Genre: Point-And-Click Adventure 
Release date: May 22, 2015

Technobabylon is the latest release from Wadjet Eye games.  They have mastered the art of the point-and-click adventure.  Technobabylon is pitched as a cyberpunk story in the vein of Blade Runner and I quite enjoyed it.

In Technobabylon, we enter the city of Newton in the year 2087. You start as Latha, a trancer who is constantly plugged into the Internet. Trancing is the act of hooking up to a virtual reality world. It is similar to the Dream Machines from Dreamfall and where we all hope Oculus Rift will bring us. Trancers are addicted to being connected. Latha is pulled out of her trance to find she has lost power and is trapped inside her apartment. This intro scene is a good introduction to the world of trancing and the type of game Technobabylon will be.

After the short intro scene, you switch to Charlie Regis and his partner Max Lao, police officers who are trying to track down a mindjacker. A mindjacker is a person who uses someone else’s trance connection for nefarious activities. This mindjacker is dealing fatal blows to his victims. For the bulk of the game you play as Charlie, with a few segments where you’re back playing Latha, and a few as Max. 

The game has a slow start, and I felt it took awhile to get a feel for what was going on. As the plot unfolds I found myself entertained, but the story lacks in extrapolation. A lot of things are referred to in the past but never fully explored. A lot of characters come in and out of the story whom I felt should be more important, but I couldn’t keep track of them all when they showed up later.

Switching between the characters is really well-done. After the first switch, I was worried this game may turn out to be like The Detail, where you never get to spend enough time with any one character to understand his/her motivations. Thankfully, Technobabylon doesn’t have this problem with the playable characters.

The graphics are still the retro-styled graphics you’ll find in most Wadjet Eye games. They’re suitable but start to get really pixelated at high resolutions. I feel this game is on par with Blackwell, which I consider the best looking Wadjet Eye game.

I know the sound is good in a game when I’m into the story and not thinking about the music choices or voiceovers. The sound design is fine, with the exception of some skipping that occurs when changing screens.

The puzzles are standard point-and-click. They are well-architected into the story and often involve switching in and out of trance mode to explore the local server. It’s a cool dynamic that works really well. There are a few puzzles that move beyond point-and-click including one that involves entering a keycode into a door lock and typing a password to access a computer terminal. The variations are good and executed flawlessly.

Throughout the game the story has a lot of quick allusions to various contemporary hot topics. The use of virtual reality and computer addiction is an underlying theme. One character discusses a sex change operation, and a sex robot is a character. Suicide bombers show up in two spots in the game, and genetic engineering is an important aspect of the plot. I don’t have a problem with these topics being touched on, but they’re raised without an underlying message or opinion. They’re treated as normal aspects in the world but never paralleled with  messages for our own. If hot topics are going to be covered in a game, I’d prefer that it be done with the hope of conveying a message to our own reality.

Technobablyon gets off to a slow start but overall, I greatly enjoyed my time in the world of Newton. Following the success of the Blackwell, series, Wadjet Eye games have been hit or miss, but I’m happy to say that Technobabylon is the best game they’ve come out with since then. If you like old-school point-and-click adventures, then check this out. You won’t be disappointed.

+ Cyberpunk-themed retro graphics + Play as three different characters with intertwined stories + Enjoyable classic point-and-click puzzles well integrated into the story