We play this indie proposal whose main attraction is its careful and beautiful recreation with voxels of a futuristic city
Uncompromising megacities, endless buildings, infinite neon lights… and flying cars. Iconic scenes from Blade Runner and other works of science fiction form an indelible part of the collective imagination of a future that generates both fear and fascination. If many already feel alienated, disconnected and overwhelmed by the rhythm of today’s great cities, what would humanity be like in spaces thus elevated to the nth degree? What would the normal problems of the inhabitants of a great city that rise between and above the clouds look like? What would the logistical, social, economic, political and legal problems look like in a society built on these colossi?
There are many futuristic games with different interpretations, but not so many who have dared to recreate this specific scenario of mega-cities with flying cars. The Blade Runner game did it, of course, although framed within the genre of graphic adventure – sharing space with other adventures such as Snatcher or Beneath a Steel Sky, which lend themselves more to recreating sensations without the need to create large maps. Fewer games dare to create open and fully navigable spaces in these environments, probably due to the difficulty of the challenge. Instead Cloudpunk bases its most immediate appeal on embracing that concept, putting us at the heart of Nivalis, a multi-level mega-city through which we can freely navigate -with some restrictions obviously-.
The story revolves around Rania, an immigrant from the eastern peninsula who tries to escape her debts and her past by accepting a position at Cloudpunk, a freight transport service that moves on the edges of the law and that will make us move throughout the mega-structure, carrying out commissions and following a plot with different dual decisions that will determine the course of the story and the morality of the protagonist. We will be accompanied on our journeys by Camus, an AI that adopts the personality of a talking dog and is adorable, although in any case the narrative is far from being the strong point of Cloudpunk.
The greatness of the voxels
There are games that are born from an idea, a mechanics, a story … but there are others that are born from a pure and simple technology, I feel as valid as anything else. The main attraction of Cloudpunk is its city, its surroundings, a beautiful recreation made with voxels of what would be a city of the future, with an incredible, detailed setting, in which we can recreate ourselves both in the panoramic vision of the huge buildings floating in the airs from the perspective of our floating vehicle, like feeling small in the streets and squares that we can also walk through. It is a game of sitting, walking and contemplating more than anything else.
The great thing about using voxels is that it allows you a degree of detail and control in the way you model the scenery unattainable for traditional polygon techniques. This allows each building to be modeled in a specific way, creating a detailed and tangible geometry. The streets, squares, and spaces we walk through feel like something that has been built, not a set; as if someone had made a digital dollhouse where we could see and touch every tiny piece of furniture in the rooms. And of course there is aesthetics, although voxels can be used to recreate 3D environments with great detail and realism with very small voxels, normally the real-time processing capacity causes larger voxels to be adopted, giving the game a “checkered” look. Which is often enchanted by pixelart lovers.
Nivalis is the great claim of Cloudpunk, the idea of walking through its streets full of people, having a coffee among its colossal buildings, enjoying the different architectures of its areas. The story is nice and Rania is an interesting protagonist with her credible mix of cynicism and country girl who comes to the big city, which contrasts well with Camus’ innocent nature, but is still a common thread to explore all the corners of the city. We will meet people, we will visit the highest and lowest strata of the megacity and we will make all kinds of distributions while we get to know more about the city and soak up the story of an absolutely insane first night of work, with a plot that will grow exponentially within the limits of this independent production.
Diving into the city
The possibility of putting the camera in the first person gives us the possibility to dive in the streets and really feel that we are in this futuristic and impossible city, a paragon of immersion that deserves to be explored to its last corner, especially for lovers of the futuristic setting. The variety in the scenarios, in the types of buildings and in the sections that we can walk makes it a world that invites exploration, although the general structure of the game does not stand up to it by betting on a fairly linear structure, with concatenation of missions. It leaves us a certain margin to go our own way, but such a special and well recreated environment could be elevated with a more sandbox structure, with secondary activities and a more open approach.
The story or the characters do not detract from the whole, there are good bits and pieces, Rania is an interesting protagonist, with a personality that is loved, as much as that of her partner Camus; there is also an attempt, somewhat half-baked, to create moral dilemmas and greater diversifications in history than there really are. There are very good ideas scattered in the narrative elements of the game, although the structure of the game and the dimensions of the team make them appear in a minimalist way, through spoken dialogue that collides with the general confinement of the campaign.
We will do a good part of the game mounted in our vehicle, from one side to the other. It cannot be said that the design of the missions is especially inspired, since the possibilities of interaction of the protagonist are limited. There are cosmetic items that we can buy and equip, or food that we can buy, but the truth is that at the playable level there is nothing specific to do beyond continuing the objectives that set us, following the story through the dialogues of the various characters that we are taking in our transport vehicle.
Grade: 8
CONCLUSION
Cloudpunk is one of the most striking independent games of this 2020 for its particular aesthetics and great execution when it comes to offering a futuristic city to explore. The limitations of an independent production are noted in aspects such as the variety in the type of missions, or the fact that the city is broken up in sectors separated by loading screens, but it is still a pleasure to navigate with our vehicle through the varied skyscrapers, and it impresses even more when we can walk through the streets. With an indisputable visual personality, a soundtrack that puts us in the mood and an interesting story within the limitations of the game, it is a game that leaves a pleasant flavor and that will appeal to lovers of futuristic urban aesthetics.
THE BEST
- The voxel recreation of the futuristic city
- A good story within the limitations of the game
- First-person modes and being able to walk the streets
- Good soundtrack that puts us in the mood
WORST
- Little variety in the types of missions
- More alternative possibilities to the story are missing
Very good
A game with a remarkable finish that we will enjoy and remember. A good buy, highly recommended for lovers of the genre. It is well cared for at all levels.
