The seventies of the 21st century no longer belong only to Cyberpunk 2077. The novel combination of point-and-click adventure with turn-based battles is also set in the same period. Unlike the Polish RPG, however, Sunday Gold will take you to London, although you won’t enjoy much of its landmarks, as there really won’t be time for tourism.
Even the world of Sunday Gold is divided into the rich, pampered businessmen who live in luxury and carefree, and the rest of them who rub poverty with destitution and do everything, really everything, to somehow mysteriously fight their way down the street to the next stinker intersection.
What do the locals do for fun? Practically only one sport: Dogfighting. However, these are genetically modified and electronically and mechanically improved hafans who do not easily succumb to fangs and claws and are repaired for the next matches. Complete terror of the Hounds of the Baskervilles… Both the rich and the poor live on these matches, and although you won’t see one (maybe thank God), you won’t be out of an obligation.
Future Past or Past Future?
I probably don’t have to explain to you that you don’t play as rich people in this game. Into your hands, or rather one hand controlling only the mouse, a group of criminals will be entrusted, i.e. the exact opposite of heroes, even if in the end you will be trying to do some kind of heroic act.
But it all starts in a completely ordinary alley, which you wouldn’t guess the year 2070 at all. Everything looks somehow normal – ordinary street dirt, an ordinary sunken fool, an ordinary homeless person staying in front of him, and next to him in the alley some kind of hulk beats an ordinary guy who owes his master usury.
In short, Sunday Gold looks like a sci-fi author’s vision of the future from the eighties of the last century, which, after all, corresponds to the operating system of the local computers, which run only slightly nicer versions of Bios. Right from the beginning, the game breathes the atmosphere of noir detective stories and Blade Runner on you, and the style of narration reminds you of the famous Disco Elysium. At the same time, he manages to be incredibly himself.
Point-and-click adventure game or action game?
Sunday Gold is a game of two faces. A good half of the game time is essentially a point-and-click adventure where you explore the environment around you in the usual way, fill your pockets with useful items, ponder over puzzles and look forward to what else the game has in store for you.
And she’ll spew enemies at you quite often, whether it’s the aforementioned hulk in the back alley behind the local brewpub, or the security guards of the underground garages from where you’re unsuccessfully trying to sneak into the company’s headquarters.
At that point, the point-and-click adventure becomes a turn-based, tactical strategy, not unlike a JRPG. Positive and negative characters alternate per turn based on initiative, with you choosing which weapon to attack, use a special ability, or a previously looted item, or spend the entire turn defending and resting, regenerating action points.
Totally (un)ordinary action points
Action points are surprisingly a system that – although very ordinary at the core – ties both genres together in a completely extraordinary way. In combat, the role of action points is clear – different actions cost different numbers of points, so the player has to think very carefully about when it is appropriate to attack and when to rest.
In Sunday Gold, however, the action points do not disappear with the resolution of the skirmish, and you can also use them for all peaceful exploration of the surroundings, i.e. for “pointing and clicking”. Want to take a look at your local computer? It’s for 1 action point. Want to browse the shelves? So it will be for 3 points. That a closet is blocking your way to the secret door? Not only do you need 5 action points, but only Sally is suitable for this task, and she must also complete the corresponding minigame.
Unbalanced levelling
I mentioned gear and special abilities a few times above. The game has a fairly sophisticated equipment system by the standards of adventure games. In it, you will find several types of weapons to which enemies are susceptible or immune. You can dope yourself with various drugs, throw grenades and so on. Anyone who doesn’t rummage through every corner of the room won’t just come up with a new toy.
At the same time, you are rewarded with experience for battles and then skill points for reaching a new level. Each of the three characters has its skill tree and focuses on something slightly different. Frank is good with knives, firearms, and clubs, and can generally cheer his team on. Sally gets along with the boxer, tanks enemies and heals friends. Finally, Gavin prefers a baseball bat, and when faced with an enemy riddled with electronics, he can short-circuit or temporarily reprogram him to his side.
However, one of my biggest complaints about the game is related to character levelling. The level of the characters is rounded off by ten, and I managed to reach it sometime after two-thirds of the game. The rest of the time I played with the heroes that were already maxed out and just sadly watched every other screen after the fight, where the experience indicators had nowhere to move.
I can’t take it anymore!
The bittersweet pill for me was the interesting balance system of your characters. Not of mutual equanimity, but of each individual’s peace of mind, which is disturbed by the events of the game. For example, when you recklessly order a frightened Gavin to search fresh dirt, from which a rotting piece of leg peeks out, his peace of mind will seriously decrease. And its level has a major impact on the game.
Characters have three levels where they break down and start behaving irrationally and panicking, all with different sensitivities to stress. For example, Sally becomes less effective at healing her teammates, at the next level she starts hurting them herself with her actions, and when she’s nearing a complete breakdown, she doesn’t do well in combat either.
In the point-and-click passages, these states are perfectly represented by random cruel words popping up on the screen to yell or whisper at you about what a loser, murderer, badass, and more you are. In fights, they will provide you with a good amount of extra stress, as they impose a time limit on the character in question.
The first level still gives a relatively generous 15 seconds, but at the third level you only have 3 seconds for your turn, and the game texts also have jumbled letters, which forces you to make mistakes. It’s stressful, and I don’t believe that it’s just me saying that, that is, a person who can’t stand time pressure, but it’s a game-wise and thematically well-crafted element.
It makes me even sadder that something so interesting and very promising in the game is not represented to a greater extent. Situations that would cause a drop in equanimity were few and far between, and there were more than enough stimulant drugs to get you out of these states.
Stinky dogs and fat butchers
Sunday Gold is not a perfect game, but it has excellent dubbing, I liked the specific art page with comic elements, the fights and point-and-click passages are fun, and their innovative connection with action points ensures a strong interdependence, the world here and its reality make you they will interest you and the desire to find out where it all leads will not leave you until the end.
But you will be cold when you find out that the characters reach the maximum level too soon and that the promising, very interestingly designed panic system is criminally underutilized. And then there are the boss fights, which are a bit of a drag (your weapons do 50 damage when the enemy has 6k life…) and the ending dampened my enthusiasm.
Although the game is not short with its 12 hours, the ending was sudden for me. The final denouement took place in a few seconds and before I had time to think about it all, the end credits started to appear in front of me.
It struck me as rushed, unexciting and without the emotions that the characters had been able to show and convince me of their states up to that time. I was interested in the story throughout the game – it was pretty dirty, raw, mature in its way, full of blood and very scary bitches, but its ending simply did not meet my expectations.
PREVIEW : One More Gate: A Wakfu Legend (PC)
