Rather than extend a rather lucrative library of visual novels after the excellent Midnight Ramen, Cointinue Games has instead decided to work on a productivity tool with Deadline Savior. What now? A productivity tool? Perhaps you’ve heard of the Pomodoro technique – a time management tool based on a tomato-shaped cooking aid. Yeah…
As a former student, freelancer, and remote worker, procrastination rears its head more often than it should, and one of those distractions is playing video games, unsurprisingly. Well, Deadline Savior is the best of both worlds as it’s both a desktop companion to motivate as well as to entertain with level progression and character development.
Ironically, I’ve had the demo for this for some time and simply haven’t been able to get around to it! You do see the issue here, right? When I first installed it, I wasn’t entirely clear on what it actually was. Is this supposed to help me focus, or is it an RPG with some real-life gimmick to provoke order? After selecting my character, a ranger, my fate and path were set as an automated pixel art run ensued.
There was no interactivity besides being able to select actual tasks I needed to complete, setting breaks (as per the Pomodoro method), then watching my hero set up camp while I would go make another coffee. Honestly? I had no real need for it. Either I would use an app on my phone (been there, done that), or I was going to play a turn-based RPG, which isn’t. Well, not quite.
Anyhoo, the dust casts another layer, and I’ve come back to Deadline Savior to ensure I give it another chance. What you get out is what you put in, but I found it a little hard to put my tasks in properly, preferring to physically write a to-do list. I abbreviated nevertheless and set my goals and let Deadline Savior run in the background while I did my actual work.
It’s not a bad distraction when given the chance, as the animations don’t distract from the actual work but are a nice variety to look up from Excel or Teams and see my little hero making steps. Then the competitive element kicks in. Do you know, I could actually set a challenge and complete the work I need to do before I reach the campsite or boss. And that, my friends, is exactly how his little innovation makes you productive.
Racing against the automation of running through the woods, I’d take my break, then rinse and repeat. After a while, I’d level up and my stats would increase. On top of that, equipment can be earned and points invested in skills that eventually apply to the turn-based battles. Again, they’re more on the automated sense, but that drive all adds to the message of being productive and getting things done. There’s a fair amount of gameplay in the available demo, but be forewarned that the demo data does not go over to the full game once released, but you might be in line for a treat from the developers.
Stop wasting time and go check out the Deadline Savior demo on Steam.
