For all of the games that I have played thus far, I always did find it to be quite the strange occurrence seeing the explosion in popularity of one particular genre that many others have enjoyed over the past decade or so, that being the unexpected source of simply simulating a wide variety of plain and ordinary jobs. Whether this be realistic farming or trucking across the country that are done by professional game studios such as GIANTS Software's 'Farming Simulator' series and SCS Software's 'American/Euro Truck Simulator' games as well as a whole assortment of other budget simulation titles that range from decent enough experiences to being a honeypot for all manners of digital slop.
CorpoNation: The Sorting Process very much fits in the middle-range of these rising simulation types of experiences, something that aims to stand out whilst keeping to its indie roots, as one thing I would like to immediately praise for right off the bat is the choice of aesthetics for this game. Seeing as the world is presented in a sharp blue/white pixelated artstyle that depicts a particularly dystopian futuristic setting which takes place in a massive corporate laboratory which also doubles as a living complex for all of its workers as depicted via the artwork for this game.
However, I won't beat around the bush here when I say that, though CorpoNation certainly has its merits, this is ultimately one indie that I generally would not recommend your average casual gamer to purchase and try out. This is something I aim to explore more of in this review to clarify why I had really wanted to come into this game enjoying it throughout but came out with some particularly mixed feelings on how it handles its gameplay as well as the story points as a whole.
With that being said, the main gameplay is divided into two parts that each serve their own purposes. For the 'work' period, this largely centres around you sorting out various 'samples' into one of four tubes in a DNA/genetic lab that gradually becomes more complex as the game goes on. The other half of this game focuses more on socializing via various interactions you can do within your own dorm, whether this be using your PC for playing minigames or engaging with fellow work colleagues and the company surveys and news alongside the highly-emphasized duty of spending your credits and 'putting back' into the economy as it were!
An obvious comparison that some will already be making here is with the iconic indie gem that is 'Papers Please', something I will be referring to on multiple occasions throughout this review here, though I would first like to address a key fault of what makes this indie not work nearly as well in the gameplay department when compared with the story as Papers Please's gameplay cycle of slowly going through each person's documents and papers in order to determine if they are allowed to enter the authoritarian state of Arstotzka is, quite frankly, dull and tedious that would only truly appeal to a tiny minority of efficient-minded players. However this is backed up by not only the premise of the game but how it interjects the story into various people whom you interact with, weighing up whether to stick to the system for financial safety or morally helping out others at your expense and the risk of facing consequences.
CorpoNation, sadly, does not do this nearly at all since the game does evolve the gameplay from simple filing of Alpha, Beta, Delta and Zeta samples into their respective tubes by introducing new types (patterns, numbers and descriptions alongside variants of these and splicing/mixing tools to properly process samples later on, even needing to keep an eye on expiration dates and 'TDS' ranges for these items!) to make the gameplay more challenging as things progress. However it fundamentally lacks any substantial involvement from the main story where it puts a spin on how you play the game and dabbling with morals like how Papers Please does it.
Before I touch upon my own concerns with CorpoNation's story, I will give some compliments on how it handles the free time segments you spend back at your dorm as I suspect the developers over at Canteen wanted to differentiate themselves from Papers Please seeing as that game only allowed the simple interaction of which bills to pay and other one-time gifts, assuming you couldn't afford it all in one go.
This is something I am glad to report that CorpoNation does better in that respect as there is plenty of opportunities for the player to delve into the lore of this world as well as take a break from the usual tedium by means of a fighting/RPG minigame (which is VERY pay-to-win via the in-game 'crystals' currency that can be purchased with credits) as well as Solitaire for those more in the mood of thinking as opposed to quick-paced action. Alongside this is an extensive store that features a whole host of furniture and decorations for the player to add to their dorm as well as other one-time opportunities for exclusive items that come up during specific days.
Given that CorpoNation has a heavy-handed overtone when it comes to the overwhelming corporate culture that dominates practically every aspect of what the player does in service to this game's giant conglomerate that is the Ringo Corporation, naturally this plays a large role into the story as the player has to contend with paying their bills that rise in inflation as the game progresses alongside other events which pressure the player into spending valuable money to satisfy the corporation that they find themselves serving under.
Sadly this is where another of this game's major issues lies with as I found that gaining money is actually not all that hard since CorpoNation has you handling much more tasks at a fairly basic and easy-to-grasp pace than Paper Please's more involved processing that throws a lot more at you to check plus other extensive interactions which require you to fully verify each individual's eligibility to pass border control. Failing to a point of causing a game over is actually quite difficult to pull off as CorpoNation has multiple safety nets for players who are struggling in the game, whether financially or having made an initial bad choice.
Papers Please not only forces the player to learn how to process people at a sufficiently decent pace to pay off the bills but also has many points throughout its length whereby the player can outright fail because of a bad call they made in specific moments, whether this be failing a sudden action sequence or angering a corrupt official by refusing to process somebody who is ineligible and cannot be accepted without being fined for making an error. CorpoNation, unfortunately, lacks these same features that would make for an even more immersive experience that adds weight to the moral dilemma that a player would face when dealing with the daily tasks of their job whilst attempting to appease the increasing demands of the Ringo Corporation.
It's a shame as well, since this indie wasn't an entirely bad time to go through as I did enjoy certain aspects of it. However CorpoNation focuses too much on the tedium of its dull work and not enough on actually giving it meaning through emphasizing a more significant impact on the game's narrative by adding actual consequences that match up with the game's harsh and dystopian premise, with perhaps the biggest criticism being that you are unfortunately 'railroaded' into a specific direction by the developers of this game as you do not have the same level of agency that you would in Papers Please.
Therefore if you were to ask me here, I would recommend that you first try out Papers Please (priced at £8.50 as of the making of this review) before even thinking of giving CorpoNation a shot as paying an extra £3.49 for an inferior experience is not what I would call 'value for money', best to wait until this game goes on sale if you are willing to accept its flaws.
