SENSE: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story Switch Review
SENSE: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story would categorically remain uncensored by Top Hat Studios, according to a recent post by the publishers, working alongside Eastasiasoft. Come brothers and sisters: we have to join forces against the SJW and buy this game. Stop censorship and back the developers.
I’m not a subscriber to following the crowds, but I was defiantly a sheep in this scenario, and not embarrassed to admit it. Refusing to read what the ‘controversy’ was with the game, I felt it would be better to experience it and make my own opinion before joining those legions of Daily Mail readers, inclined to share their thoughts on something they haven’t experienced.
Non-sensical Publicity
Having finished the game, I wonder what the complaints were about? It wasn’t the storyline, nor the portrayal of protagonist Mei with her bazooka boobs or ‘cosplay’ section where she could appear in less clothing and even a ‘hurt’ wardrobe.
Perhaps what was more controversial was the lack of any cyberpunk theme as most of SENSE: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story relies on 80s technology. Other than the intro and outro, there were no signs of advanced tech, evil corporations, hacking or neon that we’ve come to expect.
The tweet doesn’t address anything in particular regarding the complaints received, and I’ve surmised it was a publicity stunt [This wasn’t the case, the publishers, who contacted me directly to confirm, received a deluge of abuse for releasing the game – a lot of these comments were from folk who hadn’t even played the game, claiming it to be pornographic and what-not. It’s not, but, maybe that’s a subjective matter? Regardless, I was wrong on this one, and thus apologised].
SENSE: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story Switch Review
First impressions of SENSE: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story were poor. The animations of protagonist Mei were reminiscent of the days of miniclip.com, and early gameplay may well have been a walking simulator. Walk a few paces, interact with an NPC, a few more paces, and you do it again. And again. It repeats at the end of the game too.
By the time I reached the Chong Sing Apartments, the core narrative had kicked in, and I was going to stick with it. The story begins with Mei heading to a club to meet her date, only to have an issue with her eyes. Retreating to the toilets to remove them (they’re cybernetic), she finds herself trapped in the building, haunted by spirits on the receiving end of some
Without giving it all away, Mei scouts the building for clues and the items required to make an offering to the lost spirits so they can pass. It’s said that this is a Cantonese tradition, but it’s present in Japanese culture too, making these offerings to spirits in limbo, leaving a photo of the departed and some lit joss sticks. You have to find these shrines throughout, experiencing a few ghostly projections and dangers along the way.
For a brief time, I was looking at SENSE: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story‘s narrative for an evident ‘controversy’. The first hint was after Mei had taken off her banana-yellow overcoat. Would she be shedding more clothing along the way? No. Good. It’s not necessary as it’s not that type of game.
A PDA That Actually Has Some Use
The visuals aren’t anything special, though I did like the story sequences – still images without any dialogue that was able to propel the story forward. Unfortunately, the animation can be janky and even suffers slowdown in a few areas, which was a bit of a surprise as they weren’t intensive scenes.
SENSE: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story is a side-scrolling puzzle game if we’re to label it, and for the most part, the puzzles are done very well. I’ll have to say that the game is on the easy side as hints and even blatant answers can be found in Mei’s PDA, accessible from the menu at any time.
Puzzles were mostly satisfying, and when getting stuck, resorting to the journal would point in the right direction. Despite the hints, the puzzles need to be done in order, and you can’t fast-track areas as items will often ‘appear’ in a room that you’ve supposedly cleared.
The key thing to take away here is there’s a lot of backtracking in the game, returning to rooms you’ve been in before to locate a new item that will only materialise after you’ve completed the sequence in order. It’s fair to say that you can move around freely, but SENSE: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story isn’t without its cheap deaths. A word of warning: save frequently.
Betamax Saves The Day
For a game that features cyberpunk in the title, it’s surprising to see how prominent the Betamax is in the game, having lost the tech war with VHS decades ago (ask your parents – or even grandparents). These tapes are used like the typewriters in Resident Evil and limited, but you don’t need them so much.
Why don’t you need them? Quicksaves. At almost any stage in the game, you can quicksave from the menu, and I’d encourage you to get in the habit as it only has two autosaves, from memory at least.
Referring to these cheap deaths, there will be objects to pick up or interact with that will result in a game over screen without any hints of danger whatsoever. This can make SENSE: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story infuriating and as a result, means you should save frequently.
One of the more irritating reasons for this is the backtracking, retracing your steps once more, and the loading times. Almost every area – walking through doorways to changing direction in a corridor results in a loading screen. They’re brief but frequent, and it’s all a bit too Silent Hill without the nostalgia.
A Small Production With Clever Marketing
It took me just under a day to finish it. There were two motivations for the haste: 1) to get a review ready for the SENSE: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story release date and 2) to find out what the kerfuffle was and why Top Hat Studios were inclined to put out a tweet.
At times, this was a bit of a chore to get through. The story is pretty good, but the conclusion was disappointing. That’s a preference thing and would not influence the review score, but it was underwhelming after the time invested.
It pains me a little to have to knock the game as it wasn’t until the credits that it was revealed that the development team Suzaku consisted of two people, with additional support for music, localisation and backers. While it’s admirable that a small group could accomplish a published title, I have to be honest with my comments.
Similar Titles With Or Without Cyberpunk
If anything, it’s the gruesome deaths is where the mature content comes from, not sexual. But if Kandagawa Jet Girls can flaunt anime girls in bikinis and games like Tormentor are in the making, this game should not be in the spotlight whatsoever. Mei is no Deckard, but she’s not a bimbo either.
Let me finish off the review with some comparisons to similar games. Re-Turn – One Way Trip, The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters, Tokyo Remembrance and a little bit of Dex, minus all of the cyberpunk elements.
SENSE: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story is a run-of-the-mill ghost story with an Eastern flavour. The more challenging puzzles are satisfying, and the cutscenes are well illustrated, but the backtracking and manual saves will test your patience. It was good enough to stick through and finish.