Analysis of Let Bions Be Bygones, an overwhelming cyberpunk show

Let bions be bygones bases a large part of his bet on a overwhelming stagingusing a curious pixel art with three-dimensional effect and many neon lights to capture on screen its interesting fusion of cyberpunk and film noir setting. We are facing an almost purely narrative game, with some reminiscence of the graphic adventure genre, but which ultimately leaves almost all the prominence in the narrative and in the selection of dialogues. Keeping our distance, because it doesn’t even come close to reaching the levels of excellence of that one, we could say that we are facing a kind of Disco Elysium with a noir and futuristic setting.

Unfortunately, the title shows that it is a humble project carried out by a group of just 5 people, under the name of Bohemian Pulp, billing a video game whose seams are noticeable and which displays several defects typical of a first-time work. We are faced with an attractive title, with a magnificent setting and the most interesting graphics, but at the same time we have a game full of clichés, very predictable, and full of rough edges that begin with a user interface that can be greatly improved. Taking into account what adjusted from its launch price, 14.99 eurosthis is a recommendable title for lovers of science fiction and cyberpunk who are looking for a narrative title, simple and without excessive pretensions.

Choose your dystopian future

The protagonist of the title is eliDisgraced private inspector John Cooper. Plagued by debt, he must return to business to solve one last case that will allow him to have a golden retirement. Specifically, he must find a girl from the rich areas of the planet, who has been lost in the underworld that is the slums of the planet Terrahive. This world represents the typical dystopian future that begins to be more than present in the environment, and although it is portrayed superbly, it begins to lose some of its freshness. The story is interesting, it has a marked noir feel, and the characters work and have good dialogue. ButOn the other hand, the plot is very predictable, It is developed in a somewhat confusing way, and the last section denotes the rush of having to finish a humble project that has been extended excessively, leaving a hasty ending and an anecdotal third act compared to what it promised.

The essence of the game lies in its dialogue system, full of decisions that branch the game’s plot into different paths. These decisions allow our detective develop a personality between 3 different ones: scientific, empathetic and direct or typical of a man of action. Depending on the personality developed, different options will be opened in the dialogues, and certain events will have a success percentage based on them. The a priori system is interesting, but it works a bit strangely. It is never very clear which decisions highlight a type of personality, nor which one is predominant for the character. Several unavailable dialog options are displayed depending on the case, and in general The system is confusing.

In addition to this system, there will be different options to advance in the adventure, depending on how we develop our investigations. Although the game does not have an inventory per se, there will be situations where we obtain different objects that will allow us to resolve various situations in different ways. The goal of the game’s creators is to promote replayability, since they estimate that the game presents us with more than 1000 choices that branch the plot, which can lead to one of the final eight possibilities that the game has. the same lasts between 4 and 5 hours. Unfortunately, at the time of this review the game It does not have a translation of its texts into Spanish, These are only available in English.

Improved interface

The title takes place in scenarios where we can only move the character in a single plane, from left to right and vice versa. Operation is done with a pointer, and the elements that can be interacted with are highlighted with a white circle. Another problem with the game is that This interaction is quite crude, sometimes it is difficult to click with the mouse on the object or character with which we want to interact, since they are not correctly delimited. The fact of lack an inventory itself It is problematic, due to the fact that sometimes we are not clear about what objects we are carrying or not, and in general the way the game communicates with the player can be improved, too crude and with elements typical of an amateur game.

The dialogs are displayed in an interface located to the right of the screen, of adjustable size, since the one available by default is tiny and very impractical. There are conversations that are repeated, with actions that should not be done, and a multitude of imperfections here and there. The scenarios are very, very small, finding in each of them very few characters or interactable elements. Several of them have a dimension of literally 10 steps.

Rain and neon lights

What is perhaps the strong point of the title is its superb visual section. It has opted for a very attractive pixel artwith scenarios with several scrolling planes that show great depth, and which are also populated with details and life. The representation of this dystopian cyberpunk future is wonderful, and without a doubt justifies enjoying the title if we are lovers of them. It is true that some elements are excessively pixelated and have a somewhat rough finish, but the effect is what was sought, and the finish achieved is very personal and distinctive. As could not be otherwise in a title of this setting, rain and neon lights are omnipresent, and the representation of the environment is dirty and decadent. The lighting and color palette used give a magnificent touch to the game’s graphics, and The chosen artistic direction is a success.

Within the sound section we find a shocking dichotomy in the dubbing of the characters, since in some the work is excellent, in the case of the protagonist, but in others it is a bit squeaky with performances that are not completely convincing. The soundtrack fails to shine, and is constantly in the background without getting much prominence. The game has had several bugs and programming errors at launch, although We must highlight the constant work of the small team behind the game to polish all these defects. Although there are still things to improve, the title is much more stable and functional than it was in its early days.

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