Vicewave 1984

Vicewave 1984

There’s potential, but it’s not yet realised.

-Overview-

Vicewave is an open-world action game clearly inspired by Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. With a great synthwave soundtrack and vibrant 80’s style neons, the atmosphere is set. Unfortunately, the gameplay experience is lacking in several areas, and the optimisation needs work. Frankly, making any progress in this game is a constant uphill struggle against poor game mechanics.

Real player with 5.4 hrs in game


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A wild review appears.

Conclusion: if you’re expecting a fun retro style GTA game. Sadly, this is not it (List is down below). I have given this game several tries over the span of a few months. I cannot recommend it.

The Bad

1: Lockpicking is extremely tedious. The (Sweet Spot) needs to be configurable via difficulty.

2: Player dies far too easy, and body armor is behind a XP wall.

3: Difficulty is too high (for casual players of this genre).

4: Cars hand like their on something, and bottom out if bridge is too steep.

Real player with 2.4 hrs in game

Vicewave 1984 on Steam

cyberpunkdreams

cyberpunkdreams

“The notion that nature can be calculated inevitably leads to the conclusion that humans too can be reduced to basic mechanical parts…”

So, we’re here now. This is a really neat game that’s flourished over the years.

I’m going to start this by saying I’m on the writing staff, but I’ve been testing the game much longer than I’ve had my hands in it and so far my contributions are somewhat limited. My work on this is a recent development so, yeah. Now, I’ve been testing one version or another of this game off and on since 2016 through its alpha, really knuckling down with its steam beta. But since we’re here now, lets get on with this and actually talk about the game.

Real player with 4815.4 hrs in game


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The approach to how Action points are managed in universe is farsical.

Not only does it make no sense in the story or how the game world operates

There is certain actions that can be done for free but to reverse them costs action points

Action points you need to pay real money for or wait 10 minutes a pop for.

So say you put a goodie bag of Drugs together, 200 pills for 0 Action points, say you want to get some of those back, because you just got an event where you can give soemone 20 of those drugs for another dialogue option.

Real player with 857.4 hrs in game

cyberpunkdreams on Steam

Glitchpunk

Glitchpunk

Review of Alpha.

Been on my wishlist ever since I saw it, since it did look a lot like gta2, which was my prime streaming game for a long time, so gave it a shot as soon as I could (didnt play demo though).

Will start with positives:

  • Really does feel inspired by old gta’s a lot: radio (humor and songs), gang-respect system, tank-controls in car, saves at home, burping, gouranga and other small things - pretty cool!

  • Upgrade system which carries itself into re-playthroughs

  • Multiple endings, non-linearity in area progression

Real player with 12.6 hrs in game


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Update: There was a large patch on September 30th, Quality of Life update that should have fixed most of the serious technical issues. I haven’t replayed the game yet.

The game punked me immediately upon starting it by skyrocketing my fps to 482 in the main menu, effectively stun locking my GPU at 100% and 75°C in seconds. And my PC isn’t exactly a potato that needs frying, running an RTX2070, i7-7700K and 32GB of RAM, with an SSD to boot. Without capping the fps, it climbs to about 90 in-game on High settings, making the game stuttery and giving me a hot GPU turbine background noise. After capping the fps to 60 in the Nvidia panel, the game behaves like it should, mostly. There’s still some stuttering and weird lagging, but it becomes playable, for a bit at least. Unless you need to reduce your post-processing to medium, which completely changes the in-game lighting making everything pitch black. Checking the Known Issues topic in the discussions unveils more than a few bugs and glitches, from the mentioned post-processing problem to declining performance and heavily sparkling textures. I’ve had one complete freeze, where even alt+F4 wasn’t reacting and declining performance kept calling me to have a beer with her.

Real player with 11.0 hrs in game

Glitchpunk on Steam

NeonCode

NeonCode

It’s bad. It is really bad. I wanted to like this game, I really did, and I went in with extremely low expectations. Even though it was only $0.99, I still feel robbed. A junior cheeseburger would be more rewarding than this. I barely made it past the beginning. Everything about it is terrible, except for the aesthetic, which is only marginally interesting. I’m a huge fan of the cyberpunk and neo noir genres, but I couldn’t even begin to get into this.

I definitely don’t have a high end gaming rig, but my frame rates should NOT be this low when the graphics are this bad, so obviously much of the processing is just going to unnecessary lens flares and glow and stuff like that, which does little to make up for everything else. The gameplay is extremely rough and non-intuitive.

Real player with 5.8 hrs in game

More interesting reviews on my Curator’s Page

Neon code is an experimental 3D adventure game that plunges us in an investigation of corporate conspiracy and murder, carried out by the detective, and main character, Craig Williams, in a cyberpunk world, full of lights and futuristic technology.

The city where the action takes place is vast and amenable to exploration. The 3D graphics are simple but well-done, with dark backgrounds, only lit by street lights and neon ads, which fit perfectly into the story environment. The music, predominantly electronic, blends surprisingly well with the game atmosphere and accompanies us without interruption.

Real player with 3.9 hrs in game

NeonCode on Steam

Lacuna: Prologue

Lacuna: Prologue

I can’t wait for this game to drop. I played the prologue through and was excited. the game play was varied, there are alot of interactivity between the character and the environment. I really like how you can move through the game as the character talks to himself, most games you have to either skip the monologue or not hear it to continue playing. I never thought I’d like a game with this type of graphics but I’ve been finding more and more games like this that I really like. I saved the date on my calendar for this game.

Real player with 2.2 hrs in game

This is going to be a gem! The prologue mainly is a tutorial of the game mechanics but it doesn’t feel like one at all. It feels like you are experiencing a story and based on the previews of the full game, the choices you make have an impact!

Also, the world just fits my taste perfectly! This is some modern scy-fi stuff mixed with noir elements, considering you play a detective anyways. Filled with so many details, you can’t help but feel like you were in another world for an hour :)

I also love that the game challenges you to use your brain and not just follow the instructions.

Real player with 1.4 hrs in game

Lacuna: Prologue on Steam

N1NE: The Splintered Mind Part 1

N1NE: The Splintered Mind Part 1

Welcome to Neo Eysden!

N1NE: The Splintered Mind is a Cyberpunk narrative-driven game, designed exclusively for VR. Set in the year 2099 where you play a resourceful detective as you explore, interact, investigate and interrogate your way to the bottom of a suspicious murder that will take you through the real world as well as Nu.Real.

In a world torn between monopolistic conglomerates and ruthless gangs, we step into the shoes of Avery Nine. N1NE: The Splintered Mind follows his journey as he is forced into contact with the seedy underground, resistance movements, and the nefarious corporations in his quest to uncover the truth behind a mysterious murder.

N1NE: The Splintered Mind Part 1 is the first chapter in a planned trilogy that will follow Avery Nine on a quest to uncover the truth behind his friend’s murder, a truth that goes deeper than he ever imagined. Avery will encounter some of the darkest sides of Neo Eysden, but hope can always be found in those who are willing to stand and fight.

Players will interact with the world by exploring, manipulating objects, scanning items to discover more clues, hacking security and computer systems, conversing with various characters in the world, solving puzzles, and more.

N1NE includes an amazing original score by Felix Watson (The Invisible Hand, Henry Mosse and the Wormhole Conspiracy, Road Warden)

N1NE: The Splintered Mind Part 1 on Steam

Code.Breaker()

Code.Breaker()

Code.Breaker() is a cyberpunk visual novel about technology, crime, and trying to survive in a world ruled by corporations.

Setting

2083, Free City-State of Seattle. Augmentations are commonplace, most people at least having a brain-computer interface chipped in. Sentient Androids live amongst the population, together with genetically modified humans and cybernetically enhanced people.

The corporations fight with other corporations over their bottom line, both figuratively and literally, making it a hotspot for so-called “Ronin”. These “Ronin” are modern-day mercenaries doing the dirty work for anyone who can pay them, most of the time corporations.

Story

You take the role of a hacker working for Akiyama CyberTech as a “Network Security Expert”. Your job is to keep the Seattle branch office safe from outside intrusion and the network security of the building in shape. It’s a mostly ceremonial position to fulfill legally required human quotas, which you only got through nepotism.

In truth you were born without citizenship in the slums of Redmond and honed your skills in the underground hacking scene.

One day, you get an email from an anonymous sender who knows your secret, threatening the life you’ve built up.

Now it’s up to you to take back control!

Gameplay

  • Talk to colleagues and make decisions that matter

  • Point and click on background items to get more information about your environment

  • Hack into systems by quickly solving puzzles

  • Play through a thrilling office story where you defend yourself from the shadows of your past

Code.Breaker() on Steam

Hacker Simulator

Hacker Simulator

The game is fine. There are a lot of features I was expecting that are simply missing. Tab completion in the terminal is missing. A place to sell accounts a “darknet” if you will. Finding bank accounts to steal money from. Currently the only way to make money is to do contracts.

These don’t pay much and feel grindy. You will quickly get bored because there is not enough variation in mission types. Making money takes a while most missions (in the first 10 hours at least) pay out 10 “shellcoins” which are bitcoins in the universe. The more “advanced” missions require you to compile a custom exploit which costs money (you can’t sell this exploit to the darknet). You need to buy 3 different files which will cost you ~12 shellcoins and you’ll end up making maybe 15 coins from the mission.

Real player with 30.2 hrs in game

First, I like this game. It fun. BUT devs listen… it’s slow and grindy. I hear there are cool things in the late game. I want to get there, but right now, I’m bored.

Next, just an observation about most simulator games, this one included, what do I do with all this money? I beg of you, give me something to do with this money! Can I buy a new apartment? Decorate this one? Leave my house, like… ever? Go shopping? If there is nothing to do with the money, except make more money, then the game will quickly die in our libraries. Having money is only fun if you can spend it. Otherwise, it’s just pretty paper.

Real player with 11.3 hrs in game

Hacker Simulator on Steam

Tell Some Story: Foz

Tell Some Story: Foz

The project will not be able to surprise you with ultimatum mechanics or gameplay innovations, but it will try to keep your attention with an intriguing and rich plot, as well as non-standard visuals and atmosphere. The main task was to create an adult and serious story with contrasting visuals, in which voxel and low poly models are mixed.

The game is hardcore enough, in rare moments of shootouts, you have to show considerable ingenuity to emerge victorious from this or that situation. My advice is to read the tips, because any bullet can be the last one. The plot, which unfolds more and more with each level, will lead you to one of twelve endings, the choice of which will depend only on the player.

Features of the game:

  • Action-adventure + Third person shooter.

  • Specific voxel / lowpoly graphics.

  • Dark cyberpunk theme.

  • Extremely detailed characters.

  • A cozy bar as a location.

  • Intense storyline with twelve endings

  • Faithful companions to help you on your adventure.

  • Realistic damage system affecting both the player and his enemies.

And much more.

Tell Some Story: Foz on Steam

DataJack

DataJack

A sci-fi dive in the 90s, both for the game design + gameplay and for the dystopic cyberpunk concept style.

Gameplay per se is a bit wonky and you have to get used to the stealth mechanics, which are really retro-style by all means.

Still, the game is pretty enjoyable, the atmosphere is right and the lore is well thought out, which you can extrapolate by the mission briefing/debriefings and from the files you download from the terminals, giving the appropriate feeling and background, much alike to the first Deus Ex game.

Real player with 7.3 hrs in game

You are a one man go in and solve the problem type of covert or overt operative whom corporations hire to do their dirty laundry. Covert if you move effortlessly like a ninja from shadow to shadow, crouch like a tiger, and jump like a spider waiting for the right moment to feed needles into the skull of your enemies. Or overt if you prefer the cacophony of machine guns and the smoke C4 makes when you are fed up with doors that don’t greet you with open sesame right at your arrival.

You can even hack systems, steal company data and make some side income by grabbing datacubes and other interesting things that come at your way. And since this is a Cyberpunk/Neuromancer inspired game presumably made by transhumanist wonks who enjoy running around with subdermal chips under their butt-cheeks, replacing limbs and adding subdermal armor and other kinds of protections are also available.

Real player with 6.6 hrs in game

DataJack on Steam