These elements come together to make the few choices encountered feel more meaningful, although the events reach the same basic outcomes regardless of the means it took to get there. Like so much of Technobabylon, it simply is. True to the zeitgeist, Technobabylon even sneaks in exploratory conversations regarding sexuality and spirituality, but they're never heavy-handed or superfluous. Even the dystopia isn't as bleak as what you'll find in the likes of Shadowrun for better or worse, it presents a generally believable picture of what life would be like toward the end of the century. I should use this line with Comcast sometime.Īs a result, Technobabylon feels like a real world, mixed with as much mirth as menace. The script smartly recalls past secondary references and repurposes them for new and often humorous effects, and at one point, a character's grating silliness actually becomes a clue. The splashes of humor tend to appear in some of the game's toughest (or at least most time-consuming) puzzles, where they serve as a nice chaser to the frustration that comes with matching incorrect inventory items or not knowing what to do with that goo that's in your pocket. This is heavy stuff, and Technobabylon has the good sense not to take itself too seriously. Knowing the truth about how a particular event played out, for instance, makes it all the more difficult to control the actions of a character who places the blame and motives elsewhere.

Much as in Game of Thrones, the story benefits from shifts in perspective between these and other characters. Bigs are rare enough that Technobabylon can safely poke fun at them elsewhere. Still, the genre's tendencies toward loners and outsiders reveals itself here as well, although it's largely limited to Latha Sesame, who spends her sad days wired to a Matrix-like 'Trance' while her crummy apartment and recycled paper clothes rot around her. He may have a penchant for covering monitoring cameras in his office, and he may dislike contemporary technology, but he's very much a part of the system. Here, you spend much of your time in the guise of Doctor Regis, a member of the Central AI's police force that's sent out to handle all the things that need an actual body. This kind of material usually runs the risk of slipping into tired homages to Neuromancer seasoned with a dash of Blade Runner, but Technobabylon rejuvenates the formula by shifting the focus. It's a cyberpunk quest with ideas that elevate it above cliché, using clever and (mostly) logical puzzles to keep you entertained for hours. That's, at least, the lesson you learn in Technobabylon, a point-and-click adventure that's set in 2087 in a city where a powerful AI controls and observes all. When the going gets tough, the tough sometimes take a fishing pole and start fishing in a bloody Jacuzzi stuffed with a mutilated body.

Technobabylon table