Future? No Thanks!

Expected ♥♥♥♥, but it had some of the best writings and jokes so far this year and we all know that GTA 6 will have ♥♥♥♥ writing and story. This has it beaten badly.

[i]Who could have guessed from the storepage that this game is not, in fact, pornographic? Thankfully, it only took Steam a few months of reviewing and delaying release to figure this out for us (the whole story can be found on Bluesky). If you have any doubt, the "demo" is still up and it's basically the entire open-world game limited to half an hour of play time. [/i] "Dark humour" is very hit or miss for me, but this one is definitely a hit. It manages to be both deeply political and a hilarious feelgood game for people who care about creating a better world for the proverbial 99%. The scenario is a satisfying "what if we collectively started to get our ♥♥♥♥ together", but imperfect enough to be entertaining. The protagonist is 50% conservative American and 50% the goose from Untitled Goose Game (except that you mostly cause eye-rolling and are being called out on your bs). The dialogues are chock full of bangers. The voice acting is an absolute delight and justifies the price tag just by itself (honestly WTF to the reviewer who suggested this game should be much cheaper just because it's rather short). The animations are so fun, from our chronically grumpy protagonist to random passers-by who give him sceptical looks. The fast travel option is summoning a high-tech wheelchair and being an absolute menace (you can also take the subway, but it's not as much fun). The world is detailed to the point where you can read several dozens of pages of Marx's Das Kapital with a "translation" by someone from the Cyperpunk 2077 universe at the library. There's an NPC who performs their replies to you as songs surrounded by robot dancers. It's glorious. Content details that might be relevant for some: You get an option to "flirt" with every young (adult) female NPC you can talk to, even though they are obviously professionally polite at best and actively despising you at worst. It's depicted as pathetic in a funny way rather than making anyone feel unsafe, and I didn't find it too gross. As with all his other bs, I quite enjoyed the NPCs giving him the reactions he deserved. One of your quests is [spoiler]having sex[/spoiler], which leads you to [spoiler](off-screen) prostitution with a fully consenting and fairly treated worker or a robot[/spoiler]. I thought I read something about polygon-graphical nudity, but I guess it must have been edited out to appease the censors, or just kidding. Another quest involves (as you can see in the achievements) [spoiler]eating meat[/spoiler], which usually makes me very uncomfortable. In this case though, I was far from identifying with the protagonist and it wasn't depicted as something normal or good. The actual scene gets quite intense, so sensitive people might want to know that [spoiler]you can spare the cow and still get the quest and achievement checked off[/spoiler]. Related to that, one of the best details in the game that I only noticed in a screenshot afterwards: [spoiler]If you save the cow, it will attend your funeral! <3[/spoiler] Psychedelic drugs are normal and legalised both for medicinal purposes and for fun, but the protagonist doesn't take any. "Tobacco reference" is one single cigar (also a quest and achievement). The game also has a rating for "mild violence" and one of the quests is [spoiler]getting into a fist fight[/spoiler], but it's comical with no details at all shown (if I remember correctly, but I probably would remember anything else). Strained family relationships are mentioned and here the game can actually veer into more serious territory, but that part seemed to be entirely optional (if you can live without the achievement). Actually, ALL the quests might be optional? One major bummer: dialogue advances automatically and often too fast for me to take screenshots. The store page's accessibility info says you can play at your own pace, but I wouldn't say that's the case when there's no option to manually advance dialogue. There's no back button or conversation log either, and interactions (including commentary on items or places) can't be repeated. Wheelchair driving feels like it has potential for motion sickness. You can reduce camera and steering sensitivity, but there's no option for a reticle or anything like that. The game sometimes expects you to do or say things in a particular order. It does not like it when you pick dialogue options further up on the list after trying something further down. It generally makes for the best experience to just work your way through the options systematically, though I've found one notable exception where choosing an option locks you out of content and an achievement (don't [spoiler]question your daughter's relationship choices[/spoiler] - or do, because it's probably more in-character). And finally, I feel the need to mention this especially for a game that tries to show us a better world and a dev who seemed like an idealist: he stated in the discussions that "Claude was used minimally at the very end for things like updating a shader and debugging". Yeah, that's a bit like saying he kicked a minimal amount of puppies. Very ironically, the game even features half a song saying "we don't need the help of artificial intelligence"... I'm so torn over this. I don't think I would have bought the game if I'd known, and I really don't think we should have to expect any kind of genAI use for a game like this. So I'm feeling a bit deceived - though to be clear, this kind of use is not covered by Steam's AI disclosure. I have a hard time regretting that I played it though, because it really is a very good game. It's one of the games that have made me laugh the most and the hardest, maybe even almost at the same level as the criminally underrated [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/883230/Times_and_Galaxy/]Times and Galaxy[/url]. You know what? If you haven't already, why don't you buy that one first! And/or the also criminally underrated [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1778050/Mythmatch/]Mythmatch[/url] whose Creative Director confirmed to me that their earlier no-genAI statement includes Claude or "non-creative" use and that he personally considers genAI horrible. Buying enough anti-genAI games will offset your footprint and make your Steam library genAI-neutral? We're still living under capitalism, so I'm pretty sure that's how it works... * * * If you like chill and story-driven games, check out my curator [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/35872486]Peaceful Adventures and Stories[/url]. You're also welcome to join the [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/chilladventures]group[/url].

Genuinely funny. Not annoyingly didactic (like a lot of leftist art can be). A wild set up. A loving representation of a real place. Voice acting is very good, better than multiple games I played this year with budgets an order of magnitude larger. Good game, definitely getting my money's worth.

Is it possible for colors to just make you smile? Because that's what this game's visual style is doing for me. Also I'm only an hour in and I've had more belly laughs from this game than I have in a long had in a long time. Great stuff.

Full Walkthrough: https://youtu.be/saTP8ThWYkM Gameplay: Very Good Story: Funny Graphics: Good Here I will leave the cat, friends who pass by can pet it and give it a thumbs up 　　　 　　／＞　　フ 　　　 　　| 　　 l 　 　　 　／` ミ＿xノ 　　 　 /　　　 　 | 　　　 /　 ヽ　　 ﾉ 　 　 │　　|　|　| 　／￣|　　 |　|　| 　| (￣ヽ＿ヽ)__)

Anyone need a break from alternating between the grind of dystopic entertainment and our current dystopic reality? This solarpunk gem has got you. Love that there are still people making games with humour and heart.

A short but sweet game with excellent voice acting and great writing. A good time all the way through, with puzzles that aren't especially challenging. But that's fine, because you're probably in it for the story. Recommended.

If you're feeling exhausted by bleak futuristic games and our current dystopian news cycle, this game is a breath of fresh air. It’s a wonderfully funny, eco-socialist, solarpunk adventure that plays like a cross between a classic open-world point-and-click game and the chaotic charm of Mario Kart. What surprised me most was how much I enjoyed playing the grumpy boomer! But above all, I loved how the game portrays the everyday quirks of utopia. It doesn't present a flawless fantasy. Instead, you play in a "possitopian" world that feels grounded, believable, contradictory, and hilarious.