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An RPG-adventure game set in a highly stylized 1920s universe filled with bizarre characters, outrageous combat and adult humor. The game is based on the characters and universe of the popular videogame-oriented web comic Penny Arcade.

On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One is the first title in the downloadable series

Genre: Adventure

Publisher: TBA

Developer: Hothead Games

Online Play:

Local Play:

May 22, 2008 –
Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness — Episode One not only sports the longest title to date on XBLA, but is also one of the few downloadable adventure/RPG titles — and the first that isn’t a sub-par dungeon crawler. Yes, the game based on that website that ridicules IGN is pretty good — even at the hefty price of 1600 Microsoft Points (US$20).

In PAA: OTRSPODEO, you play as a new character in the Penny Arcade universe, created by your own hand. Play as a girl or guy and choose from several hair cuts, outfits and physiques to give yourself a unique appearance. Your character is rendered into all of the cut-scenes so you’re never displaced from the action. Of course, joining you on your quest to fell an apocalypse of Cthulhu proportions are Gabe and Tycho from the Penny Arcade comics. They offer the same witty repartee that has made the site so popular. Their text-only banter is often hilarious and in no way requires that you are a fan or have even heard of Penny Arcade. But it probably doesn’t hurt.

The story is nothing to write home about (unless you like writing about clichés), but its presented with such tongue-in-cheek humor that it really doesn’t matter that this is the same doomsday RPG tale we’ve seen a dozen times over. This one just happens to include mimes devoted to bringing about the apocalypse. The humor doesn’t always hit, though. There are plenty of jokes that fall flat, but many more that succeed. I only wish that there was far more of a send-up of gaming and even gaming websites as that’s why people tune in to the Penny Arcade.

Penny Arcade Adventures is a turn-based RPG, but don’t let that turn you off if you’re more a fan of action games. The turn-based element is handled smartly and the action is fairly fast-paced. It will keep you on your toes more than most turn-based games. Each character under your control has three actions: use an item, basic attack and special attack. Actions are based on timed initiatives, meaning that it takes a certain amount of time before that action button is readied. The item use button readies fastest, then basic attacks, and finally special attacks. Since each character has different speeds (and there are items to up those speeds), the timing of actions varies. Because of this, you will have to keep a vigilant eye on the action buttons for each character and be aware of when each can attack and when your enemies are about to attack. It gets a bit frenetic towards the latter half of the game.

Insert the funny here.


While the best defense is a good offensive word, there’s little humor happening in combat. It’s about action — and raking a clown’s face until he explodes into a cloud of confetti. There is a block move, relegated to either trigger, which requires some precision timing. You’ll see the enemy’s health bar flash as they are about to attack, which is your cue to block. The trouble is that your eye will naturally float to the enemy to watch the animation and time the attack this way. That’s when you get hosed, because timing based off the animations is, to put it mildly, a wee bit screwy.

Combat in Penny Arcade Adventure is far more fun than I was expecting. It’s the areas outside of combat that come up a little wanting. There are just four areas to explore and the level design is of the 10×10 D