrative Adventure World Cup? Hard to say. But it certainly reaches the qualifiers.
Contractor by trade and writer by hobby, Lee’s obnoxious criticisms have found a way to be featured across several gaming sites: N4G, VGChartz, Gaming Nexus, DarkStation, and TechRaptor! He started gaming in the mid-90s and has had the privilege in playing many games across a plethora of platforms. Reader warning: each click given to his articles only helps to inflate his Texas-sized ego. Proceed with caution.
