OSLO:2084

This feels like Cyberpunk for Kids. All the same beats about cybernetics, AI, corporations controlling everything, etc, but in a JumpStart! format, down to the levels being named after famous books and authors in the Cyberpunk tradition. I'd give this to a 10 year old or younger if I wanted to introduce the basic ideas of the cyberpunk in a kid-friendly format, but its not that fun, or well made; it feels like a student's high school project turned in just under the deadline, rather than a fully-developed game. I give it a tepid recommendation.

A short game with its fair share of flaws but ultimately well worth the price, and not afraid to say something to boot. It is easy to tell that this was a labor of love by a small team. The gameplay is choppy at best: I had a number of the minigames glitch out (though not really gamebreaking) and the core platforming loop is at best functional. There is a section later on that I found to be more frustrating than difficult thanks to the way the floating platforms bounced (something in the way they pull back to their original position had me uncertain of every jump, though not in a good way) and all for a character to warp me back to the beginning again, though it at least progressed the story. The story is very simple for a cyberpunk setting: you have the thing that can fix things, amp it up with some plot shenanegans, stick it in the "solve problem" slot. But there is a certain hope that shines through all the ill will, the lovecraftian corporations, the widespread apathy, the degradation of life, in the setting. You survive by showing and receiving kindness from others, by showing the world the good that can be if we let it. You succeed by retaking the ability to choose away from the need to optimize. There is a certain symmetry between this game as a whole and the message the game chooses to convey. This game has its glitches, wonky physics and animation, trial and error puzzle solving, but it shows a world that is complex and aware of its own nuances and a story the developers really cared about. And that lines up quite well with the game's thesis: we cannot let the illusion of an optimized and maximally effective society tacitly take away our ability to fail and succeed, to study and learn and create. Honestly, in an odd way, the game actually better conveys its own message by being so rough around the edges. Glad to have played.