Gamedec

by Aethyna Dec 18, 2021 | 1 Votes | 75 Played | 0 Reviews

10 rate

Genres:

RPG , Adventure

Graphics:

Labels:

Investigation , Crime , Cyberpunk

Platforms:

Publishers:

Anshar Publishing Set in a cyberpunk world where people mostly prefer the virtual world (Virtualia) than the real one, Gamedec is a story-driven CRPG in which you play as a game detective. Similar to a private investigator, your job, when hired, is to solve problems in the many game worlds in Virtualia with your unique set of gamedec tools. Play Now Similar Games

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Summary Plotline Gameplay Graphics/ Sound Conclusion

Summary

Set in a cyberpunk world where people mostly prefer Virtualia (the virtual world) than the real one (a.k.a. Realium), Gamedec is a story-driven CRPG in which you play as a game detective, or “gamedec”. Similar to a private investigator, your job, when hired, is often to solve problems in the many game worlds in Virtualia, most of which can also be linked to issues in Realium, with your unique set of gamedec tools. There are plenty of decisions to make, people to talk to and professions to pick up as you progress through the storyline, revealing one plot twist after another!

Plotline

It’s hard to talk about the story here without delving into the details but I’ll try. For starters, the idea of a game detective or gamedec is brilliant and perfectly fits the setting of the game. In a world where most people prefer to spend their time in the virtual worlds of their choice, it’s just reasonable to assume that there will be bad actors in the virtual games as well.

Most of the story is revealed slowly but surely as you talk to people, build rapport with them, gather evidence, and eventually make the “right” (this can be subjective here) deduction. From there, you’ll then carry out the appropriate and corresponding action to solve the problem you were hired to solve… though, most of the time, it’s not as straightforward as that.

You see, the game provides you with many different ways or paths that you can get to arrive at a selection of conclusions, sometimes, it’s just not possible to “get em all” you have to really pick your fights, so to speak.

And without giving away any spoilers here, the game likes to put you in some pretty tough spots where you’ll be damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

Gameplay

Gamedec plays somewhat like a point-and-click adventure, namely because you’re expect to interact with stuff, and a visual novel because you can expect to read through a lot of dialogue, making choices along the way. Your choices, whether it is mere dialogue or an action, have consequences and may lock you out from certain paths or options, or inversely open new ones up.

Though, of course, to be honest, the web of dialogues here is a lot more complex and complicated, plus the game layered in a few different dialogue-driven gameplay mechanics. One of them is Trust. For some key characters in the story, you can make some small talk, by telling them what they want to hear, to try to gain the character’s trust before asking the real questions you wanted answered.

Sometimes, if you have enough trust to reach a milestone, you will unlock a secret clue which can be critical to your investigation. Trust can go both ways though, and sometimes, instead of buttering someone up, you can try threatening them. The type of secrets you get varies depending on how you get them.

Besides Trust, there’s also Professions. In this game, some revelations, interactions or conversation will gain you an Aspect and there are a total of 4 types of Aspects here. Similar to talent points, you can then spend them to “purchase” a Profession. Having the correct profession during a conversation or interaction can, at times, be incredibly helpful, allowing you to obtain a clue that you may otherwise not be able to get.

When you first set up your gamedec character, you’ll get to decide on his/her background as well. This can come in handy in conversations too. People in Low City, for example, don’t typically want to have anything to do with people from High City.

Once you’ve collected enough clues, you’ll be able to perform a deduction. The deduction system in Gamedec is fairly straightforward – the clues you managed to obtain, along with the ones you didn’t (the obscured and greyed out ones), are all listed on the left while the possible deduction outcomes you have unlocked are all listed on the right. The center point is the main question concerning the investigation. With enough clues, you should be able to come to the right conclusion regarding a case you’re working on.

Every deduction you make will open up new questions and actions, while locking others. After all, you can’t deduce one thing and do something else that contradicts with your deduction. Eventually, you’ll get to the end of the story and make one final deduction before closing a case. However, take note that the cases in this game are all part of an overarching storyline so info from previous cases can sometimes come in handy in later cases.

There’s also the Codex which functions like an encyclopedia of sorts, listing and describing all the info you’ve collected whether it is about the game world, the people in it or about the cases you’re working on.

Now, as brilliant as I think this game is, there are some small caveats. One of more pressing ones is the movement. It can feel a bit awkward here since getting close to something can sometimes take a couple of tries.

For a story-driven game that relies heavily on its dialogue to deliver the story, the writing here is surprisingly tight. That being said, there are still a few instances where I had access to a dialogue option asking about people I have not met yet. Of course, that’s not including the few typos I’ve encountered along the way as well.

The cost of the game can also put some people off. Personally though, I think as long as you plan on playing through the game a few times, the cost will have been worth it. After all, if you’re into achievements or if you’re simply curious about an alternative story branch that you might have missed before, you’ll want replay the game.

Graphics/ Sound

Gamedec is set in a cyberpunk world and hence, features some pretty gritty-looking graphics, designed to set the atmosphere for each scene. The art here is very well-done and it, along with the story, managed to completely immerse me into both the game and the cases my gamedec was working on. The music is pretty good too! The soundtrack matches perfectly with the setting and blends well into the background as you’re trying to figure out which deduction to make.

Conclusion

I truly can’t sing enough praises for Gamedec. The storytelling, the setting, and the immersion here are nothing short of impressive and I just love that there are so many different ways you can go about doing things. The movement controls can be a bit wonky at times, but that doesn’t take away the fact that this game is as good as they come, and well, if you’re into achievements, you can have fun playing through the story again and again, trying out other dialogue choices and maybe even discovering new story branches that you might have missed in your previous run.

New Game Added: Gamedec

by Aethyna Dec 18, 2021

Set in a cyberpunk world where people mostly prefer the virtual world (Virtualia) than the real one, Gamedec is a story-driven CRPG in which you play as a game detective. Similar to a private investigator, your job, when hired, is to solve problems in the many game worlds in Virtualia with your unique set of gamedec tools.