After his PC debut last year, Sergey Noskov's cyberpunk-style puzzle adventure comes to PS4, Xbox One and Switch; We analyze it.
7th Sector broke into the indie scene at the beginning of 2018 only on PC, an adventure with large doses of puzzles set in a mysterious cyberpunk universe, a solo work by developer Sergey Noskov who managed to highlight last year as one of the independent video games that more interest aroused among fans, reaping even some awards. Now, and after almost a year, it reaches consoles thanks to the editor Sometimes You, transferring to PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch so enigmatic robotized world. Let's discover more of a video game that poses mechanics, challenges and audiovisual presentation similar to heavyweights such as Limbo or Inside in our Reviews.
Dystopian and oppressive universe
We know nothing about the world that opens before our eyes; We are not even sure what we are and what we do there. So much so, that we began our adventure as a kind of autonomous energy capable of making decisions, moving at will and solving small puzzles that will soon become real challenges, whether of logic, calculation or skill. And it will be precisely through levels full of cables where we will begin our journey, through which we must move and even jump between them, as long as the distance allows.
As we move forward we will have to overcome dangers, solve technological puzzles or manage devices that allow us to move forward, all from a mechanical point of view in which we must alternate between logic and skill, all while learning more about the cyberpunk world around us through scenes that can happen in the background. And it is that the displacement is always lateral, although later we will have the opportunity to be transferred to other characters with different abilities and ways of interacting with the environment and the possible dangers that lurk us.
The variety of situations and challenges to overcome is one of the truly strong points of 7th Sector; so much so that before us we will be presented with all kinds of puzzles, from mathematical calculations to others of pure logic, many of them through screens or circuits that we can somehow hack, overload or destroy. Others, however, will propose skill challenges.
Of course, throughout the adventure the trial-error mechanics are abused too much, resulting in some unattractive and even tedious puzzles, something that does not occur in other titles where a good Reviews of the situation and its reward is much more subsequent resolution Yes, the answers are on the screen or near the place where a particular puzzle is posed, but in many cases they are very, very far-fetched; and sometimes unclear in its objective.
We will even find some puzzles of very high difficulty, some of which can be prolonged too much in time; others instead are simple and direct. In this sense there are very high ups and downs that can create moments of real frustration. Although as we say, the adventure is sufficiently varied, especially when we are transferred from one character to another, which will give us the opportunity to develop different skills and overcome obstacles of the most varied.
However, overcoming the adventure can take between 3 and 6 hours, depending on our expertise with each and every one of the different challenges; In addition, if we want to unlock the four different endings we will have to complete their respective passes, something perhaps not very attractive once we know the solutions of the puzzles and many of the mysteries at the narrative level that they are discovering as we advance in their development, except for some in particular that change in each of our reboots.
The control also offers its own chiaroscuro, directly related to the shape of the character that we have to control at one time or another; So much so, that at certain times it behaves smoothly and intuitively, while at others it feels coarse and inaccurate, something that can despair in those obstacles in which the ability is decisive.
At the audiovisual level it fulfills what is proposed, with attractive environments full of details and nuances to enjoy with a soundtrack and a collection of quite immersive effects, very consistent with the cyberpunk and science fiction setting of the title. At the performance level it does present some graphic bugs that, although it does not bother excessively, at some other time they do notice themselves in a remarkable way; created in Unity, it does not squeeze the hardware to offer anything especially remarkable. In this sense it shows correct, without great boasting.
CONCLUSION
Sergey Noskov presents a video game that aims to follow the path of other great exponents of the adventures with puzzles, proposing own elements quite attractive and others already seen in similar proposals, both in its execution and in the mysterious and enigmatic character of what he wants to tell us . Although its development encourages us to move forward to discover more of such a dark but attractive universe, in many cases its marked ups and downs in solving certain puzzles can turn against you, especially for players not used to this type of mechanics and challenges, to what we must add an excessive use of the trial-error. However, the world created for the occasion and certain moments of the adventure deserve to be visited by all those who are attracted by their proposal, without arriving, of course, to the heavyweights of the genre.
THE BEST
- Really attractive cyberpunk setting
- Variety of situations and mechanics
- Successful mix of various types of puzzles …
WORST
- … With frustrating peaks of difficulty
- Poorly purified control at certain times
- Certain graphic and performance setbacks
Good
It meets the expectations of what a good game is, it has quality and does not present serious failures, although it lacks elements that could have taken it to higher levels.
