Dex

Dex is not a bad game. The writing tries too much and the mechanics are bit simplified but in the end it succeed in what it is trying to be. The combat works, the platforming works, the simplified hacking works. Nothing really stands out but no problems either. Of course "what it is trying to be" is Deus Ex. Very very much so. Now there is nothing wrong with emulating the greats but for anyone versed in sci-fi and cyberpunk the story (or characters) hold no surprises. One gets the feeling that there would have been potential for much more here. An enjoyable experience but would I play again? Good question...

Firstly, side-scrollers and platformers are not my kind of game. Secondly, initially I found the game frustrating. I installed/uninstalled it twice! But something about it made me reinstall it again and I decided to tough it out. Now I can't find proper words to express just how glad I am that I gave Dex a chance. This game is not without flaws, but the flaws are relatively minor (character limit permitting, I will address the flaws at the end). So, let me highlight several of things that made me go "WOW!" 1. All characters are unique and awesome and fully voiced 2. Voice acting is superb 3. All quests are unique, nothing generic, and most quests have several solutions and outcomes, not to mention that most quests have more than one unexpected twists 4. It is possible to miss or fail to complete quests, depending on your actions 5. Puzzle difficulty is just right = nothing too primitive, nothing nonsensical, nothing overcomplicated 6. Skills and cyber augmentations are perfect for cyberpunk 7. Dex rewards exploration with many "Easter eggs" to be hunted 8. There are many different ways to play Dex - Combat, Stealth, Lethal, Non-lethal, etc. and when you find schematics for certain suits 9. Investigative work is rewarding 10. Writing is top notch (in spite of a few typos here and there) but most of it is voiced over anyway, so you don't care But there are a few flaws as well 1. I don't understand why you can't *toggle* equip/holster the gun, why you must press and hold a key to have the gun equipped instead (which is mighty inconvenient) 2. Melee/unarmed attacks are infinitely more effective than ANY gun (except for the laser gun which seems to have limited utility, especially if you play Stealth 3. Melee combat can be frustrating because of slightly clunky animations which make special attacks hard to time 4. Hacking is cool, but can be annoying because you are often overwhelmed with no way out Overall? Great game and has replay value.

I really wanted to like Dex. I love the cyberpunk genre, and this game had similar vibes to books like Neuromancer, there was some stuff clearly inspired by Matrix and other slew of titles, but it simply fails short with the gameplay and the main story. What is good, the game can look gorgeous at times. The world is alive and I dig the grime which is present at various locations. The way which you choose to play the game is up to you, the skill tree is large, and it even gets more interesting once the implants are made available later in the game. There are many quests and they really went out as to how you can finish them, Guns blazing, stealthy hacking or simply talk your way out of them. Also some of them are refreshing since they aren't only your basic fetch quests. So props on that line! Music is also solid and sets a good atmosphere for the most of the game. Fast travel, this is a blessing, because there would be a lot of backtracking if this wasn't implemented and I thank the developers on this. Now the bad, the story is basically lame and contains a lot of generic moments, it jumps the shark by the end of the game and my interest was only to finish it since I've already played it for 10 hours. Fighting is a bit of janky, and I really don't like that you can swipe kick the enemy and they fall down and that you cannot kick them and make damage until they are up again. Stealth is also a missed opportunity within the game, and I don't think that it works because I was running behind the enemies and chocking them without any sort of a problem. Hacking game starts out interesting but in the end also becomes bland they could have incorporated couple of more variations instead of killing the firewalls and power cubes so a pathway could be opened. And in the end I would only recommend the game to be played if you currently don't have anything else, and to get it when it's on a discount.

This game looks great, the story sounds cool, the environments are beautiful, and the setting is awesome. Unfortunately, I didn't get to experience much of it because the game is unplayable due to bugs. Neither my DS4 or Xbox360 controller worked properly (an issue that's apparently been present since 2015). I played using the keyboard, but eventually ran into a severe bug that effectively ended my game. If you decide to play this game, make sure you make a new manual save every 15 minutes and be prepared to lose some progress every once in a while.

Apparently GOG customers are not important enough to get the Enhanced Edition.