Four Last Things

Four Last Things is a deliberately silly Pythonesque point-and-click adventure constructed entirely from Renaissance-era paintings and public-domain recordings of classical music. The premise sets the tone: in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the man became living, and immediately decided 'No backsies' before scuttling off into the forest. From there, the game explores sin and the Four Last Things — Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell — and strives to be intelligent and ridiculous in equal measures.

The presentation is the project's specific signature. Paintings by Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel, Jan van Eyck and many more are brought together into one consistent world, treated as sympathetically as possible to the original works while still being interactive game environments. The soundtrack is selected to fit the artwork — classical compositions by Bach, Erik Satie, Claudio Monteverdi and other composers of the era accompany you on the journey.

Gameplay is traditional point-and-click adventure with a verb coin interaction menu and a simple inventory you can drag and drop items from. Ungodly sinning has become the new norm in your character's life, and you travel the streets looking for devilish opportunities in the hope of confessing each and every sin for eventual salvation. The puzzles are logical despite the absurdity of their content — the gags about butts are taken very seriously, but the logic of solving each problem remains internally consistent.

The humor is reminiscent of the surreal anarchic comedy of Monty Python. Lofty subject matter is treated with refreshing flippancy. Moments of surprising profundity may emerge, though the developer is quick to add that you shouldn't read too much into it. Four Last Things is the kind of small project where a single specific aesthetic vision drives every decision, and the result is one of the most distinctive point-and-click adventures on Steam.