While the Polish studio CD Projekt RED is trying to save its blockbuster Cyberpunk 2077 from a sea of bugs and negative reviews (and seems to be coping with this), other developers are also very actively exploiting the cyberpunk setting. Neon signs, flying vehicles, implants, near-future technologies and fictional corporations make it possible to come up with a really cool storyline that will draw a gamer into even with a modest development budget. Of course, not everyone succeeds, but Gamedec, in my humble opinion, has every chance of luring a certain audience of gamers into their virtual networks.
Right off the bat
I will say right away – if you expect any action, shootouts, fights, car trips around the city of the future, and so on, then you should immediately moderate your ardor. This game is 90% built around dialogues, answers to questions and text. Yes, you need to read a lot, and even think about what you read – if you randomly click on the answers in the dialogues, then some characters will simply send you away, and with others you will ruin your relationship. In fact, the developers offer us the classic text RPG format, only in a beautiful cyberpunk wrapper with an abundance of neon and other joys.
Accordingly, if you do not get pleasure from the gameplay based on the sea of text, then you should not even go here. Everything here is based on dialogues – hacking the boss’s computer, gardening in the world of the Wild West, even the only fight at the club. For the modern gamer who is accustomed to running, jumping and shooting, this approach may not work, so keep that in mind.
Unusual detective
Gamedec is named for a reason – it is short for “game detective”, which is the main character (or heroine). Indeed, in the world of the future, and we play in Warsaw in the XXII century, virtual entertainment has reached a completely new level, when, lying on the couch and throwing a helmet over his head, a person can completely immerse himself where he wants. You can fight with swords in Ancient Japan, plant vegetables in the Wild West, enjoy the sensations of pain, visit places of entertainment marked 18+ (they won’t show anything like that in the game) and whatever your heart desires. But in the virtual world, as in the real one, there is always someone who does not play by the rules.
And it’s not only about cheaters, but also about a lot of other scammers who prevent others from enjoying computer graphics in maximum resolution. And our main character, being an experienced gamer and partly a hacker, helps to investigate crimes in virtual worlds in order to save people, find lost valuables and stuff like that. I dare say that I like this approach – running as a game detective around the city of the future, jumping around the worlds in search of answers, is very fun and exciting. Yes, and such a plot can not be called formulaic for sure.
No clues – just your intuition
Most of all in the game I liked the dialogue system, which does not tell the player what he needs to do to achieve the goal. For example, you need to talk to a young man who has just come from the virtual world, where his friend is stuck, and you need to ask him at least some details. You can pressure the guy to reveal secrets, or you can behave kindly – both options can lead to the discovery of information that will help in the investigation. But the gamer can only rely in questions and actions on his instinct – the game will not help from the word at all.
On the one hand, this is insanely inconvenient, since several times I chose the wrong tactics and corny ruined the story arc. On the other hand, it immerses you in the game world as much as possible. You have to constantly think “how would I act?”, Make guesses, a strategy, build on the situation. In addition, by asking questions and receiving answers, deduction is formed in our special menu. Based on the evidence found, it will be possible to choose one of several ways for the further development of the investigation, which, of course, affects the storyline. Of course, there are scripting moments when the player ends up still going where the developer wants, but I liked the overall picture of the moral choice.
Automatic pumping
Usually, in role-playing games, to level up certain skills or skill branches, you need to complete quests, or repeat the same action many times. In Gamedec, everything is a little different – here you don’t pump anything purposefully, everything just happens in the process of dialogues. For example, if you are a kind person and help virtual brothers, you get points in one piggy bank, if you act rude and arrogant – in another. There are four variants of skills in the game, but they are named in a language that I do not understand (for some reason this particular section of the game was not translated into Russian).
These points are needed in order to pump a branch of skills – some skills are not really needed, others are extremely useful. For example, I immediately threw away the branch on the left, it seemed to me not very useful, but getting to the “People’s Eye” is very useful. Then people will be impressed by your presence and answer those questions that will remain inaccessible without this skill. It is also worth saying that it is quite difficult to pump everything here, so I advise you to spend profession points only on the necessary skills.
Little interactivity, but lots of details
I was really surprised that a game that cannot boast an impressive budget looks so detailed – literally every location here is crammed with decorative objects (especially in virtual worlds) that I want to draw my attention to. The developers could well not hang pictures on the walls, arrange beautiful furniture or launch NPCs into the location, but they did it, and the game began to look more colorful and lively. And if you really like to play your role in an RPG, then such detail will play into your hands – you can spend hours looking at small rooms, virtual worlds and clubs.
Weak spots
Fortunately, in technical terms, the game has no questions – it practically does not load the computer, boasts adequate system requirements (which is not surprising) and does not crash. But, of course, it was not without a fly in the ointment – although the developers have localized the game in several languages, there are bugs in some places in the translation. For example, in dialogues, answers sometimes appear in Polish (or Czech), although the game itself works in Russian – this makes the process very difficult, since some points are simply impossible (I do not know Polish) to understand. Of course, no one bothers to use a translator, but I would like to avoid this.
This is definitely worth your attention
At the very beginning, I said for a reason that not everyone will like the game – after all, 90% of the gameplay, tied to reading and thinking, is suitable only for a certain category of players. But if you are in this category, then you can close the tab right now and go to Steam. The storyline, setting, dialogues, moral choice and travel around the worlds in search of answers are implemented simply gorgeous, I have never received such pleasure from cyberpunk games. Yes, sometimes the dialogues are unsettling, and one wrong answer in the dialogue is enough to fail the task, but it is in such conditions that you feel the charm of a real role-playing game.
✅ Benefits:
- very addicting dialogue mechanics;
- choice that influences the course of events;
- interesting side quests;
- each world works according to its own rules;
- a fascinating yet challenging deduction menu;
- many colorful locations and characters.
❌ Disadvantages:
- there are problems with translation;
- conditionally open world;
- sometimes, at the end of tasks, there are more questions left than answers.
Donald-43Westbrook, a distinguished contributor at worldstockmarket, is celebrated for his exceptional prowess in article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, Donald crafts engaging and informative content that resonates with readers across a spectrum of financial topics. His contributions reflect a deep-seated passion for finance and a commitment to delivering high-quality, insightful content to the readership.
