robotsexpartymurder

The best part of robotsexpartymurder is the way it accommodates people who don't want to have sex parties with robots. You can play through the game as someone who is definitively not interested in sex parties, and it offers increasingly absurd options for denying their reality.

Does it bother you if people think you're someone who enjoys robot sex parties? What about the robots themselves — are you trying to maintain their respect? Is it a problem if your personal assistant software thinks that you're down with the lifestyle? Would you even be playing a game like this if it wasn't an IFcomp entry?

(Spoiler - click to show)For example, I was in a bind after Em reminded me that spending time with these robots was a potential violation of Cardinal's terms and conditions. I had no choice — I was forced to start a party and then call Em in to witness it.

This game worked on mutiple levels. Players who get hung up on the existence of the sex robots might miss the game's commentary on relationships and control as they play out between corporations and people, between law enforcement and private citizens, and between people and their possessions.

It accepts and encourages broad range of viewpoints, allowing you to pursue multiple courses of action while subtly reminding you that other people might view those actions from different perspectives. (Do you want to wear a bathrobe everywhere, like some delusional freak who pretends he's enjoying the decadence of ancient Rome, or do you just do it because you enjoy looking like an extra from Logan's Run?)

I made it to the end of the game, but I would not call it a happy ending. I'll have to probe a little deeper. You know, purely for research purposes.

So, a few things about this game. First, it's by an author whose work I love, Hanon Ondricek. On the author hand, it's an erotic hand. On another other hand, it has a 'tame setting'.

But this is perhaps the least tame 'tame' setting I've seen. The author is just bursting at the chance for you to sample some of his erotic writings.

Case in point: the whole point of the game is to interview four sex robots and ask them a series of 7 questions to help determine the cause of a murder. But the robots get bored, and you have to do other things to get them to respond. Eventually the only options, even in the clean mode, are sexual. The pictures correspond to the hardcore version, no matter what you pick. Your character still has erotic encounters with bots at the factory.

Well, in any case, this sort of thing in a game comes along with a feeling of shame, which is not what I'm looking for in a game.

Okay, that out of the way, this has some interesting things going on with it. Like Howling Dogs, it has a day/night cycle in a grey cube in a futuristic setting. There's really a sandbox feeling, as you can choose to go to work or not, spend money on things you like, configure your room with different virtual reality setting, sleep in the mimddle of the day, etc.

It can all get overwhelming. I reached a first ending on accident, and my next one implied I had missed a huge portion of the game ((Spoiler - click to show)involving accessing robot memory in-game). I'd replay, if not for the issues mentioned above.

The game is very polished. It is descriptive...perhaps too descriptive, lol. It certainly filled me with emotions, not all pleasant. And the interactivity, once I worked it out, was really intriguing. But I don't plan on playing again!

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.