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About the Story
The Golden Age of heroes is over, but you're just beginning. Will you use your powers to help the world or help yourself? Set on a near-future Earth that has been irrevocably altered by the arrival of superhumans, the world has been dealing with a radical shift in the nature of humanity. For thirty years, those with world-altering powers - referred to as capes - have been at the forefront of the world's media. There has been heroes, there has been villains, and there has been world-shattering confrontations when those two groups came into contact. For a time, those individuals walked the world like modern deities. For a time, it was good.
But things change. Given time, all things resolve to entropy.
The Golden Age is over. The player, a member of the newest graduating class of an international academy for powered individuals, needs to find their place in this new world, and whether that place will be determined by their own hand - or by the machinations of others. Assigned to the troubled Paradigm City, it'll be up to the player to determine whether their name becomes a byword for fame or infamy, idealism or pragmatism, and loyalty or ambition.
Paradigm City is a 110,000 word interactive fantasy novel by James Rhoden, where your choices control the story. It's entirely text-based—without graphics or sound effects—and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.
Play as male, female or non-binary, straight, gay or bi!
Experience your life from youth to the end of your first big mission!
Multiple endings, with differences both big and small! How will your actions affect the future of the world?
Utilize the three precepts of epic heroism - brawn, bravado and brains - to solve challenges!
Increase the potency of your electrokinetic superpower to overcome dangerous threats!
Work with a team of elite heroes to solve a mystery - your relationships with them will determine their fates, and whether you'll learn their stories.
Uncover and unveil a conspiracy, or work to use it for your own ends!
Embrace the traditional values of the classical crusader, or embody the cutting-edge pragmatics of modern powered heroes!
Sixty achievements!
Three romance options to choose from - or don't, and keep things strictly professional!
Ratings and Reviews
| Average Rating:   Number of Reviews Written by IFDB Members: 1 |
This is one of the numerous superhero games originating in the choicescript ecosystem. Similar to the Heroes Rise trilogy and Fallen Hero: Rebirth, which was published a year later, Paradigm City leans towards the darker, more "realistic" side of the genre, towards what TVTropes would call "deconstruction". I enjoyed playing the game, but it isn't as successful for a number of reasons.
Paradigm City takes place in a world where superheros are an accepted part of society, working for governments and organizations as part of their forces. The player character is abandoned as a child to a superhero academy, and later ends up working for a UN (I think) superhero agency called SOLAR. They are sent to the titular Paradigm City, an isolated city run entirely by superpowered individuals, to solve a series of crimes. Of course, things become more complicated. The worldbuilding isn't as extensive as some of the longer choicescript superhero series, but it gets the job done well enough.
The game's writing felt overly vague at times. A lot of events were glossed over or barely explained; to me the most egregious was (Spoiler - click to show)Dawn's death, which jumped straight into the funeral with implications of conspiracy, but wasn't ever explained or resolved. But maybe I just picked the wrong choices? The fight scenes were impressive, but there were only two of those (and one training exercise). The investigation scenes felt like lawnmowering, just picking all the choices until reaching the conclusion. The mysteries weren't all too interesting to me, but mysteries in the usual choicescript stat-based style are hard to do. There is romance and relationship-building, but it feels like an afterthought solely due to the choicescript style. I thought I had started a romance but there was no content afterwards.
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Game Details
First Publication Date: April 14, 2017
Current Version: Unknown
License: Commercial
Development System: ChoiceScript
IFID: Unknown
TUID: p38kjm8dn58zo3m7
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This is version 1 of this page, edited by autumnc on 19 January 2021 at 8:03pm. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page
