Attracted by the setting I bought this game the day System Redux version was out. I mean what’s not to like? You’re playing as a cyborg cop in a cyberpunk setting solving crimes and watching the neon lit city at night switching between different black market implants and meddling in the plans of big evil corporations! Sign me up this instant! But reality turned out to be completely different. You see, this game is actually an attempt at some psychedelic horror. Yes, you’ve heard right – you will have not much in the way of hacking and crime solving but rather “suddenly chairs are on the ceiling, pottery is talking, some tentacles are covering the walls and monsters from ‘Soma/Amnesia the dark descend’ are chasing you” situations. The devs like this psycho stuff so much they use it to convey most of the story. For instance, there is a point in the game when you must “interrogate” a dead victim of a crime. The poor sod has an implant that records everything that goes on around him, so the gory details of his untimely death are no doubt stored there. Luckily our cyber-cop is perfectly equipped for a situation like this – he has a special probe that can connect to the implant. But if you (like me) expect that probing to show you the last minutes of the victim’s life or provide some valuable information in a sane and sensible way you are wrong. What you get instead is a bunch of strange blinking shapes, some black mannequins moving erratically, and other psychedelic BS, that shows you in a very abstract way what happened – dressing it with tons and tons of visual mess. That visual mess is an ever-present feature of this game. You will be constantly annoyed by it because it is used on every turn and step. The epilepsy warning was put on this game for a reason! So… If you are into games like Soma, Amnesia etc it will probably be ok for you. But if you expect a no-nonsense game in a cyberpunk setting, with hacking etc – I wouldn't recommend this one.
This game is a perfect example of what happens if game is based on mutually exclusive gameplay elements - results can be somehow confusing. In this game these elements are a non-lethal stealth gameplay and a permanently ticking timer. Now non-lethal stealth requres a thorought exploration and careful observation of the environment and it's inhabitants - turn every nook and cranny, earsdrop on every conversation, read every note, peek into every hole, try every door, map guard routs etc. to solve this complex puzzle and win. That's what makes the gameplay enjoyable, that's what such games are bought for. But the developers took it all away by including a permanently ticking timebomb, making the player race against time, punishing him heavily for being careful, patient and observant. "Oh, there is a note on the table...Could be important. And there is this rookie guard discussing lost keycards. No time! The clock's ticking - soon the janitor will enter that very important room, switching the alarm off - we must be there at all cost - it's one in a lifetime occurence! Go, go, go!" What is this, Splinter Cell? Metal Gear Solid? We can't quickly dispatch guards here by silently shoting them in the head or stunning them - it's a completely different game. Add to that a crazy "restart the whole level all over again if you fail" save system, and all of this quickly turns from enjoyable into annoying. The only way to somehow avoid this is to abandon the idea of trying to keep up with the timer completely and just explore the levels. Then plan the whole run using the knowledge gathered and execute it in one go. I'm not sure they intended it to be played like this though but oh well.
Unless you are a huge fan of that Gwent card game, avoid this. The game has nothing else to offer.
The promise was good. Dark cyberpunk metropolis, neon lights, implants and intriguing story. And all we've got was ""they've got my brotherrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!" as a motivation, a footbal field sized "metropolis" with nothing to do, and arena fight-arena fight-arena with a bossfight. Heavy reuse of environments and bosses included. Dissapointed.
Warning: -This game is HEAVILY QTE-based. QTE is the main gameplay mechanic here. If you hate QTEs or just find them annoying - stay away. -This game is unfinished, and will remain so - the second season is officially cancelled. So expect no closure. You will never find out who and what and why. - An absurdism and surrealism are abundant and affect the plot and gameplay mechanics heavily. For instance, you are buying things from your cat, and your vital signs (stamina) drop even if you open a fridge or just talk to people. All that was too much for me, so I uninstalled.
Very disappointing. Boring uninspired setting (post-apocalypse, here we go again), weak atmosphere, absolutely empty characters, unmotivating story, terrible visuals (pixel art can be so much better), everything is brown and green. Animations are barely existing. Protagonist is boring beyond belief. First ever adventure game in my 20+ years of gaming that I could not bring myself to finish. However, there were no technical difficulties, so this games gets a deserved 1 star.
Pro: Setting. Dark city, rainy night, evil corporations, security guards and systems. Protagonist. Fragile beauty & cold blooded murders on a path of revenge and a bloody rampage. Concept. Fast and lethal melee action yet there is time to think and react thanks to something like a "tactical pause". Visual style. Reminiscent of Gunpoint etc. Fluid animations. Sadly, that's all. Contra: Controls. It's often too difficult to get the protagonist where you want her to be. Mouse clicks just don't register. Missions design. Sometimes the games throws at you wave after wave after wave of enemies on the same level - just because. For example, I cleared a level where I had to access 4 computer terminals. Well, after each terminal was accessed, the game sent me a wave of the same kind of enemies, and I had to clear them 4 times. 4 times without any variety. Same guards came from the same doors and started patrolling the same routes on the same level. And if they sound an alarm, you won't get a skill point upon completion of the level, so you have to kill them all again and again without them noticing. Ugh. Conclusion: Nice idea, poor execution. Buyer beware.
