Ratings and Reviews by sekicho

I appreciate the work required to create a non-linear adventure game, and I think I-0 could be a really great game with some more effort, but "sophomoric" is the best way I can describe it.

Probably the game's greatest asset is the humorous nature of its prose, written in an irreverent tone that somehow fits the bratty 17.99-year-old protagonist quite well.

The core mechanic is fairly innovative, in that the player has many potential ways to move to their final destination. But the overall game design is very poor.

After messing around with the game for a while, all of the routes to the destination seem to require hitching a ride and getting assaulted by a rapist/murderer. I agree with other reviewers that this is one of those things you might want to disclose to players in advance.

However, the player can hop into the bed of a seemingly random pickup truck, which turns out to be driven by her cousin and takes her directly to victory -- a total deus ex machina, which feels cheap.

Many visible objects cannot be interacted with; IMO, this is the cardinal sin of most "bad" IF.

On the other hand, there are many unnecessary annoyances and complexities, like having to unbuckle your seat belt and open the door manually before getting out of your car, or having to look both ways before crossing a highway, or having to wait for many turns before a vehicle randomly shows up, or a simple taco restaurant parking lot involving a confusing array of separate locations.

I feel that the core mechanic could be the basis for a much more amazing game in the hands of a writer willing to put in the effort to make it more immersive and less cheap.

I deliberately chose the order of those three words, because this story is cyberpunk first, mystery second, sex third, and it is brilliant on all counts.

Let's start with the sex, because the player's initial impression would probably be that the game is mostly about sex, especially when they start the game by choosing a gender identity, sexual orientation, and set of organs. Remarkably, these aspects of the player are faithfully respected throughout the ensuing story, which involves a lot of sex, mostly with the pleasure robots from whom the player has to obtain information. There is also an occasional masturbation opportunity, as well as some potential romantic and sexual interaction with human characters, and quite a bit of nudity and innuendo, including VR porn. Depending on how you play, you might also get to witness a lot of different sexual activity by third parties. But the player has complete agency throughout, aside from having to shower with a bunch of other people every day.

The writing is tongue-in-cheek, and quite hilarious. The sexual interactions are positive and upbeat, in contrast to many AIF titles. Conversations with the robots rather reminded me of the doll characters from the "Barbie" movie, in how they can seem simultaneously very human and very artificial. The human characters are also extremely interesting to interact with and have a ton of personality. There are a few amusing side quests such as cheating to win a video game, figuring out how to sing a Japanese pop song, and a repeating dream sequence.

The game brilliantly messes with the player's mind over time. At first, (Spoiler - click to show)the player is gently persuaded that they need to have sex with the robots in order to solve the mystery. As you play, you realize that the sex is largely a distraction from the core of the game, which is all about the dystopian setting and the murder mystery. At some point, the player will realize that (Spoiler - click to show)they can beat the game without having any sex at all, as the actual path to victory centers around non-sexual interactions with the robots and the human characters. There is a lot of subtle commentary folded into this whole dynamic which I leave for the reader to discover as they play.

Like other reviewers, I found the food, work, and clothing systems to be rather tedious distractions from the "meat" of the story, but I also see how they enhance the setting and the player's desire to get out of their corporate prison.

A great work that is worth playing if you enjoy any of these genres and don't mind reading smut.

This is an incredibly well-written game. To start with a major qualification, its most "interactive" aspect is that the player has great flexibility to choose their routing around the world, and to buy and sell various artifacts, which can be used both to make money and for various in-game boosts. There is some superficial interaction during the traveling phases, but they are largely set up as passive stories.

That said, there are a huge number of routing options, and the story changes dramatically depending on whether you decide to cross the Arctic, or travel south through Africa and across the Indian Ocean, or through the Middle East or Siberia. There is every kind of vehicle imaginable, from trains to ocean liners to airships to giant robots to ballistic rockets. Certain routes and modes of transportation require investigative work to discover. So there is a great deal of replay value.

The world draws liberally from Jules Verne's works, but also has an immensely fascinating backstory surrounding various countries and technologies, much of which you can only get into by traveling to far-flung parts of the map. I particularly enjoyed the treatment of Haiti and central Africa, which are both advanced technological powers but have their own interesting cultural quirks.

The quality of the writing also extends to the characters, particularly Fogg and Passepartout, who really come to life as they interact with each other and the surrounding bit players, some of whom will crop up repeatedly throughout a journey.

Overall, highly recommended!