Candice Debebe’s Incredibly Trick Lifestyle is a combination of both the RPG and Twin Stick Shooter genres. In it, we play as the titular “Magical Bitch” known as Candice, a single mom living in a trailer park. One fateful day, a rival ‘magical bitch’ suddenly steals her favorite tan-van and so Candice sets off on a world-spanning adventure to retrieve it and maintain her healthy fake orange tan. Yeah, just go with it. I’ve played a lot of weird games in my years but trying to make sense of this is bound to make one go mad.
One of the most immediately striking aspects of this game is its near clay looking character models and environments. It does wonders to amplify the weirdness that this title all too successfully pulls off at every turn. The double whammy here is the soundtrack that is quite possibly the strangest thing of all, which is really saying something. Nearly all of the tracks have very bizarre lyrics sung by a man halfheartedly/cheekily trying to sound like a female. The wide majority of all the voice work is done by him too, with sound equalization or a pop filter being foreign concepts in the Candice Debebe universe.
No joke, do not attempt to play this with headphones if you value your ears, as certain voices are extremely loud. This is quite an unusual review where I am kind of stumbling around here, shellshocked, trying to explain the unexplainable. That was pretty much my exact emotional state of being throughout this surprisingly lengthy six-hour journey. And truth be told, I quite liked it. It pushes the boundary of what can be called art and gave off a sense of unease I have not felt since Silent Hill 2 so many years ago, despite being a comedy game. It may look like another rubbish title someone shoved into the overflowing Steam marketplace, though this has had a worrying amount of effort put into it.
Starting off in the trailer park, we are free to walk around and converse with many of the strange residents that live there before being given a clear quest. Leaving the park, you’ll find yourself in the overworld where Candice’s size ratio, in comparison to everything else, makes her look like a Godzilla type monster roaming the lands. In the over-world, you will constantly be chased by monsters that frequently spawn in, and if they touch you it is random battle time. You’ll be transported to an arena with a variety of beasties trying to stop Candice’s noble goal of rescuing her friend’s stolen tan-van.
There is not much to say about the combat. You try to keep out of range of enemies trying to bump into you or firing projectiles your way, then fire your magic at them. Over the course of your journey, you’ll find many different types of magic that do have their own uses. Some may have a touch of gravity to them so they can be rolled down surfaces, others can melt ice-based enemies, and some can bounce off things repeatably. They are usually obtained via quests or simply found hidden throughout the world. You then have your secondary attack for functions such as shoving an enemy away from you, slowing him, and distracting.
It sounds a lot better on paper, the combat is not all that decent. Enemies are painfully slow and it all feels very sluggish. The only challenges come from certain boss fights, which stems from the fact that some hit like a truck and are huge damage sponges. Meanwhile, other bosses are hardly more difficult than regular enemies. Be it that as it may, whatever Candice manages to defeat will increase her experience points and eventually level her up. The only thing you gain is a bit extra overall health, your damage and abilities remain the same.
Not all battles will take place on the overworld. Some areas you explore such as caves may be naturally hostile and will have many foes that you have to deal with to make your way through to another zone. The world is surprisingly large as well, with many places to discover and no form of fast travel. You will have to learn the lay of the land and at times, you will have to travel back to previous locations. It demands some attention on your part, especially when it comes to people’s names since you may have need of them once more down the line.
The single largest portion you’ll be spending within this title is engaging in dialogue. There are a ton of characters to talk to and all have plenty to say. As half-arsed as many may come off to be, they are strangely memorable and lovable. I find that the varying degrees of bad audio quality from the mysterious single dev doing most of the voices adds to the charm. At times he sounds really far from the mic, others lines are full of popping whenever he pronounces a P or B, and some have distortion whenever he screams into it. The ear-splitting loudness of some of it I do take issue with, however. It makes it all the more shocking on the rare instances when other people voice characters as that means others were involved in making this.
Everything about the music, unlike the voice acting, is simply ace. As mindbogglingly strange as they tend to be, these are quite some catchy tunes. Each area has their own unique songs as well, so the only one you’ll ever get tired of is the overworld song. It was quite possibly one of the most significant driving points to keep you going since you’ll want to hear what’s next. Surprisingly enough, I did not encounter any glitches, crashes, or other oddities. One thing to keep in mind is that you should not play this with a controller. It has partial support, but it does not feature full 360-degree directional shooting and the inventory menu is quite awkward to control.
If you were to take a shot every time I’ve said the words shocking or surprising, you’d likely be six feet under by now. It really is a title that is impossible to predict. You never know how something will play out. Like you’d expect the story to be a complete joke, and it is, though it’s also kind of interesting. You’d also expect the humor to get stale, and it does, yet you just can’t help but continue to be highly intrigued by it. Candice Debebe’s Incredibly Trick Lifestyle is a game full of contradictions and shifting expectations all throughout. I remain unsure if I truly enjoyed my time with it, and certainly don’t know who in the world I would recommend it to. On the other hand, it does feature one of the illest rap battles known to gaming, and much like some walking simulators that have far less to them, it is an experience I will never forget.
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