Dex

Well I played through the enhanced version of Dex. Was suprised of how good all the different stories are. Encountering several interesting characters which you can decide how to deal with. Exploring will reward you with loot and optional ways to get where you want at times. You can increase certain skills to help you in the game depending in which way you want to play. Will thou say using weapons feel really underwhelming and clunky compared to melee(turned out to be a lot of fun). You can go stealth or punch everybody's lights out. There are always options so explore. Music is great in the game and so is the voice-overs for the npc's. You may want to lower the music volume and raise voice volume as the music will blast over the voices for some npc's. This is the only "issue" I had with the game. There is a classic(harder combat) and a casual(easier combat) difficulty level depending on how you want to enjoy the game. Think carefully what implants you pick in the beginning as it might take a while before you get more slots as you can't switch them out. As usual with some side scroller games it is sometimes hard to know what can you jump and land on and not. This one is not an exception. Save(F5) before taking that leap of faith. It does autosave but when changing area and at some other points which can be that you have to do a bit again if you forgot to save.

Dex is a cyberpunk game that will take you a weekend at most to get through. Despite the relatively short length, it packs a lot of individuality, namely in the form of an immersive world, an interesting story and the plethora of *amazing* characters you meet, all of them voiced, each with their own unique stories to tell. These three pillars, paired with a pretty nice soundtrack, are what carries Dex as an enjoyable experience, and makes its world feel alive. However, two things drag this game down: combat and hacking. Dex is quite combat-heavy, and unfortunately until you upgrade your skills to the point where you can plow through the opposition, it often feels like a slog; the sluggish animations don't help in this regard. Thankfully, you don't *have to* fight in many of the game's areas, and can opt for more stealthy approaches, which somewhat redeems what would otherwise be a heavy negative aspect. What is impossible to redeem is the hacking minigame, though. After the first few times, it too starts to feel like a chore, as the available mechanics of the minigame and lackluster level design aren't enough to make it entertaining. Unlike combat, which you can thankfully avoid most of the time, hacking is unavoidable and you are forced to spend dozens of minutes in these levels, hoping your misery will end quickly so you can get back to the actual game and its story. Despite the above negatives, I'd still recommend Dex, as I feel like it is an overall great experience. It has a tiny bit of replay value, as some of your choices lead to different outcomes, but it is mostly a "play once" type of game. At least, until you see it again in your library a few years down the line...

As a 2D action/RPG (with a sprinkling of Metroidvania), this has a similar formula as say Deadlight, or Shadow Complex (though less Metroidvaniaey). The story is ok, but some of the writing and voice work is suspect. Some of the dialog and voice work made me do the smelled the fart face, but I'm still glad that everything is voiced - bravo, smaller studio. This game made a hefty withdrawal from The Matrix account, but if you're going to be derivative, there are few properties that are a better target. Some Metroidvania stuff, with implants, to get to do certain optional quests, but I don't think any of it is necessary. I did all the sidequests offered, as the game was good enough to warrant more time being invested with it. The combat and gameplay are decent. I only invested 1 point in melee, for the 3-hit combo, and 0 in ranged, maxing everything else. I found that loadout worked great, but the beauty is - it's yours to choose. I only used guns in the beginning, before my AR/hacking were upped, to deal with things like turrets. All fists after that - and, on normal diffiulty, I had no problem, even with 1 melee pip. Jump kicks, with a lil SF crossup action, and you can actually hit them whilst they are on the ground, if you attack quickly enough, after knocking them down. I played the game through with KB + mouse, though I may have been better served to gamepad it, except for the AR/hacking events, which, I think, would benefit heavily from a mouse. A good, cyberpunk, 2D, action/RPG. Pick it up.

I got this for free on some offer, almost didn't take it as an indie side scroller isn't usually my jam. Finally got around to playing it, and it was worth the time. The story is by-the-numbers cyberpunk/singularity stuff, and no part of the gameplay is exceptional. But, no part of the gameplay is awful either, it is sufficiently fun, and the art and voice acting are good. If you're unsure, and like this kind of story, give it a chance.

Like many people online my copy of Dex wouldn't start, the game screen would go white and I'd get a Microsoft "your program has stopped" message. I tried Google and the GOG forums for a fix but no luck. Finaly I tried setting my firewall to always allow the game to connect to the internet and it worked! then I set the firewall to always block said game: white screen and MS "your program has stopped" error again! Why would any developer set their game to always "phone home" or else it won't work??