Cloudpunk

Cloudpunk is an adventure game developed by Ion Lands and published by Maple Whispering Limited for Microsoft Windows on April 23, 2020. The game is set in the future and features science fiction and cyberpunk elements. It was released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on October 15, 2020.[1]

Cloudpunk
Developer(s)Ion Lands
Publisher(s)Maple Whispering Limited
Director(s)Marko Dieckmann
Writer(s)Thomas Welsh
Composer(s)Harry Critchley
EngineUnity
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Nintendo Switch
PlayStation 4
Xbox One
ReleaseMicrosoft Windows
April 23, 2020
Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
October 15, 2020
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

The player takes control of Rania, a new delivery driver for the illegal company Cloudpunk. The player has to maneuver a HOVA, a flying car, through a Cyberpunk city, collecting and delivering packages as well as passengers. It is also possible to park the car on certain parking spaces and explore parts of the city by foot. During some missions, the player can make decisions that influence the outcome and lead to different dialogues with the characters. Furthermore, the player can collect optional story items that are scattered throughout the city to unlock additional side quests and stories. It is possible to upgrade the HOVA to increase the speed and damage control, as well as buy items for Rania's apartment to decorate it.

Plot

Rania moved from the countryside to the city of Nivalis and is now working for Cloudpunk, a not quite legal delivery company. She gets her missions from a person called Control and has to deliver the packages without opening them and without asking questions. During her missions delivering packages, she drives around in her HOVA and visits different parts of the city. Along the way she meets different characters, including androids, AI, and humans at every level of society. Over the course of the night, Rania will be faced with different moral dilemmas as she discovers the truth about a rogue AI. Her loyal companion dog Camus joins her as a so-called Automata in the frame of the HOVA as Rania tries to collect enough money to buy a dog frame for him and make a living in this city.

Development

Ion Lands is an independent game developer based in Berlin, Germany and was founded in 2015. The game was announced on November 7, 2018 and was supposed to be released in 2019.[2] It was later postponed and was released on April 23, 2020. Marko Dieckmann was the director of the game, while the story was written by Thomas Welsh. Level design was done by Roman Agapov, Rebecca Roe and Marko Dieckmann. The music was created by Harry Critchley, while the voxel art was done by Maëva Da Silva, David Gulick, No Hoon, Maryam Khaleghi, Peter King, Sergey Munin, Niklas Mäckle, Paul Riehle, Eloïse Tricoli, and Christophe Tritz. The character portraits were done by William Sweetman. The game was localized into several languages by Warlocs.[3]

The game features a cast of voice actors, including Andrea Petrille as Rania, Mike Berlak as Control, Cory Herndon as Camus, and Cam Cornelius as Huxley.

Reception

Cloudpunk received "mixed or average reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic, based on 39 reviews for the PC version.[4]

Richard Hoover from Adventure Gamers gave the game a rating of 4 out of 5 stars, indicating "very good", and praised the Blade Runner-esque aesthetic, the wide variety of characters, the bustling, expansive city, and the customizable vehicle, home, and outfit while criticizing that some dialogs drag on too long, traffic patterns unaware of your presence, and the lack of a save system. Hoover called the game a "highly compelling sci-fi experience".[8]

Adzuken Q. Rumpelfelt from the online magazine Destructoid gave the game a mixed review with a rating of 6.5 out of 10, saying "Cloudpunk is certainly a game worth seeing, but beyond that, there's not much to back up its cyberpunk aesthetic. Flying around in your hover car is a joy, and the city is a consistently surprising visual treat, but whenever the game gets around to providing context to all of it, it stumbles. You largely get what it says on the box, but Cloudpunk would have benefited from more compelling gameplay and a more focused story. It's not that it's badly designed or horribly written, it just doesn't quite reach the clouds."[9]

Both Willem Hilhorst from Nintendo World Report and PJ O'Reilly from Nintendo Life were disappointed in the Nintendo Switch port of the game, criticizing the inconsistent framerate and limited draw distance evident in the port, and the downgraded visuals compared to the PC version, but praised the atmosphere and art style.[10][11]

In December 2020, Cloudpunk was named one of "the best video games of 2020" by The New Yorker.[12]

References
  1. Romano, Sal (September 3, 2020). "Cloudpunk for PS4, Xbox One, and Switch launches October 15". Gematsu. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  2. "ION LANDS ANNOUNCES CLOUDPUNK". Gamasutra. November 8, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  3. "Warlocs". Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  4. "Cloudpunk for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  5. "Cloudpunk for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  6. "Cloudpunk for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  7. "Cloudpunk for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  8. Hoover, Richard (May 22, 2020). "Cloudpunk review". Adventure Gamers. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  9. Rumpelfelt, Adzuken Q. (May 3, 2020). "Review: Cloudpunk". Destructoid. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  10. Hilhorst, Willem (October 17, 2020). "Cloudpunk (Switch) Review". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  11. O'Reilly, PJ (October 20, 2020). "Cloudpunk Review (Switch)". Nintendo Life. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  12. Parkin, Simon (December 18, 2020). "The Best Video Games of 2020". The New Yorker. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
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