As usual I like to play smaller games in between the big titles and this one was interesting enough to merit some discussion on Broken Forum. This is a short adventure game with pixelated art and some cool mini-games. A playthrough will last no more than about five to six hours and I can see players maybe replaying it once to make some other choices. Still I found it to be a interesting game that is well worth the money.

To me, the game’s biggest draws are its themes and its setting. In true cyberpunk fashion, a corporation is launching a cybernetic implant onto an unsuspecting public that could have far reaching implications to all of humanity. Naturally a sentient android is involved. Opposing them is a street smart hacker and a coolest of all, a bartender whose drinks can touch the hearts of anyone. The conversations dwell on the topic of free will and whether or not it is worthwhile to curtail the worst of humanity’s impulses in order to create a utopia. True to this theme, the game is populated by characters with a plethora of anxieties and mental hangups.

The main plot itself is unremarkable and I don’t much care for the big twist either, but everything else, the setting, the themes, the characters and the mini-games are all fantastic. For example, one mini-game involves crafting implants to be installed in clients. You’re supposed to read their files to know what they want and give them the appropriate implant with effects like increasing their sex appeal or making them more persuasive. But as the game soon shows you, what they want and what they need are different things.

The other main mini-game is to mix drinks for customers at the bar in order to manipulate their emotions. Get them into the right mood and they’ll be more receptive to answering your questions. The point is not just to listen to what they say but to understand what that reveals about their personality, what drives them, what they fear and so on. Pretty much every interaction in this game is about reinforcing this lesson.

The wider plot isn’t terribly convincing, relying as it does on a string of the evil corporation’s executives arriving at the bar so that the bartender can talk to them. The game tries to explain it away by suggesting that the bar itself is mystical with the red strings being the strings of fate. I do admit that it’s intriguing and very atmospheric but still too convenient.

I think the game might be better if it were longer and had more characters who came to you with their problems without need for much of an overarching plot. Even better if they were recurrent customers who come back as the circumstances in their lives as they act according to your advice. I never thought I might want a bartending game before this and this game has me convinced.