Dex

Like a cross between Shadowrun, Fallout originals and This War of Mine but with good controls. Was not expecting too much, but it's a fun, side-scrolling quest game with a strong Cyberpunk theme.

I have this game on Steam. I am a completionist and not normally a platformer gamer, but I fully enjoyed the story and style of this game. Hacking is a bit tedious at first, but once you figure it out and start leveling up upgrades, it gets easier. Which also describes the rest of the game, to be fair. There are a few side quest options that have minor storyline consequences. The graphics are good for the style and I love the music. Sound effects are nice and simple, just like a classic platformer. There are some adult themes.. I do recommend changing some of the controls a bit if using the keyboard. It's been a bit since I last played, but I believe I changed the block to the mouse.. As for why it's been a bit? I reformatted my computer. I backed up all my data and game saves before I did. I am not a noob when it comes to this. However, my game was reset. I had 17 hours in the game and believe I was nearing the end. You see.. the developer for Dex used the Unity engine which does not put game saves in the usual places or do cloud saves. It saves IN THE WINDOWS REGISTRY. Which I never typically back up before wiping.. This is because Unity saves there by default, although there are workarounds for this (which have not been utilized here). I fully recommend the game, just know that the save is in the registry, where non techy people should rarely venture. And, of course, now I know to go ahead and grab a backup of the registry as part of my backups before a wipe just in case.

On overall, one might call this game a Deus Ex made platformer. It provides a nice skill tree with possibility to shape the character in a way most desired. It's rather easy to gather experience and level up, but still you won't be able to max in every skill available, which is fine. The game is designed in a way where you can solve problems with different approaches - exactly as it should be. I stumbled only once during the play, but it was rather easy to get experience and necessary skill elsewhere and continue. The actual gameplay is generally composed from adventure-like quests where you need to move between locations, find something/do something etc. There isn't much place for you to stuck at as the quests are rather intuitive. That doesn't mean I am complaining - it was pretty enjoyable. The story is good enough and I would say long enough. The whole game I was a bit affraid that it would be too short so when I found out that the game didn't end at the first available opportunity I was kind of relieved. Technical realisation is the main (and possibly only) drawback of the game. First, I must make a disclaimer, that I played the game on Linux. On Windows the problems might not be present, but still - the game is not that tuned up, as it should be. So, first problem appeared when I left the sewers. The FPS dropped below interactivity level. I was forced to lower the resolution to deal with it, however it often reapeared at certain locations. What was weird was that sometimes it helped to exit to menu and then select continue. Another graphical problem was wih refresh rate - when scrolling, an apparent ripple was moving across the screen. This happened even at lower resolutions and selecting vertical sync did nothing. Finally - when lower than native resolution was selected, all content of scroll boxes (e.g. dialogues, inventory) overflowed their boxes. It was a nuisance, but the game could be completed nevertheless. And it might be fixed in some later release.

An epic game that I throughly enjoyed playing. Please sir can I have some more?!? + Really good looking game. Each part of the map has it's own distinct art style and music. + Soundtrack is brilliant. + Voice acting is very good for an indie game. + Side quests are not all fetch quests. Some quests have multiple ways to complete. Shealth, all in guns blazing/ fists flying or talking it out. + Great explorability. + Good combat once you level up and know what you are doing. + Character development is well paced and generally makes you feel like you are accomplishing something. - Can take a while to figure out the mechanics of the game. - Ending seemed a little rushed.

The platforming is a mess. It is sometimes difficult to tell what is the foreground and background and then there is fall damage (unless you get a secret upgrade). Thankfully platforming is not a huge part of the game. Combat is simple and comes in melee or ranged mode. Honestly I have no idea why ranged exists as when you move in melee your enemies can't shoot you and you can block damage more easily while in ranged mode the enemy can just shoot you while you shoot them. You can also switch to hacking mode and hack enemy's brains to stun them which is insanely broken because then you can insta-kill most enemies. Not getting this upgrade will make your game 10x harder. The story is interesting, but it ultimately kinda disappoints. It builds momentum only to stop dead for quite a while, then it picks up again only to end in something that feels very rushed and disappointing. It's fully voiced which is a plus. Some voice acting is bad and hard to hear which immediately negates the plus . Tony's voice lines are cool though. The dialogue is a hit and miss. Some lines are well written, while some absolutely make no sense. The main character, Dex, does not seem to have a clear personality and some voice lines in some cutscense absolutely break what little character she had. Persuasion skill design sucks so bad. It only allows you to try and persuade the NPC by selecting 1 out of several options in hopes what you have in mind is what the writer had in mind. If it doesn't match, too bad, your persuasion will fail and you can only reload to try again. Enemies are just clones of each other, fitting into two categories, either melee or ranged. You will approach most enemies the same. Hacking is a chore and takes the form of a poorly designed SHMUP If the story was not botched at the end, I would have perhaps even give it a borderline recommendation.