Silicon Dreams | cyberpunk interrogation

A little like Papers, Please. This time, you're an android tasked with ferreting out "deviant" androids. Clearly heavily inspired by Blade Runner. You're an android version of Deckard, and instead of going off investigating rogue androids, you basically stay in a room and interrogate them. I had a good time doing a "villain" run--basically making all the bad/evil choices, with entertaining results. I'll probably replay again and "do the right thing" (yawn). Just be aware that there's almost no movement, and the game is 99.99% reading text on a screen. So if that ain't your jam, you won't like this game. For me, it was a fun story, if not really saying anything new about the ethics of creating humanoid robots with emotional capabilities (I mean, didn't that topic get fully explored on ST: TNG? The whole "emotion chip" thing? Just sayin').

This is just a quick review to say that I thoroughly enjoyed Silicon Dreams. It was well-worth the purchase and has a lot of replay value. I will definitely be replaying it to achieve a different outcome. In it, you are an android interrogator of your fellow androids. You work for an oppressive corporation. Androids are made that are sentient and have emotional lives, but are only property made to fulfil their purpose and be ultimately replaced by new models and scrapped. As you interrogate the androids, it becomes apparent that many of them are not truly malfunctioning or deviant, they're just feeling individuals who are in horrible situations and yearn to be free. You have a great deal of choice in the game. For each android you determine whether it should be freed, mind-wiped or destroyed. If you fail to uphold the company's oppressive standards, you yourself will be punished and destroyed. The moral complexities are quite good and I really, really enjoyed this game.

Very good game. I realized later that you actually can replay specific interrogations by rewinding in the load save menu.

I played this a few years ago but I think about it often. It's not long but has exceptionally high quality narration. Fans of hard sci-fi will get a boner.

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This game is fun and it went in a few delightful directions that I didn't expect. My only gripe with it was that it felt a bit draining to play in one sitting, so I broke it up over 3-4 sessions. I'm excited to jump back in and try out other routes! If you like moral dilemmas and stories about robots, I would highly recommend giving this game a shot!

I absolutely adored this game! It really made me feel like a master interrogator handling increasingly high-stake cases. The game is insanely fun when you play it "the right way", where you methodically consider each dialogue option, what to say in order to manipulate or comfort your victims, in what order to ask each question as to provoke a desirable sequence of emotional responses, and very importantly, what information to withhold (either to trick the subjects, surprise them later on, or so that potentially incriminating evidence doesn't get on voice record for subjects you have sympathy for). You get to carefully analyze and reflect on your moral decisions, as you try to help others to the best of your ability while preserving yourself. If all that sounds like fun, then this game will blow your mind! The sense of immersion in a futuristic world full of sentient A.I. was superbly crafted, and every story beat stood out! I got really invested in almost every character I encountered, formed emotional attachments with them, made very tough calls, had moments of regret, and savoured an extremely satisfying sense of accomplishment whenever I reached a favourable outcome. There were surprises along the way. A very good sense of tension was ever-present, and the final interrogation actually got my heart racing (I immediately described the episode to others afterwards, in the most excited manner imaginable). The most impressive part of this game, however, is how it made me feel "in control". I felt that every tiny decision carried weight and repercussions. I don't know whether the narrative really branches out in the complex way I picture it, but I was truly led to believe that every tiny choice I made mattered. The game has a charming way of acknowledging your actions and strategic thinking - My play experience felt like it was uniquely my own, and will remain special to me for years to come. (That said, I don't think this is a game for everyone. It scratched a very particular itch of mine, though I can easily imagine many others finding the experience underwhelming.)

it's a hidden gem of a cyberpunk storytelling, made very appropriately through a series of interrogations of androids (deviant or not). The game is on top of my list of recommendations to any fan of the cyberpunk genre.

It's OK. The plot is quite predictable. It's alright if you've got like, nothing else to do/play.

Wow! I am interrogating synthetic life forms, and I suddenly have empathy for toasters? WTF? This should not be happening, what is real consciousness? Am I real? Are you real? Help!