Blade Runner

Blade Runner was the first “adult” game I ever played. It was in early 1997 on an older friend’s PC - and I was instantly hooked! As an 11 years-old who came from SNES and Star Wars this was a revelation: realistic graphics, a dark sci-fi story, complex choices. I knew this was my kind of games from now on. Fast forward a few years to ca 2000: in a bookshop I stumbled upon a vanilla copy of the game. I got it for exactly 10 DM, rushed home, marveled at the 4(?) CDs it took to get it installed, and ran my first “full” playthrough. A couple more followed over the years. Although I haven’t touched the game in quite some time, it’s still on my bookshelf (one of the few games that survived my move to digital). A few years ago I read that Blade Runner might never get published in digital form, since the master CDs are supposedly gone, and IP rights very muddy. Imagine my surprise today when GOG notified me of this release. It was an instant buy of course! Now to the game: There are better reviews in this board, but let me just say that I consider this a masterpiece. One of the “games to play before you die”. It’s dense, atmospheric, chaotic, technologically innovative for its time — and a labor of love. You can feel how much passion the devs had when they worked on this game. Go buy this game, even if you start it up just once. It needs to be experienced, this is PC games canon!

Great story, great mechanics, great theme! You won't be disappointed. This is one of the few games that I played through multiple times it was so well done for its time. Now that it is on GOG, I am sure I will be playing it through again!!! Best news of the day when this became available again!!! Don't wait, purchase it now, and relive the Blade Runner universe again!!!

This game sat in my library for a long time waiting to be played. I am a huge fan of the 1982 cult-classic movie, and also a fan of LucasArts point-and-click adventure games. 1) Gameplay: the gameplay is very simple and straight-foward. You only click on objects and people on the screen, and, if you choose to, select some subjects when talking to people. You can also draw your weapon clicking with the right mouse button and shoot stuff - although targets are VERY sparse and pratically only appear 4/5 into the game lenght. There are no "object interaction puzzles" in the likes of classic LucasArts adventure games. You hear dialogues, collect stuff and use the "Esper" machine to magically enhance still photos into 3D images (the lowest point of the game, in my opinion). When you must use objects or information you collected you are automically prompted to do as a dialogue option. In this aspect, I find the game to be very shallow, and it detracts from the experience. Also, there are moments you find an enemy and it may kill you in two seconds if you don't kill him first. And if you didn't save the game in the last hour? Though luck... 2) Story: the story is parallel to Deckards from the 1982 movie. You are also a Blade Runner from 2019 dystopic Los Angeles hunting for Replicants to retire, and you will meet some old faces. As you progress, you are confronted with moral decisions - should you kill the replicants, help them or let them be? Each time you play, some key characters can randomly be human or replicants, adding some surprise element and replay value. Also, there are some random events that somewhat can change the story, resulting in multiple endings. 3) Visuals and audio: this is where the game truly shines. It is a very beautiful game, and it accomplishes in expanding the same visuals and universe from the classic movie. The soundtrack and audio FX are also a masterpiece. If you like the art direction from the movie, you will also love this game's.

Finally, I thought this game would never get an official release. No more dealing with dodgy replicants. It’s almost poetic that it happened in 2019. If your a Blade Runner fan, or a fan of these types of games in general, then I highly recommend you check it out. Especially at this price. Fantastic!

Wow, this is an unexpected blast from the past. I had this game once upon a time around 2001, perhaps even earlier: 1999-2000 time-frame maybe. I remember what apartment I was in when I played it. I think I stayed there for two years. And yes, it was around ~2000. Blade Runner. Of course I bought this on a whim because of the film. I didn't know Westwood. I didn't know if it would be good. I only know that I saw it and thought to give it a try. I suppose this sort of thinking harkens back to a time when I was excruciatingly uneducated about such things, (to give you an example of how many people think now). I just bought it, but I remember that I finished the game. I remember that it was very beautiful, a little long to play, but worthwhile. and that's all I remember. The game is such a love letter to the film itself. It faithfully recreates the world down to the lighting, the sounds, they even have a long Vangelis piece of music that I am convinced is not Vangelis, but some studio musician, hired to create a 5 minute piece of ersatz vangelis that sounds as close to the original as possible. And its beautiful as well. The craziest part of the game for me is standing on the balcony of his apartment. This is the part I remember from TWENTY YEARS AGO. More than anything from the game. In fact its the only thing I remember from the game excepting my general overall impression of it. There is this part, where you walk around your apartment. There really are relatively few options available to you the player which to guide the in-game character. You can go to bed, use your photo machine, go to the bathroom, feed your dog and that's about it. One of the things you can do is walk out and stand on your balcony. It is an utterly pointless gesture. There is NOTHING out there for you to do. Nothing whatsoever, except to stand, and listen to the rain and view the city in all of its hauntingly beautiful dystopian acid-rainy dream-like nightscape. So good.