All links will be at the end of the review
Game Details
Time Spent Playing: 1hr 30 mins
Developer: Sympathy Systems
Publisher: Sympathy Systems
Graphic/Art Style: Realistic Visual Novel Camera Angle: Top down battlefield
Rating: N/A
Recommended Players: Indie game lovers, Rpg lovers, Strategy lovers
Intro:
Intro:
It's 2044, and your father has gone missing. Search for him in the neon-lit, cyberpunk city of Odesa. When you start up the game, you're met with a bop of a soundtrack and a beautiful background image with a cool parallax effect when you move your cursor around the screen.
From the title screen, you enter into a rather light character customization section. You're mostly picking out your stats and background rather than visual attributes. I do wish there were more in-depth visual character customization options. It would be cool to change your hair, eye, and clothing styles.
Soon after, we meet a character named Symon at the Nut Pub. Whoever named the bar needs a raise, lol. Anyway, I think Symon is my brother, and he keeps calling me "Brother," even though I'm playing a female character. Symon seems a bit clingy, as he thinks two weeks without seeing me is "half a lifetime." I'm wondering how often he expects to see me? At some point in the game, someone says, "Explosives up his ass." I do enjoy and appreciate the dialogue and naming choices in this game.
While talking to characters, it would be real swell if my character could stand on the left side of the screen and light up when it's their turn to talk. Right now, it's just a beautiful static image of the character I'm talking to on the right side of the dialogue box. You might even be able to get rid of those little character portraits inside the dialogue box, as they're hard to see and feel a bit redundant if I can already see who I'm talking to. Another way to make the talking sections more exciting and engaging would be to have minor animations for mouth or arm movements.
After talking a bit at the Nut Pub, my character and Symon head into our first battle. This is when I notice that my character portrait changes into a male-looking character? What happened to the female character I chose? Anyway, I manage to survive my first battle, and at this point, it's time to head home. I arrive at a complex of apartment buildings, but it's hard to tell where the entrance is. It took some time, but I finally ended up clicking on the red door named "Corridors." I guess that's the name of the apartment? I noticed that the location names have tiny yellow icons that are hard to see. They seem to open or close to let you know whether you can enter a location or not. It might be helpful to make these yellow icons larger and/or make them glow so they're easier to see. Right now, they're really small and blend into the background. Since I couldn't see the yellow icons, I ended up getting stuck in this area for a few minutes.
Later on in the game, I had the chance to buy food from a nearby food stall. Tell me why the fried broccoli is the most expensive item!? XD I couldn't enjoy my meal for long, as I ended up getting caught up in a turf war with a rival gang. Another battle ensues, but the AP system seems a bit confusing to me, even after going through the tutorial. One turn, I moved, healed, and moved again. Then, in another turn, I used 7 AP just to move. It kind of reminded me of playing Dungeons and Dragons, with the limited amount of actions and things you can do in battle. Also, I think it would be neat to have an undo button in battle. The cover items also seem a bit confusing, as I thought I was behind a car, but I still got shot. It might be helpful to have a better indicator of when my character is actually behind cover.
Overall, I'm enjoyed my time in Odesa. Between the catchy soundtrack, high-quality character illustrations, and amusing dialogue, there's plenty to appreciate. However, some aspects of the UI, character customization, and combat system could use a little polish to make the experience smoother.
⭐ Star Ratings
Music: ⭐⭐⭐
The music is a bop. You just gotta listen to it yourself.
Audio Design: ⭐⭐⭐
The background music fits the gritty cyberpunk theme of the game. The sound effects and VFX design feel polished.
Gameplay: ⭐⭐
Mostly a visual novel-style game with turn-based strategy battles, dialogue choices, and the ability to equip your character with weapons and gear.
Fun: ⭐⭐
I enjoy talking to the characters, but figuring out which locations are open or closed was a bit of a headache, as was trying to figure out the AP combat system.
Difficulty: ⭐⭐
It was mostly smooth sailing, except for the part where I got stuck, and I survived all the battles I was in. There was one battle where I got shot, but I think that was part of the story.
Performance: ⭐⭐⭐
No crashes or framerate issues.
Level Design/Character Design: ⭐
I wish there were more in-depth character customization options. Furthermore, there's an AI disclaimer on the Steam page, so I will have to dock stars.
AI-Generated Content Disclosure
The developers describe how their game uses AI-generated content like this:
The game uses pre-created images (background illustrations and some in-game items) generated using generative AI tools. All such content has been edited, stylized, and integrated by the development team, and will be replaced before release.
Total Stars: 16/21 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Unique Features Discovered
I didn't play enough to dive deep into the mechanics and features. However, the Steam page mentions:
Every Shot Travels: A miss can strike something behind the target or put your own squad at risk. (Maybe that's how I got shot even though I was behind a car?)
Build Around the Mission: Combine operatives, weapons, abilities, and equipment around the objective and threats ahead.
Grow Through Action: Operatives improve the skills they actually use in the field.
Make the Loot Matter: Equip what you find, build around it, or sell it to fund the next job.
I wish I had played more to really test these features. Comment below and let me know if you want me to continue playing this game!
Pros and Cons
Pros:
Beautiful character illustrations
Fun dialogue and character personalities
Just the right amount of difficulty
Nut Pub
No crashes or framerate issues
The title screen song is a bop
Cons:
Limited character customization
Confusing AP combat system
Confusing UI elements
AI usage
Pronoun usage defaults to "Brother"
Character portrait in battle defaults to a male character
Suggestions for Improvement
Let players change hair color and style, eye color, and clothing style.
Fix the pronoun issue.
Fix the character illustration in battle to show female characters.
Make the yellow icons bigger and/or make them glow so they're easier to see.
Summary:
Set in the neon-lit, cyberpunk city of Odesa in 2044, this game combines visual novel-style storytelling with turn-based strategy combat. The first thing that caught my attention was the catchy soundtrack, cool parallax effect on the title screen, and beautiful character illustrations. The dialogue is amusing, the characters have personality, and let's not forget the Nut Pub. Whoever named that place deserves a raise, lol.
However, there are a few areas that could use some polish. The character customization options are limited, and I ran into some confusing UI elements that left me stuck trying to figure out where to go next. The AP combat system also took some getting used to, and I encountered inconsistencies with my character's pronouns and battle portrait. The AI-generated content disclosure on the Steam page also affected my rating.
Overall, I enjoyed my time in Odesa, and there's plenty of potential here. With some improvements to the UI, character customization, and combat clarity, the experience could be much smoother. I didn't get to explore all the mechanics, though, so there's still more to discover. Should I continue playing and see what other shenanigans Odesa has in store for me? Let me know in the comments!
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Links:
Check out the game here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3865080/Humanity_Echo_Cyberpunk_Tactical_RPG/
Check out my playthrough here:
Episode 1:
Episode 2:
Episode 3: