Cloudpunk

Probably a quarter of the way into it, and there is not a lot to do. You drive your car, try to avoid crashing into things, deliver illegal packages, and then wait for the next call to deliver something else. Nothing difficult about it really. Kind of a chick game as they have an emphasis on hanging pictures in your apartment for example. No guns so you can't defend yourself, but are asked to deal with dangerous people. I see a real missed opportunity here where a deal goes wrong. Upgrades revolve around your car, such as plastic bumpers so you can take more damage from accidental collisions, and speed boosts for when you are in the freeway traffic corridor. Again, the ability to arm your car is again a missed opportunity. The city itself is cool looking, so kudo's for that, but it is based on small areas and you have to use transition hubs ala 1990 games instead of having one big massive open world. There concept of size is wrong though as they claim the city is 1000 miles high or whatever which is why you have to use them... Space starts at 62 miles people. The story is what attempts to tie all the ends together and make you want to play, but it is not particularly interesting. You are some chick, running from who knows what, trying to get by in a city by being an illegal driver. Add in a dash of wokeism, and that is the recipe. I guess it is something to do on a boring night when it is raining outside for real. The rain in game all the time won't bother you then.

Uniquement pour ados et personnes ne connaissant rien à la Cyberculture Décors très réussis à la Blade Runner et ambiance sonore favorisant l'immersion. Technique bien maîtrisée. Pas de crash et peu gourmand. Malgré son affichage 3D, CloudPunk est un visual novel mettant en avant les rencontres avec les habitants de Nivalis, entrecoupées par des survols de cette cité Cyberpunk où se déroule jeu. Le soucis est que le jeu passe en revue tous les éléments propre à la cyberculture, mais sans jamais réellement construire une trame narrative globale et profonde. C'est très catalogue. La plupart des personnages rencontrés ne reviennent plus jamais dans le jeu. De ce fait, le scénario manque cruellement de profondeur, de maturité et s'avère lassant pour quelqu'un connaissant bien la cyberculture, dont je suis. J'ai attendu jusqu'à la fin du jeu quelque chose au niveau du scénario qui me fasse craquer positivement. Ce jeu propose pourtant une vision très lucide de ces cités Hightech futuristes que l’on présente trop souvent comme étant la panacée pour l’avenir de l’humanité mais ne développe pas cet aspect dans la trame scénaristique. En conclusion, nous avons là un bien bel écrin au niveau technologique et visuel, mais dont la trame narrative ne saura intéresser que les personnes n'ayant que peu exploré la cyberculture, donc plus sur la tranche d'âge de 5 à 18 ans. Ne faisant pas parti de ce public et cherchant un axe narratif plus mature, je suis obligé de mettre un opinion négatif ou neutre. Dans le même registre de jeu narratif indépendant, j'ai bien plus apprécié "Draugen" ou encore "Paradise Lost", qui proposent une narration plus profonde laissant un souvenir émotionnel. Si vous voulez vous immerger dans l'ambiance de CloudPunk, je recommande vivement d'aller voir le film "Salad Mug" dont l'univers ressemble à s'y méprendre à celui du jeu, à tel point que l'on pourrait croire que les deux projets ont été fait ensemble. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsGZ_2RuJ2A

So, I got this game because I thought it sounded good. A story-driven game to chill with; driving a hover car and delivering parcels on a dystopian city, what's not to love? And let me tell you this, the city of Nivalis, the atmosphere of the game, and driving are really well done. Non-stop rain, a great FPV, the constant humming of the other vehicles around you... even the pixel art is fitting! There's one big problem though, the story is abysmal at best. You're this, holier than thou i**ecile who's just arrived to Nivalis from "The East" and who is apparently expecting a red carpet and everything to just fall from the f***ing sky. And yes, you ARE this character, because right away you will notice you have no choice in what Rania says in her interactions; you're just in for the ride. Was a dialogue option too much to ask? This leaves the player with just the choice of driving to point A or point B. Regarding the dialogues, most of them are drawn-out, boring, and very inconsistent. You'll have Rania talk to someone, lecture them about what they should or shouldn't do, and when asked for help she'll say it's none of her f***ing business; so pretty much like contemporary activists. If you're not going to do anything or help in any way, then why are you meddling to begin with, you little tw*t? Again, if I had a say in it, I'd be invested, but I don't. This is a constant problem with the game, to such extent that I started to strongly dislike Rania and make decisions that I thought were antagonising to her character. Sure, I'll save the posh idi*ts and let the doctor die. The final nail in the coffin is how this game is self-contradicting. This is a ruthless city run by sc*mbags. However, our whiny hero, who has no skills, has managed to refurbish her apartment and bought a lifetime supply of pizza within her first shift. I was going to buy the DLC, but after playing the base game I'm going to give it a hard pass. It only gets 2 start because the city is good.

Ah, the neon noir. Living a single day in the big city, just trying to survive, pondering the big questions. What makes us human? How do we treat those a little less than human? Is it all for nothing? Can we change a single thing? Cloudpunk tells an engaging story with interesting characters, a little on the stereotypical side of course to fit the genre. An enigmatic supervisor, a dog on disc, an elderly race driver, a good few cyborgs with amnesia, a gumshoe automaton, a pregnant AI. The voicover work is great and varied enough to draw you into the narrative. The music is almost a bit too ambitioned for Cloudpunk's Lego aesthetics. Gameplay wise, there's not much butter spread on the proverbial bread. Players should know that before going in. There are two collectathons going on, you're collecting stuff you can sell and punch cards for one of the amnesiac cyborgs. On foot, you will be battling the different levels, reachable through energy fields and elevators, to get to these items. In your Hova, you're battling oncoming traffic, fuel shortages and ticking clocks. Apart from the narrative, the driving sequences stand out. You'll be spending a lot of time in your Hova just trying to get from A to B, listening to dialogue. Thankfully, the driving itself is fun, the cityscapes have a certain wow effect and the transition from walking to driving is seamless. I guess that was what the game attempted to achieve - and it does. Navigating narrow spaces can be a bit frustrating, because the fender benders can become expensive. There are some decisions which won't change much in the long run, Telltale-style, but there are in fact decisions you can live with. And at least in my playthrough, I wasn't clobbered with guilt for every little thing I did. For a possible successor, I would love to see a much smaller, more individualized city that utilizes more intrinsic rewards for exploration. I firmly believe that would be more in line with what Cloudpunk wants to be.

If you like synths, rapid-fire cyberpunk short stories, and don't mind doing video game errands this is a really good game! Great music and a tour through the plight of the downtrodden citizens of Nivalis with a couple of tales that I just keep thinking about.