Gamedec is an amazingly well-polished CRPG that stands head and shoulders above its peers. It does a incredible job of making the illusion of choice matter (while being all about choice), as you bounce between one cybercrime to the next, while a larger plot unravels around you. I highly recommended this game, if you haven’t played it you are doing yourself a disservice.

Story
You play as a Gamedec, a detective for hire that investigates issues that happen in the numerous virtual worlds that the vast amount of humanity spend time in. A lot of attention has been spent fleshing out the world around the setting, and it comes together as a unique mix, with serious vibes The Matrix, The 13th Floor, Existenz, amongst many others. It ticks all the boxes you would expect from a cyberpunk setting- mile high city enclaves where the poor live at the bottom, ruined wastelands outside the city, functional immortality by uploading your “self” to a brain in a box so you can continue living in virtual worlds, child and societal exploitation, discussions around AI before moving onto questioning what defines an existence and how your perceptions and choices could be altered by slight changes in events.

Gameplay
Ultimately gameplay resolves around you solving the case in front of you. This is done by gathering hints from each game environment and the people who live in them, and making deductions based on the evidence you have found. Missing a piece of evidence can lock you out of a deduction, which changes the flow of future dialogue and can change the outcome of your case. You can’t gather every hint for each deduction, as some are locked on competing story paths, or require certain professions to be available.

Professions are “jobs” that allow you additional dialogue options or to manipulate the environment in subtle ways. They can help you get more dialogue options, bypass systems, make you seem more trustworthy or open up other branches of investigation. Your dialogue choices award different aspects, each which is based on your communication style (direct, empathetic ect), and each professions requires a different amount of each of the 4 aspects to unlock. These aren’t required, but add a lot more flavour to the game.

You have complete control over how you investigate (or ignore) each case, and many of the dialogue options serve to either give you hints or world build. Many of the characters are reoccurring and remember past actions and options, which helps steer the game in branching directions. The great thing is there are essentially no wrong answers, as every decision influences future paths.

Being a isometric investigation game, gameplay is limited to exploring each environment, and talking to people. Combat is non-existent outside of scripted dialogue battles though your actions can have fatal consequences.

Graphics
The graphics match the world(s) that have been built. There’s enough detail in everything to tell the story without going overboard, and important things can easily be found if you are prepared to snoop around. Each of the game worlds you investigate feel like games you could play now, and the “real” world environments match what’s been described in game, from the opulence from living up high to the dark and grimy lower levels. When going for second playthrough, I was surprised at how much I had actually missed, and I thought my first run was very thorough.

Music
The game has no vocals (all dialogue is text driven), and the classical music does a good job of setting the scene while not overshadowing what’s happening on screen. It hums along quietly in the background, never overstepping it bounds, but in a few instances really helps set the pace of urgency for what’s happening in game.

DLC
There’s a few different packages of DLC, from extra skins and premade characters, guides, an Art book and Soundtrack. Everything is free except the Art book and soundtrack. I can’t comment on the art book, however the music was quite good in game.

Achievements
If you are wanting to get 100% achievements it’s easy enough, though there are plenty that are missable without making the right actions. Do yourself a favour, play through on the true detective mode one the first run to fully enjoy the story, before going back to clean up.

For more reviews please visit https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/curator/31327216/

Gamedec is an amazingly well-polished CRPG that stands head and shoulders above its peers. It does a incredible job of making the illusion of choice matter (while being all about choice), as you bounce between one cybercrime to the next, while a larger plot unravels around you. I highly recommended this game, if you haven’t played it you are doing yourself a disservice. [B]Story[/B] You play as a Gamedec, a detective for hire that investigates issues that happen in the numerous virtual worlds that the vast amount of humanity spend time in. A lot of attention has been spent fleshing out the world around the setting, and it comes together as a unique mix, with serious vibes The Matrix, The 13th Floor, Existenz, amongst many others. It ticks all the boxes you would expect from a cyberpunk setting- mile high city enclaves where the poor live at the bottom, ruined wastelands outside the city, functional immortality by uploading your “self” to a brain in a box so you can continue living in virtual worlds, child and societal exploitation, discussions around AI before moving onto questioning what defines an existence and how your perceptions and choices could be altered by slight changes in events. [B]Gameplay[/B] Ultimately gameplay resolves around you solving the case in front of you. This is done by gathering hints from each game environment and the people who live in them, and making deductions based on the evidence you have found. Missing a piece of evidence can lock you out of a deduction, which changes the flow of future dialogue and can change the outcome of your case. You can’t gather every hint for each deduction, as some are locked on competing story paths, or require certain professions to be available. Professions are “jobs” that allow you additional dialogue options or to manipulate the environment in subtle ways. They can help you get more dialogue options, bypass systems, make you seem more trustworthy or open up other branches of investigation. Your dialogue choices award different aspects, each which is based on your communication style (direct, empathetic ect), and each professions requires a different amount of each of the 4 aspects to unlock. These aren’t required, but add a lot more flavour to the game. You have complete control over how you investigate (or ignore) each case, and many of the dialogue options serve to either give you hints or world build. Many of the characters are reoccurring and remember past actions and options, which helps steer the game in branching directions. The great thing is there are essentially no wrong answers, as every decision influences future paths. Being a isometric investigation game, gameplay is limited to exploring each environment, and talking to people. Combat is non-existent outside of scripted dialogue battles though your actions can have fatal consequences. [B]Graphics[/B] The graphics match the world(s) that have been built. There’s enough detail in everything to tell the story without going overboard, and important things can easily be found if you are prepared to snoop around. Each of the game worlds you investigate feel like games you could play now, and the “real” world environments match what’s been described in game, from the opulence from living up high to the dark and grimy lower levels. When going for second playthrough, I was surprised at how much I had actually missed, and I thought my first run was very thorough. [B]Music[/B] The game has no vocals (all dialogue is text driven), and the classical music does a good job of setting the scene while not overshadowing what’s happening on screen. It hums along quietly in the background, never overstepping it bounds, but in a few instances really helps set the pace of urgency for what’s happening in game. [B]DLC[/B] There’s a few different packages of DLC, from extra skins and premade characters, guides, an Art book and Soundtrack. Everything is free except the Art book and soundtrack. I can’t comment on the art book, however the music was quite good in game. [B]Achievements[/B] If you are wanting to get 100% achievements it’s easy enough, though there are plenty that are missable without making the right actions. Do yourself a favour, play through on the true detective mode one the first run to fully enjoy the story, before going back to clean up. For more reviews please visit https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/curator/31327216/