I cautiously recommend this, cautiously only because it's not a game for everyone; if you're in the right audience though, it's a hilarious and fun, although short ride of an adventure game. It's a game about wierdos, for wierdos, presumably made by wierdos.

Although there are multiple endings (which seem to be determined only by the final choice), the game itself is pretty short. A single play-through takes about an hour. The game mechanics are simple but completely workable: you click on items on the screen to get dialogue or action options, or add things to your inventory. Most of the interactions are in the form of (frequently sung) dialogue, although there is some light puzzling, but it's mostly in the form of bouncing between locations as you open further dialogue options.

The story is cute and cleverly written. It's also pretty socially consious, but not annoyingly so. For the right audience, there are many clever bon mots and allusions peppered throughout the dialogue. The singing is horrible and off-key... but that's part of the charm. The story revolves around economic depression and autotuning in the music industry. It also playfully touches on gender identity in a way that makes me wish the game had been a bit longer and that had somehow been more of a story point.

The graphics... well, I think it's self-evident from the screenshots above. The models and animation are exceedingly simplistic, but they're charming in a Gumby kind-of way. I think the graphics work well in light of the humorous tone of the game, but your mileage may vary.

All in all I enjoyed the game, and hope this is not the last we see of Dominique Pamplemousse. If you like quirky, cleverly written off-beat games, give this one a shot, especially if it's on sale. But if you find out-of-key singing and simplisticly built and animated clay models to be grating, spend your money and time elsewhere.

TL;DR It's an acquired taste.



Are you one of those people who think quaint is adorable and nurse a private curiosity for all the quirks in this world like it’s a badge of honour? Well, then! This may be the game for you. But then again it may not be, as I'm one of those people and yet I still failed to enjoy this game.

If you received Dominique Pamplemousse: It's All Over When the Fat Lady Sings for free or in a random bundle, there isn't too much harm in trying it out. If that's not the case and for some crazy reason you're thinking of buying it, I desperately urge you to reconsider because I don't know what I've been doing for two hours listening to the horrendous singing in this point and click detective story.

I got my copy like a lot of others, through my Humble Bundle purchase. The content is exactly what you see in the game trailer above where you get to click on things and listen to the characters talk/give clues into the case you're on while you, as the player are immobilised while characters sing their hearts out with a monotonous atmosphere.

I played this for an hour on my own but then I closed it but when I tried to play it again the next day. It had failed to keep my progress so I spent the remainder of my time using a walkthrough to push through. I like to try and finish games but this one was more like, 'Come too far to turn back at this point...' I'd got stuck anyway as I hadn't thought to look under Devon's bed and was running around in circles. If you stick to reading/exhausting everything then you won't get stumped as easily as there is literally nothing that you can do wrong in this game to change an outcome. There is a choice at the very end but even that has little merit to game play so meh. This is still a preference of mine for point and click mystery titles as it keeps the experience pleasant (if a little boring) and away from unwarranted stress. I don't actually play this genre after becoming overly frustrated whilst playing Sam & Max Hit the Road as a little girl (even though it's now a classic).

My admiration for stop motion animated work like the world famous, Wallace and Gromit series as well as full length features such as The Boxtrolls is on constant overflow. But with Pamplemousse it is akin to watching a tragic and horrific instalment of musical theatre and not being able to up and leave because you're lodged smack in the centre of a hot, stuffy hall along with all the other people who also are not enjoying themselves but ended up stuck there. I can only imagine how hard the creator worked to make this so I'm appalled at myself for having to leave such a negative review but as a game this feels more like those demo CDs you used to get for free in the 90s after buying some other popular game.

What's great is that you can multitask while in game, though. It opened in my Adobe Flash Player and so I could keep it running and minimise it while checking my email or I could keep focused on the story while eating dinner. You can also click to fast-forward/skip the talking in between though you have to put up with all the singing.

The story is all right and the characters are likeable. It was fantastic to see a genderqueer protagonist and also watch how the other characters started flailing at whether Dominique was "a girl or boy". It has light humour but you'll have to lower your expectations more and also find a way to get past the horrendous singing. I actually could take it no longer (though the voice acting was solid) and watched/played it like a black and white silent film by taking out my earphones and reading the subtitles for half of the game.

Though it is all right to play yourself if you're set on doing so and have the time as well as patience (the singing... it burns!!), the Dominique Pamplemousse guide by Burger is a good way to breeze through it in half an hour if you'd prefer.

Unfortunately, I dislike this game the most out of all the Steam games I've played so far. :( It's cute but I will not touch this game(?) ever again.

It's hard to give this game a solid recommendation. It's an alright dialogue-driven adventure game where some of the dialogue is sung, like a musical. However, most of the singing is pretty bad and off-key. This might be a reference to how autotuned mainstream music is nowadays, a topic that the game touches upon. Intentional or not, it did make my ears bleed a bit. The clay models used to depict the characters are hideous and the stop-motion only has a few frames so it never really feels authentic. The story is nothing to write home about, a short slice-of-life about gender equality and a bad economy (and autotuned pop music). Game is quite short too. Took me less than an hour and a half (that's less time than what is required to get the steam trading cards for the game).

Awesome little adventure game if you enjoy its odd musical delivery of its story. It's a love or hate it affair but at this price (still on sale on a humble bundle as of today) it's worth taking a shot on a game that dares to deliver it's content in a unconventional way.

I can't in good conscience consider this a good game I can recommend, but it was interesting watching it fail at what it's trying to do, and at least it's an original concept.

The only way I can describe it is as a stop motion musical in a point & click framework. It mostly fails at all these three things, mainly by looking, sounding and playing as the work of an amateur. The art style is distinct, but the stop motion isn't all that good. Still, it's charming. The music and highschool-musical-theater singing are also kinda charming, at least once you realize that the singing is off key and rather bad "on purpose", but you still can't call them good. The point & click elements are barely there, with no real choices and no real puzzles, just serving to move you forward in the story.

I think what really tipped this over to no for me was the story. It's very much on the nose. It's got some points to make, and instead of building them organically into its storytelling, it just repeats them over and over. We are never really allowed to empathize with the characters: Instead of watching them deal with the world and its problems we are being told what their problems are and are expected to feel something from that. Good storytelling doesn't really work that way. So if one of the goals of the game was to make us think about gender and the economy, it very much falls flat. Instead of sounding humorous and lighthearted as it seems to attempt to, it feels awkward and preachy.

So an interesting little amateur experiment, the first commercial game of a single developer working on their own, trying out a relatively novel idea. I didn't regret the cup of coffee I paid for it with the discount, because the aesthetic is charming and because it didn't overstay its welcome, but that doesn't mean it's a good game.

It's a game that requires no skill, or thought which can be relaxing, or boring depending on the person. Me, I found it boring. There's no challenge when you can only click what they let you click when they let you click it, and your clicks can't affect the outcome of the game. You're a spectator here, not a player. I would describe this as an interactive music video rather than a game. You will spend 80% of your time watching shoddy claymation figures (an aesthetic choice, I assume, rather than a lack of skill... I hope) talk-sing tuneless songs with straightforward, uncreative lyrics. The aesthetic was half my motivation for purchasing the game, but I have far less appreciation for it now that the whole experience feels lackluster, and lazy. I'm sure a lot of hard work went into the game, and I don't really mean to disparage the makers, it's just that because the game is so underwhelming it soured me on everything. Point-and-click games can have depth, and challenge, but here the challenge is enjoying the show. I couldn't.

“It is better to risk saving a guilty person than to condemn an innocent one.”
― Voltaire, Zadig

In one word, Dominique Pamplemousse is “quaint”.

Dominique Pamplemousse is a short and puzzle-free point and click adventure game that revolves around the life of a gender-fluid detective of the same name.

Although short, the game manages to touch on important subjects such as coming of age, sexuality, justice, greed and morality. Those are presented alongside an interesting story that does provide a few surprises, a different and well-done animation style and funny voice acting.

The bane of Dominique Pamplemousse's existence, however, is how it brings forth its voice acting, which can come off as being a bit over the top and maybe too out of tune at times, even considering its intended purpose.

With that being said, if you already own Dominique Pamplemousse, try it out; to those that don't own it: the game is worth it at full price, but only if you're interested in a short story, innovative artistic takes and a little bit of reading.

I'll put this in simplest way possible: You're either gonna hate this game or absolutely love it. There is no in between.

I happened to love it. It's a quirky point-and-click game where you place as a detective who can't pay his rent. I can't really say much else without spoiling the game. Almost every line is the game is sung. The singing is off pitch but can be pretty funny. The game itself is actually pretty funny. You will either enjoy almost every second of the dialogue and music or hate is so much that you can't play it for more than 5 minutes.

To sum it up, if you like quirky games that will make you laugh a bit, you will probably like this. If you like serious games, this is not for you. Also, if you don't think you'll be into it, you probably won't be.

you might like this game if:
- you like the music (i did, mostly)
- you get the humor of the "wrong" singing (i did)

you might not like the game if:
- the music is not for you
- you don't get the "wrong"singing humor
- puzzles are an important part of an adventure game (it has 2 or 3 very easy puzzles)

this game is very linear, except for one dialog option in the end. not even choices what to answer in the dialog tree.
in the end it didn't feel like there was enough "game" or interactivity.

⊕ Stop-Motion is an interesting medium, I would like to see this explored further in the future. The music itself is not bad, and I'm glad that they took a legitimate swing at composing their own pieces.

⊖ This game was crowdfunded, and it's certainly not 10,000USD worth of work. Even the basic act of being able to get commentary of all surroundings in a room is not available. The voices and dialogue are extremely bad, even when it's not intending to be. Ending is absolutely terrible. Very little work within the same scene is done. It's a lot of back and forth between locations.

✎ Betrayals of trust like this will be the death of sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo.