31 July 2011

Dead Cyborg Episode 1: The Beginning of the Death


Gaming Genres: Graphical Adventure
Story Genres: Science Fiction, Post-Apocalyptic, Comedic
Graphical Styles: 3D, Cartoon, Punk
Series/World: Dead Cyborg
Platforms: Windows, Browser, Linux
Pricing Model: Pay if you Like
Developer(s): Endre Barath
Publisher(s): Endre Barath
Initial Release Date: July 14, 2011
Website(s): Homepage
Description:
Dedicated to the great text adventures and sci-fi stories of the past, Dead Cyborg Episode 1: The Beginning of the Death is a Pay if you Like title that requires a certain amount of donations to get the subsequent games released.

In this first game you wake up with no memory in a room filled with empty cryotanks and on a post apocalyptic sci-fi world filled with humour. (show spoilers)

Opinion:
Dead Cyborg is an independent, mostly freeware, episodic, adventure game. It is set in a wonderful, cyberpunk, post nuclear apocalypse universe, with undertones of comedy. The first episode was released last year by the single developer Endre Barath and he is only waiting to get enough donations to release the other episodes, which is what I meant by "mostly freeware".

Inspired by old-school text adventures, FPSs, and classic sci-fi literature, Dead Cyborg, at its core, is a serious game about life, death, and human existence. It uses a level password system to save your position and has about 2-3 hours of play per episode. The story is separated into three episodes, the first of which I am reviewing here. No other episodes are released yet, but a little over half of the required amount for episode 2 has already been donated (with something around $3000 being the total amount necessary).

In the beginning of the game you wake up in a cryotank with no memories. The place is a mess, with rusting metal, deteriorating machines, garbage strewn everywhere, malfunctioning robots, and small messages everywhere. The world you are on, most likely Earth, appears to be in the middle of a post-apocalyptical nuclear winter. This place does not look like it has not seen any humans in a long time, and longer still for any type of human civilization. But long bereft of their fleshy masters, the robots seem to have almost developed a culture themselves, though a quirky insanity might be closer to the mark. This world is realised in fantastic 3D animated style graphics, with both the animation and the plot being very cyberpunk.

There are three other cryotanks in the room you wake up in, but they are empty, their inhabitants long gone. You feel sick, it is likely the radiation of this toxic place. You must explore this facility, uncover its mysteries, figure out how to stay alive, and find out who or what woke you from cryosleep.

The gameplay is pretty standard adventure fare. A lot of exploration, much item use, and a few light logic puzzles. they are not bad in any way, but the puzzles are the least appealing aspect of the game in my opinion. It really could use more brain teasers.

Dead Cyborg is an extremely stylish adventure. The story, the location, the graphics, are all unique and very enjoyable and while the puzzles are not as good as they could be, they do not take away from the achievements of the other elements of the game. All in all, it is a good game, and I personally adore it.

Images (+):
Related Media (+):
Hints/Tips/Walkthrough (+):
Indieness: Quintessentially Indie
Play?: Should Play

4 comments:

  1. Decided that the style of the articles on The Indie Elitist do not warrant the leaving out of spoilers. So added the rest of the plot synopses to the Discussion section (but is hidden by default).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Linux version released.
    http://www.indiedb.com/games/dead-cyborg/news/dead-cyborg-linux-version-released

    ReplyDelete
  3. Significantly expanded the Opinion section.

    ReplyDelete