Go! Go! GOTY! '15 ~Day Thirteen~ (Technobabylon)

Day Thirteen

• Game: Technobabylon (Technocrat Games/Wadjet Eye).
• Release Month: May.
• Source: The Steam Explorer Sale.
• Quick Look: Here. (Vinny/Alex)
• Started: 09/12.

We spend our second day in the neon-green metropolis of Newton, which I believe I've determined is somewhere in Africa. I think. The game's being cagey with details, though it might just be that I blanked on whenever they mentioned it. It's not important, at any rate: Technobabylon continues at the same pace, alternating do-or-die tense situations and more contemplative investigations and escapes, and I'm still way into it. I also mentioned last time that there were two protagonists, when so far there's actually been a handful more than that. It's not quite Resonance, where we got to spend an approximately equal time with all four of its PCs, but Technobabylon intends to let its players see a few more perspectives on the story emerging.

What I didn't broach last time was how the game is set up to provide multiple options to some specific puzzles. These can also include events with outcomes that color the opinions of those who witnessed them, as I'm discovering now. One such incident can be seen in the Quick Look above, where - redacted for those who are concerned about spoilers - the player character Dr. Regis and his partner Dr. Lao respond to an emergency call involving a suicide bomber at an empty metro-station. When trying to negotiate with him, you can either stall for time while your partner sets herself up with a rifle across the street and then use a keyword in conversation to tell her to take the shot, or actually try to get through to him and talk him into surrendering into police custody peacefully. Decisions like these have occurred once or twice more so far, though not quite with the same amount of suspense, and have the potential to switch some dialogue around. Perhaps not a significant feature given that I just played through Life is Strange, but a welcome enough novelty in a more traditional point-and-click.

As it stands, I'm still digging the story and the setting. I hope to see the ending soon, but I've covered almost everything about the game I could recall last time that, as per usual, didn't involve major story beats or puzzle solutions for the sake of those wanting to go into the game fresh. Beyond a compelling narrative, there's not a whole lot of complexity to Technobabylon and its deliberately old-school charms. I'd also commend it for not spending way too long on transhumanist themes like AIs becoming sentient like every other recent sci-fi game, but... maybe I shouldn't speak so soon. The vaguely unsettling "Central" AI that operates as the city's automated municipality might still have a few surprises up its servers.

[Though I haven't beaten Technobabylon yet, I feel I'm fairly close to the game's conclusion. That's not an inference I'm making from where the game's narrative is presently at; rather that I already scoped the achievements and the customary one per chapter are going to dry up very soon. I suspect the game will leave me on a cliffhanger instead, but then I can't really fault it for that. It's not like it's the first episodic adventure game I've played this week, after all. Even so, I'm writing this up now a few chapters from its conclusion so that I don't accidentally play until some stupid early hour and find I have a 500 word blog to write when all I want to do is pass out. Needless to say, I'll come back for a light bit of editing - this paragraph especially - once I'm through and if the ending drastically changes how I feel about the game. I would think not on that latter point, though.]

< Back to the Go! Go! GOTY 2015 Contents Page