![]() If you find yourself beating your head against the wall trying to figure out the correct sequence of events to solve a puzzle, you should also be aware several items are red herrings (though many are used in secret interactions). However, one major issue from the original PC release remains unchanged – the inflexible puzzle solutions and lots of back-tracking. As such, it’s much easier to identify important objects and key items quickly. Thankfully, pixel hunting is less of an issue on consoles as interactable objects and key items are highlighted as you move a character close (which even gives away several secret interactions). However, even when you consider the hint systems offered by Encodya, it still feels far from accessible.Įncodya offers up two difficulties from the get-go: one that allows the player to highlight objects on the ground and ask SAM-53 for puzzle hints, another that removes these elements, some environmental clues, and adds an extra step to some puzzles. ![]() It’s a tried-and-tested formula that has slowly evolved to make the genre more accessible. You talk to NPCs for information and quests, you hunt for interactable objects and key items, you combine items and use these newly-fashioned objects to solve puzzles, and, hopefully, make some narrative progress. You’ll swiftly discover that despite Encodya’s modern flourishes, it remains a point-and-click adventure rooted in the past. Unfortunately, this all means many potential narrative roadblocks if you get stuck on a puzzle.Įncodya quickly gets you up to speed with the state of the world and basic gameplay loop during a lengthy prologue and opening chapter. Encodya is an incredibly busy game, with multiple tasks to achieve each chapter. The overarching narrative is one of Encodya’s strong points, but you’ll need to endure some cringe-worthy dialogue. This would be great were it not for several attempts at injecting fourth-wall-breaking humour, most of which feels forced or falls flat. It often highlights the depressing and lonely situation many citizens find themselves in, but also plays on Tina’s youthful exuberance and hopefulness. As near-future narratives go, it’s a great setup that provides an excuse to travel through several key locations within the city and into a more diverse cyberspace setting.Īlthough some of the narrative beats are cliched and the story wholesome – Tina is in pursuit of her missing father to complete his secret project – Encodya can feel tonally inconsistent. They deal with poverty and a lack of purpose by spending their lives in a corporate-sponsored VR world, living out fantasy lives in cyberspace. As automation and increasingly complex robots have drastically reduced the need for a human workforce, many citizens are now Cyber-junkies. It’s a future in which corporations run urban centers by backing corrupt bureaucrats only interested in self-enrichment. The player alternates control between Tina, a nine-year-old orphan, and her loyal robot companion, SAM-53. You can easily find yourself immersed in its detailed world before that sensation is destroyed by another frustrating puzzle that requires an exact sequence of steps to make any progress.Įncodya is set in “Neo Berlin”, in the year 2062. Encodya – developed by Chaosmonger Studio and published by Assemble Entertainment – is a strange hybrid of anachronistic point-and-click gameplay with an engaging story and atmospheric presentation.
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