‘Technobabylon’ Review: An Oldschool Adventure Game That Delivers

Technobabylon will please fans of the oldschool point-and-click adventure genre, delivering a cyberpunk mystery with clever puzzles and great dialogue.

Wadjet Eye Games has plenty of experience when it comes to publishing games in the cyberpunk genre, and Technobabylon aims to be the next big hit on their list of point-and-click mysteries. The game was initially planned to release through 8 separate freeware chapters from independent developer Technocrat Games, but Technobabylon was soon picked up by Wadjet Eye Games and developed into a cohesive singular experience aimed for a retail release through Steam.

Gamers who give the title a spin will find themselves in an old school point-and-click adventure game based in a future where the cities are metallic, cold, and run by a powerful artificial intelligence. The three main characters of the game have well interwoven plots, interesting backstories, and plenty of clever puzzles to solve – without a doubt, Technobabylon can stand up to the best games in the point-and-click genre.

As always seems to be the case with cyberpunk adventures, players will uncover a story of betrayal, espionage, and corruption that stems to the very root of the city. It’s a classic plotline, and one that’s been attempted many times before. Thankfully, developer Technocrat Games does a fantastic job with conducting the story in an interesting manner, building up a cast of unique and original characters that will keep gamers guessing who was behind everything until the very end the game, which itself has multiple outcomes.

The most important part of any puzzle-based mystery games is the presentation of the puzzles themselves, and this is where Technobabylon really delivers. The vast majority of the game’s puzzles and problems are solved in a series of challenging steps, but are ultimately logical and clever enough to keep players on their toes. Of course, there are a few outliers that will leave gamers scratching their heads as to how they were supposed to know what to do, but for the most part Technobabylon is spot-on when it comes to its challenges, and gamers will feel a sense of genuine accomplishment when they surpass each of the numerous puzzles. Whether its remotely piloting drones, manipulating AI personalities, or even solving how to enter through a locked doorway, Technobabylon makes figuring out how to get to the next destination an enjoyable experience.

Between the three main characters, Latha Sesame brings the game its biggest breath of fresh air, as she is able to enter an electronic world called the Trance. From here, she can interact with other users and even AI systems she encounters, displaying them through humanistic avatars complete with unique personalities. Here, the game flexes its creative muscles at not only providing unique gameplay, but also at delivering dialogue with wit and humor as well. Whilst the other two main characters, Regis and Lao, don’t have their own Trance scenes, they have their own specialties which they bring to the table.

The graphical style of Technobabylon is both consistent and a joy to behold, with streets drenched in neon lights that shimmer over run-down areas of the city, and refreshing bursts of greenery in a gesture of defiance to the overwhelmingly metallic setting. Gamers who grew up with games like Police Quest, or enjoyed the style of Gemini Rue, will find themselves thoroughly at home with the pixel-heavy artwork often overflowing with filth and wires. Whilst the background themselves are well done, the game also deserves credit for its fantastic use of lighting, which compliments the artwork and tone of the game.

Though the game offers several paths to go down, gamers will find themselves at two predetermined destinations in the end – which is somewhat of a shame, considering it looked like some of the earlier choices would have their own implications. Instead only choices made just before the end of the game had an impact on the final scenes. It’s a bit of a letdown, but the endings deliver some conclusive points, and leave the door wide open for a potential sequel in the future.

Despite the overall positive experience, the playthrough wasn’t without its own set of minor glitches. Some dialogue in the late game appeared to come up incorrectly, with players able to call other characters who were otherwise indisposed. In addition to that, some of the voice acting – in particular that of Dr. Regis – was a little too monotone, which made even the more dramatic scenes a little less moving. Overall, however, it’s a small complaint to make in a game which took us 8 hours of solid playtime to complete, and had us eager to forge our way throughout the storyline from start to finish.

Technobabylon will please all fans of the point-and-click adventure genre, and Wadjet Eye Games can be pleased they found a cyberpunk successor that matches up with the high standards left by Gemini Rue.

Technobabylon is available now for PC. Game Rant was provided a Steam code for this review.