![]() In conjunction, this sense of helpless horror is reinforced by the game’s story, which takes all the familiar tropes of cyberpunk–automation, AI rights, androids, VR, cloning, augmented reality, drugs, nanotech, you name it–and reweaves them into a surreal (if a bit worn) narrative, telling the tales of a human/posthuman society that has become obsolete within the guts of this higher being that is quite literally the City, ever climbing upward, until nothing makes sense and nobody understands what reality truly is anymore. There’s a 75% chance of trailer showers this evening in the crowded lower levels. Keeping the camera in cinematic mode while on foot in particular made me feel like I was experiencing life as a very small part of a very large, dying organism, as mega-towers housing hundreds would short out, then crumble in the foggy distance beyond the precarious catwalk my character was currently occupying. ![]() The effort put into creating such an immersive world must have been herculean. Each section of the city feels unique, as if handcrafted. Everything “material”–that is to say, the things that make up the world, not the interface–are made from voxels, from the structures and vehicles to the people who inhabit them. However, Cloudpunk showed me just how much can be accomplished with a small team of developers and the goal of creating an entire world of little cubes as building blocks. I felt there was little reason to be impressed by someone’s Minecraft sculptures if there was no practical use for them. I have to say, I was never particularly impressed by voxel art. Also, highways are for suckers.Įven the casual observer can see that level design takes front and center stage in Ion Lands’ debut. But when you’re working for Cloudpunk, one rule stands above all others: don’t ask questions. It doesn’t take long for Rania and Camus to realize that there is something very wrong with their new home, however, and find themselves taking on a variety of packages from shady customers. This is Rania’s first night on the job, so together with her pet/dashboard AI, Camus, she begins her new life in the gig economy of a city fraught with corporate abuse, corrupt data, and infrastructural disasters. In Cloudpunk, you play as gray-market delivery worker Rania, who has just arrived at the City, a megastructure comprised of skyscrapers stacked on top of one another. Or, you could play Ion Lands’ Cloudpunkand let the game do all the sulky ruminating for you while you zoom around in a flying car. Maybe now would be a good time to reflect on the fact that time itself is simply one long, slow march towards the heat death of the universe, and that all we can really do is cling to each other as our world decays around us. Today we’re taking a break from the murder spree simulator hemisphere of cyberpunk gaming, because we’re right in that sweet spot where the election and winter rage have finally subsided and the next crisis has yet to present itself. ![]() Getting sick of me yet? Then pay up, bitch. ![]() ![]() Welcome back to Boss Rush, the only column on the internet that will only stop when somebody buys me Cyberpunk 2077 and a console to play it on. ![]()
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