The only thing more appealing than blue hair is blue hair surrounding dingy metal neural implants. I love you, cyberpunk.
Our mechnically-altered future doesn’t get nearly as much play as I’d like. Despite the Shadowrun games, Deus Ex franchise and the actual licensed Cyberpunk game the Witcher folks are working on, I’ve yet to have my fill of smart guns and mirror shades.
Enter Kickstarter success Dex from the folks at Dreadlocks. This homage to the adventure platformers of the ‘90s ticks off important boxes right off the bat. Augmented reality hacking, blue hair and metal head bits? I’m in.
Yet still they try and sell me.
Discover the truth behind an enigmatic AI striving to reach the Singularity, a theoretical “event horizon” in which artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence and all bets about the future will be off. How will you play your part in the story? Explore the futuristic city of Harbor Prime and meet its many inhabitants, answer the challenges the city has to offer, roam the neon-lit streets, and augment your character with skills and implants. Designed as a tribute to the classic RPGs from the ‘90s, updated for a modern audience, Dex invites you to become part of a living, breathing cyberpunk universe as you decide which ultimate path you will embrace.
It’s a bit wonky here and there, but it’s hard not to appreciate a game that understands that there is such a thing as too much porn.
“So much porn it’s boring.” Amen.
The First Five is the first five minutes of a game with light commentary. Once the five minutes are up, so are we.
Contact the author at fahey@kotaku.com or follow him on Twitter at @bunnyspatial