Developer: Silver Spook Games
Publisher: Silver Spook Games
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Neofeud – Review
Neofeud is developed and published by the one-person game studio Silver Spook games, based in Hawaii. Neofeud takes place in a dystopian future where faulty sentient robots and failed human hybrids form the bottom layer of society, while neofeudal lords live carefree in luxurious floating cities. The extensive storyline is very political, but also full of action and really entertaining. This game is an impressive piece of work, since it’s quite excellent on many facets.
Story
You play as Karl Carbon, a former cop who is now a social worker. The story is set in the future, where humans are not the only sentient species: there are sentient robots and human-animal hybrids. The protagonist’s social status is at the bottom of human society, but his position isn’t bad at all compared to his clients and the many creatures you meet. Sentient robots have a really bad position in this dystopian society, because in contrast to non-sentient robots, they demand rights and compensation for their services. To receive these allowances, they need to prove they are at least mentally comparable to humans. This is, of course, not at all beneficial to the government to acknowledge, so most of the failed and defective sentients are classified as lower than humans, and tend to get stuck into endless loopholes of the law.
In this grim setting you work your job as a social worker by answering calls, filling in forms, do visitations of your client’s families, etc. One assignment will lead you to a family of robots who are desperately trying to get by, but are living in a horrible mess. Even when you try to help this family out, your bosses eventually screw the whole situation up, ending in a deadly shootout. This strange, over-the-top happening makes your character Karl question the whole affair and his bosses. In the search for answers you’ll pursue the sentient robot kid you were first set out to find: your client Proto-J, who turns out to be the ringleader of a sentient robot gang. Together you completely mess up a situation resulting in another shoot-out, but just before getting caught by the authorities you’re saved by a mysterious time-travelling man. This strange man turns out to be the henchman of a privileged upper-class princess who’s rebelling against society. She is trying to organize a resistance movement to protect all underprivileged humanoids, and requests that you and Proto-J join her cause.
This spectacular and complex story will take at least 12 hours to play through, and the writing is excellent and enjoyable. The characters are fun, the setting is really interesting so you’ll want to learn more about it, and there’s always so much happening which makes you want to continue playing to see where the story will take you next.
Dystopian sci-fi is typically used to sketch a twisted version of modern society which often critiques politics and governmental practices, and Neofeud is an excellent example of this application of the genre. Inequality, youth gangs, drug use, questionable governmental practices, corruption.. all are part of this story, making it an intelligent and provocative adventure. The game even covers somewhat more philosophical topics like the definition of being sentient, challenging the player to think about these issues.
Graphics
The graphics are all hand-drawn, in a rather unique style with an old-school feel to it. The drawings are pretty detailed, and full of personality and color. The environments are colorful and some places even look somewhat psychedelic because of the use of detailed texturing.
Since this is a point n click game, you’ll mostly spend your time interacting with characters and objects on a few screens. You’ll see interactable objects by mousing over them, and you’ll have a drop-down tray at the top of your screen to select interactions, for instance: look, use, or speak. This tray also contains your inventory and several tools you’ll have at your disposal. These tools are introduced to you in a pretty inventive way, integrated in the gameplay. The interface is pretty intuitive once you get the hang of it.
There are many in-game cutscenes to stitch the scenes of the story together, all animated in the same style as the game and seamlessly integrated in the gameplay.
Sound
The music is pretty cool: futuristic styled, many different types of electronic music which create a good atmosphere for the setting. Each area has a unique, fitting theme. All the conversations in the game are narrated. The narration doesn’t sound super professional, but nevertheless it’s a great addition, because it gives this game and the characters just that much more personality.
Gameplay
Neofeud is a point ‘n click adventure, in a futuristic cyber-punk dystopian setting. It deals with heavy topics like discrimination and the life of disadvantaged families in an interesting way, adding lots of humor to lighten up a grim theme like this. There are a lot of references to classic movies and actors in this game, a lot of jokes and oftentimes rather hilarious situations. There are also a lot of ways for your character to die, and many of these are just plain silly.
You’ll spend a lot of time talking to characters, and exploring the area in search of clues which will advance you in the story. Talking to characters will often unlock new options for interaction, or give you some clues on how to proceed further. It’s a lot of fun to talk to all characters you meet, because all of them have a personal story which really completes the setting of the game.
You’ll be able to make some decisions during your gameplay on how you handle certain situations, like helping out a family and hide some facts for your bosses, or following protocol and reporting them. These decisions will earn you achievements in Steam, but they don’t affect the storyline too much.
There are quite an amount of puzzles to solve during the game, but these puzzles mostly require a combination of logical thinking, gathering clues, and exploring; they are not too hard to solve and feel like a logical part of the gameplay. You’ll always have access to your inventory, which includes your DIY duct-tape wallet and all tools contained in your malfunctioning mechanical arm. These are used to solve a lot of puzzles in rather inventive ways, next to the other items you’ll find when exploring.
Conclusion
Neofeud is an excellent game, and an impressive achievement for a one-man game studio. The writing is excellent, with a fleshed-out interesting setting. The graphic style is very unique and pretty cool, but might not appeal to everyone. The soundtrack is great and fits the setting really well. The gameplay is fast-paced and will really pull you into the story. This game is recommended for people who love point ‘n click adventures, and like a deep and engaging storyline in a dark and dystopian futuristic setting.
Neofeud - Review,
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