Developer General Interactive Co
Publisher Humble Games, WhisperGames
Format PC (tested), Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series
Release Out now
Britain isn’t doing well in 2036, according to General Interactive’s cyberpunk detective thriller. There’s not much info to go on, but we do learn that Nelson’s Column was destroyed in a mass uprising and is now on display in the Etihad museum in Dubai, while Newcastle was apparently the last of the country’s independent city states to fail. It’s an alarming picture, perhaps because it almost sounds believable.
The fate of the nation is merely a footnote, however, in an elegantly satirical has that rare cyberpunk setting which refuses nostalgia for the 1980s and looks straight ahead from the present. Its hub is a buzzing Singapore where PI Amira Darma sets up shop, in a world that has witnessed the ascendance of Chinese power on the back of Anglo-American collapse. And despite the geopolitical upheavals, this is a scenario that throbs with contemporary relevance. Yes, the high rises in the world’s capitals are higher, clustering ever more tightly around famous landmarks, and there’s more pink and turquoise lighting around. But the problems people face, such as unfunded public services, are all too familiar.
