The Red Strings Club - Cyberpunk Bartending - Games

[video=youtube;IKwKVukDsXQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKwKVukDsXQ[/video] The Red Strings Club is a cyberpunk narrative experience about fate and happiness featuring the extensive use of pottery, bartending and impersonating people on the phone to take down a corporate conspiracy. The professed altruistic corporation Supercontinent Ltd is on the verge of releasing Social Psyche Welfare: a system that will eliminate depression, anger and fear from society. However, the bartender of a clandestine club and a freelance hacker don't regard this evolution as an improvement but as brainwashing. Alongside unwitting company employees and a rogue empathy android, the duo will pull all the strings they can to bring down this scheme. [B]Cyberpunk Thriller Narrative[/B] Uncover a mysterious corporate program that promises a blissful existence while debating what does happiness means and what lengths are permissible to obtain it. [B] Psychological Bartending[/B] Read your customer's’ mood and mix the perfect cocktail to manipulate the client's emotions in order to gather the information you want and progress your agenda of stopping Supercontinent's plans. [B]Genetic Implant Pottery[/B] Design genetic implants at a high-tech lathe to change the attitude and direction of the corporation’s most influential executives. [B]Vocal Corporate Espionage[/B] Assume the voice of important figures in the Social Psyche Welfare project and play their own motivations against each other over the phone to uncloak their plans. [IMG]http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/589780/extras/RSCGeneral.png?t=1516745787[/IMG] [IMG]http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/589780/extras/trsc-bartendingcopy.png?t=1516745787[/IMG] [IMG]http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/589780/extras/VoiceCall.png?t=1516745787[/IMG]

seems pretty heavily inspired by valhalla

[QUOTE=lintz;53079232]seems pretty heavily inspired by valhalla[/QUOTE] Speaking of that, tangible interactions like the drink mixing and phone call seems like a mechanical step up from the button-action presented in Valhalla. Yet again, I get that part of the that game's charm is how uninvolved the protagonist is with outside politics, that she merely listen to opinions instead of actively get tangled in them. I wonder if this game could pull a different string to stand out, man vs corporate isn't very unique at this point.

I've only played Valhalla to a certain point but finished Red Strings Club yesterday. Both games are vastly different in the way that they approach atmosphere and gameplay. So far Valhalla seems to be mostly about getting to know the characters and the world that you're living in. As Noob4life said, taking a more passive role. And while Valhalla does touch heavy subjects every now and then it seems to have a more upbeat kind of atmosphere. Red Strings Club, on the other hand, has you engaging in multiple-choice dialogue with your guests. You use drinks to "hit emotional spots" of your guests and then hit them with the right questions to get the answers you need. Its story is branched and it also asks you to answer to existential questions instead of merely listening to them. Unlike Valhalla, the overall tone is almost noir and tends to be melancholic on occasion. Anyway, that's just my impression. The soundtrack is awesome, by the way. Do give it a listen when it's out: [url]https://fingerspit.bandcamp.com/album/the-red-strings-club-original-soundtrack[/url] [video=youtube;LUb0ZJlx0FI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUb0ZJlx0FI[/video]

So I hear this is under [sp]5[/sp] hours for a single run? I might give it a try some time.

Yeah, but it also encourages multiple playthroughs.

I need to try this out and im a sucker for Cyberpunk in general. And Vahalla is one of my favourites just because of the whole atmosphere and stuff.

Oddly unmentioned, but this plays so much like Papers, Please.

This isn't bad, but I felt the story came and go a little too hurriedly and missed out on a lot of potential by focusing too much on the corporate story instead of doing a bit of side worldbuilding. Same goes for the gameplay: you learn a new trick, get tested twice, and then that's it, never get into any comfort zone before diving into the next part. Overall I enjoyed it while it lasts, but unfortunately the feeling probably won't linger for long after I stop playing.