Void & Meddler Episode 2 Continues Cyberpunk Oddity
Serious vibes
Episode 2 of sleazy posturing cyberpunk adventure game Void & Meddler [official site] launched overnight, and I'm quite keen to get stuck in. Once I finish the first episode, that is. I got a bit stuck, thanks to the wonders of adventure game logic, but it's a testament to the game that I've not given up and told it to toss right off. I do quite like its neon night city of rain, clubs, despair, and dickheads.
Void & Meddler is about a lady who's drifting aimlessly through life after losing her memory, on the verge of giving up but tonight has decided she's off to collect some memories. And this being our grim cyberpunk future, memories can be embedded in physical things. Say, that sounds like a city-spanning adventure game premise to me!
I dug the old wee free prequel prototype and I dig what I've seen of episode 1. It's noisy and brash and weird, with bright colours and music that swings from smooth futuresynth to grinding noise. I like its sleazy clubs where everyone just seems bored. I even like its spaffed references to Sonic Youth, oh-so-moody dialogue, and awkward posturing. It certainly creates a personality, even if that may be contemptible.
But don't you want your cyberpunk to posture? Don't you want it to be filled with characters who are rude and disaffected, swaggering and broken? I want my cyberpunk to be over-the-top and obsessed with style. I'd be disappointed if I didn't end up carrying around a knife and a stack of fanzines (as I did in episode 1).
It's got different endings and all, whose paths are pleasingly unsignposted.
Episode 2 was once due in April or May, but it got held up by troubles including an actual physical fire. Here's what to expect:
"A clandestine queer club where pure hormones are distributed to the city’s residents, a pirated film circulating on the black market, two detectives and a lizard investigating a disappearance, Fyn sinks even deeper into the surreal reality of the city night."
Ayup, that sounds like Void & Meddler all right!
Void & Meddler episode 1 is £3.99/4,99€/$4,99 on Steam then it's £5.59/7,99€/$7.99 season pass to get episode 2 and the upcoming final episode, which is due in 2017. I believe the whole lot may be a touch cheaper through Humble, which gives both DRM-free versions and a Steam key. It's on Windows Mac.
