Corpus Edax is a Deus Ex-style immersive sim with a frankly irresponsible number of violence-based verbs
One of the verbs is 'punch'!
A good immersive sim, by its very nature, offers myriad varied approaches to solving problems. And yet, I find myself wanting to get hyper-specific when writing about the action of Corpus Edax, because it has an incredibly gratifying metal pipe sound, whether you’re stealthy wrapping it around the back of a blissfully unaware fool’s noggin, or lobbing it directly at their knee caps. In fact - although the game does have a delightful array of classic verbs, along with a few surprises - many of them are simply conducive to a stirring round of fisticuffs, to write my most British sentence of the week.
You’ve got other options, of course, although I can’t help feel a little implied judgement in the fact one of the non-fighting stats is simply named ‘Nerd’. There’s also a thoughtful and flesh-out trait-and-stat-based dialogue system that New Vegas-heads among you are bound to get a kick out of it. Waking up on a hospital bed at the beginning of the game, for example, my character gets a special option to complain about his bones because he’s over 60. This is reactivity I can get behind. My bones hurt too!
However, I surmise you’re here for the punching. Have a combat trailer:
As you can see, even if you don’t go for the elaborate method of stamping on a wooden chair to use the leg as a weapon, the basic melee is decently fleshed out with blocks and dodges and kicks. Oh, go on, have another one here. An impromptu tube light beating that also electrifies your opponents? I am giddy with glee.
A big part of this variety comes from the conceit that guns have been outlawed as part of the setting, which I really appreciate as a creative limitation. Less gun-ching, more punching, as they say. Do they say that? Doesn’t matter. You can download Corpus Edax’s demo on Steam here. It's more fun than singing God Save The Queen in a bath of beans, to outdo my previous most British sentence.