I finished this recently, after 6 hours of playtime according to the game clock. I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to cyberpunk RPGs since I like the genre a lot, but I have mixed feelings about this one. Some observations:
- Plot and atmosphere follow basic cyberpunk tropes. The characters weren’t very complex, although some of the interactions made me chuckle
- No real character customization. You get pre-defined attribute increases when leveling up and you don’t equip any items per se, just “hardware” which increases your stats or gives you buffs in combat
- Combat is turn-based with an initiative/speed system. You can attack, use “software” (magic), “execute” single-use items, “cache” (defend) which also helps your initiative order, or use “jack move” limit breaks which (
trigger warning) involve extremely easy QTEs to maximize your damage. The software and jack moves are all designed to be strong against certain types of enemies (flesh, electric, or cyber), and they level up FF7-style with use. There are also various buff and debuffs you can apply. It wasn’t always obvious which enemies are weak to which attack type just based on their name or appearance, which in theory means you would determine this yourself by watching your damage output although this was rarely necessary (see below). It was fun to think about how one could actually be using software to harm enemies, particularly fully organic ones – by manipulating the environment?
The main problem with combat is that it is typically very easy. Since software does a lot more damage than basic attacks and there are a lot of free rest-type areas around, I just used direct-damage software all the time and didn’t really need to play around with the other abilities. Boss fights are a lot longer than regular fights and can involve a trick or two (particularly the final fight), but they ended up being mainly endurance battles. Your party never gets bigger than your main character, which further limits the tactics you can use.
I think there are the makings of a decent system here, but the game does not take advantage of them
- You can control how often random combats occur and turn off the jack move QTEs if you want
- Some basic side quests, some of which give you unique equipment
- Exploration is limited, you’ll be required to go to every area as part of the main plot
- Music was enjoyable, with a kind of inferior Hotline: Miami vibe
- Combat animations were very detailed and cool! This was a highlight for me
- There were a few bugs, or at least some times where I didn't understand what happened. Several times when I would attack, my animation would be cut short and the enemy would respond right away without indicating damage or even "Miss". There was also at least one time where I did not get any XP after the battle
- SJW watch: The first and perhaps most significant romantic relationship you encounter involves two men (one of whom appears to be disabled), and the main character has a very “flamboyant” uncle. However, for me this was outweighed by the fact that a recurring enemy type is a black guy whose two main combat abilities are pulling two hidden handguns on you, and yelling gibberish to summon more of his type
- As you can see above, the game is very short. I don't think making it longer would have helped though since character development had stopped by that point
It’s not an easy game to recommend because it’s so short and simple. If you like the genre, I suggest giving it a try or at least keeping an eye out for future releases that improve on the weaknesses of this one, although you may want to wait for a sale on the game given the short playtime (or check out the free demo).
