It’s a bustling city, with cloudy highways meandering through aesthetic skyscrapers. It’s a city where lights never stop shimmering, and neon never stop glowing, for this city has never stood witness to daylight. A city with untold stories and deep-dark truths waiting to be stumbled upon. People will call it futuristic. I would like to call it an 80’s depiction of the 21st century. In reality, it’s the city of Nivalus. What’s this city? Stick with us till the end of this review to find out. Your burning curiosity will be totally worth it.
Cloudpunk is the ION LAND’s newest release that hit the stores on 23rd April 2020. It’s an adventure game that will be available across all platforms, which include, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
The game may look very pleasing from our description of it, but a game is not just about its aesthetics. Do the Graphics stand out? How’s the gameplay? Does the storyline keep you glued to the screen? We have tried to answer all of these questions in the most intriguing way in this Cloudpunk game review.
Let’s Get Delivering
The game will revolve around Rania, the main character of the game that is thrown under your control. Rania is new to the city of Nivalus and she has taken up a job in some courier service that is known by the name of Cloudpunk. Rania’s boss goes by the name of Control. Oh, the irony!
Out of my Cloudpunk gameplay, what I realized was that the entire purpose of the game lies in driving around, more like flying around, in your hovercar, and delivering packages. But mind you, we have heard that no one lasts more than a night in the company! There are two things you need to take care of: firstly, you deliver the package on time, secondly, you don’t ask what’s inside the package. I hope Jason Statham doesn’t put up a copyright strike on this game!
The game is entirely story-driven, and the story unrolls through the conversations you have with the other sims. You deliver the packages, you listen to the stories the receiver has to say, and uncover some dirty truths. The curiosity of what the next client might have to say, keeps you glued to the screen and makes you keep delivering packages after packages. You will meet all kinds of clients throughout your journey in the game. There would be shady CEOs, nightclub owners, hackers, cops, and many more. Even though the conversation forms a crucial part of the game, the voice-overs used for the conversation are not up to the mark. The characters talk without emotions, and the script that appears before you do not always align with what is being spoken. Even the Terminator had more emotions to it when it spoke up.
Hovering About
A considerable time is spent flying around in the city, and this seems like the most focused part of the game. Therefore, there are quite a lot of tricks and tactics you can make use of while driving around in your hovering car. To make the experience of driving the car a bit more realistic, fuel stations have been added at several locations along the road for you to stop and pour some juice into your machine. You can also drive at different altitudes according to your liking. You can either burn the thrusters up and go for a cloudy ride, or you can lower yourself to come closer to the low life. There also several highways built for you to speed up and give you a bit of a direction. Before you begin with your driving, I would remind you that you are not the only one up there and there is other traffic around you as well. In case you make an unpleasant interaction with the other traffic in the sky, you can always stop by for the repairs of your rig. You can also earn enough money and throw some in for more customization, either for aesthetics or for performance. Not only this, but if you are done customizing your rig and it still doesn’t feel alright, you can always trade it in for a newer and a better one.
What’s Life Like on the Land?
All the deliveries will have to be made on foot. Once you near your drop off point, you will have to start looking for the parking spots, and later, descend. Once you have parked your hovercar, you will be on foot. The camera, however, does not like nearing the land, and it will stay up in the sky. This gives the game a frustrating camera angle once you are on the floor. Once you are on the land, normal life begins. You move on, interacting with people, taking elevators and making deliveries.
Verdict
The game is more of a simulation game, rather than an adventure game. There is nothing else to be feared than the puddle of dirty truth you are about to step into with your next delivery. It would have been a little nice to have more missions in the game rather than just making deliveries. Other than that, the only stories you get to know of is that of the sims living in the city. A little background on who Rania is would’ve been nice.
It is also kind of depressing that the sun never rises in the city, and all that the city gets to see is darkness and rain. This is fun at the beginning, a player does not give it much of a though back then, but as the game proceeds, this, along with the stories that we have to listen, starts to have a toll on the player’s mind.
With all that being said, I would still conclude that the game is something the gaming community has not seen for a long while. It presents a different kind of graphics and a different kind of gameplay. However, before you begin your delivery services, keep in mind that the game is all about driving around and listening to people. If you expect any more, you will be disappointed. Happy cyberpunk deliveries to you!