Down in the Dumps

Down in the Dumps is a 1996 adventure game developed for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows, by the French Haiku Studios and published by Philips Media.After surviving the crash, the Blub family goes on to live on the landfill, while trying to repair their damaged spaceship in order to return home.For example, the player visits the head of a homeless person ("bum") and a society inhabited by frogs, where a series of events somewhat reminiscent of the Robin Hood story is triggered.The player has to solve different puzzles in order to advance the plot by using a point and click interface.Large portions of the plot are told by pre-rendered cinematics, often triggered at the beginning or the end of a "toon".
Game interface
Screenshot showing the visual style of the cutscenes
Developer(s)Haiku StudiosPublisher(s)Philips MediaDirector(s)Platform(s)MS-DOSWindowsMacintoshGenre(s)AdventureSingle-playeradventure gameMicrosoft WindowsFrenchPlayStationSega SaturnPhilips CD-iextraterrestrialspaceshiplandfillcutscenescartoonhomeless personRobin Hoodpoint and clickpre-renderedcinematicsElectronic Gaming MonthlyZiff DavisWayback MachineMobyGames