2064: Read Only Memories

I knew it was a VN going in (Why does it pretend to be an adventure game, anyway?), but even in that genre it falls flat. The writing is bad, and none of the characters so far were remotely likable. It seems like a lot of people praise it for its queer representation, but I found it downright appalling... The queer-coded characters are one-note stereotypes whose only defining characteristic is their identity, and beyond that they're either annoying or hostile. The game is also VERY preachy, it honestly feels like the point of the entire thing. It's the kind of one-sided approach written by someone who never had to step outside their insular academia bubble in their life.

When I started playing this game I was IMMEDIATELY bored to tears--the first thing you do is read emails and online news articles for fifteen minutes, almost none of it plot related. Then Turing the robot breaks in and things start to get interesting. The wonderful world building in this game kept me going for about five hours or so, but once I started to realize just how much the NPC's talk it became a huge slog. Everyone you talk to has to tell you their life story, and often it's just a huge waste of time, they have nothing to do with the plot. ...so yes, this game is not a point-and-click adventure so much as it's a visual novel, and it's a bad one at that. None of the conversation choices seem to impact the story in the least, you're often forced into making choices you don't really like, and the NPC's ramble on so long that even the interesting ones become annoying. Often times Turing will start talking in your stead and the two NPC's will just carry on the conversation without you participating. For a long time, too. There ARE parts where you do pointy-clicky stuff, but in my five hours I only remember two--I had to find an iPad under some books and put a memory stick into it, and I had to turn off a water faucet. That's it. As for the visuals and sound, as much as I like pixel art, this is a little TOO blocky, but the art style is cool, and the music is super catchy. All in all, I give it 2/5 stars. They made a good effort, but the pretentious dialogue and annoying characters REALLY drags this game down to the point where I don't think I will play it any more.

...especially pronouns! Inspired by Blade Runner and Snatcher. Not as dark as either title but still fun. The art direction is awesome and very 90s. The music is also excellent. The layout for the menus and gameplay are solid and nothing to complain about. The game took me between 5 and 7 hours to complete (and I haven't played the "free" endless christmass dlc that just came out). The pacing and story are straightforward. I doubt you'll get stuck. I won't spoil the ending but for me...it was satisfying. I felt that the world could've been better realized. I really enjoyed watching Turing's awareness grow as *IT* began to question itself and its relationship to other humans and robots. One thing that was REALLY awkward and somewhat jarring was that nearly every male was referred to as she or they and nearly every female was gay and went by they. I liked how they tried to tackle the idea of inclusiveness (a word other reviews use so I'll borrow it) but I think the devs tried way too hard and it's somewhat of a misstep. I love when games explore all sides of controversial topics with equal enthusiasm, then leave you to consider answers for yourself. Instead of using this game a vehicle for exploration of social ideas, it tries to deliver an unbalanced consideration of ideas. Opposition is set up by annoying stereotypes (ironic!). The sense of reasonableness there felt half-assed. I have no issues with the message, just its delivery was subpar. I felt it was so subpar that when you see bad reviews about this game, this is what is spoken about. Some of these people I think totally miss the dev's intentions bc of the poor delivery here. Anyhow, I recommend this game to any fan of Blade Runner, Snatcher or the cyberpunk genre who won't be too critical of the misstep (imo) I mentioned above. It definitely didn't ruin the game for me. Only beat this once but it was a bug-free run. Not perfect but this game has a lot of style. 7.75/10

More visual novel than point and click so far. Great music, fun characters, but hard to take seriously Good, not great, but enjoyable enough so far

A cute, witty, generally well-written point and clicker with a pretty lighthearted take on a cyberpunk mystery. It's basically 98% puzzle-less and linear, which doesn't detract from the experience (unless solving puzzles is what you're after). It's also surprisingly long, at least when you like to "try everything with everything". That's where a lot of the clever writing comes out, as do occasional parts where you just kind of have to roll your eyes at how pandering your robot companion can be. Regardless, it's an enjoyable indie with its own undeniably unique flavor. Neo-SF will be pretty familiar to anyone who's spent time in the bay area, and it makes sense that a game with these types of cultural references and themes would originate there. I think that anyone scared off or rubbed the wrong way by the queer factor, especially if they consider themselves fans of cyberpunk, is either naive or just stubborn. There's just no way in hell any real-world cyberpunk future won't be queer in some way.