And The Future Looked So Bright
Fake Future immediately caught my attention, from the indie house music to the pixelated art style. And immediately lost it.
Indie developer Yuzun Technology and the artists of Qminds come together to make a sci-fi, pixelated future of cyberoids and aliens. Fake Future takes place in the near distant future (within this millennia) on a dystopian, cyberpunk Earth. Hope, the last human in the settlement, is tasked with building a functional community of cyberoids to rebuild a new society. The story is caught in medias res, with the first cyberoid, Victor, on a mission to scout lands of suitable expansion. Here, he encounters a pair of sentient cyberoids and regains memories of his life before augmentation, causing him to malfunction and even revolt against his programming. Something Hope says has happened before.
Fake Future’s introduction is captivating and immersive. Then the gameplay starts, and… it’s all gone. That build-up and excitement leads straight to the Earth base where Hope, the cyberoid researcher, is manufacturing more cyberoids and constructing a settlement for maintenance. It is a simulation game, so it’s expected, but it feels like a curve from where the story was only a couple hundred frames ago. It would have been nice if the player could have at least seen the rescue mission of retrieving cyberoid Victor. That said, once getting over the sudden drop in action, the game continues with its story, which is still beautifully constructed. There are notes and clues everywhere about the truth, but never enough to paint a full picture.
Out With the Old
The game is a stimulating adventure with funk, retro landscape, and a unique soundtrack. Moreover, the quirky characters and comedic breaks throughout the game give insight into this aftermath of the new world Earth. The game is full of easter eggs with clear reverence of old-school pixelated classics with references to Mario, Galactica, and the OG Mortal Kombat; even Pickachu makes a guest appearance. The game even begins to press against the fourth wall with mentions of how the quests are out-of-date cliches from video games hundreds of years ago (what we call modern).
It’s a futuristic world of modern ruins. Technology has evolved, and truth is hidden under years of virtual reality. There is difficulty perceiving what is organic and what is mechanical fiction. Underneath all the neon retro-decor and sly humor is a poetic take on humanity’s trajectory. Fake Future is a sci-fi tragic comedy.
For The Love of All Things
As a game still undergoing updates, Fake Future is a project that is not afraid of its own open-ended nature. There are plenty of surveys that welcome criticism and recommendations. Plenty of opportunities exist to interact with other players and dive into the community. Fake Future has created its own little world for itself and its players. It’s hard not to love a game so confident with clear intentions of growth.
Fake Future uses chatGPT for the dialogue which accounts for some of the errors in the game, but it doesn’t ruin the player’s comprehension of the action. Going on expeditions to the outer world will progress the story. There’s a lot that needs repair, from monuments to energy stations. Growing the Earth base will make restoration much easier. Daily missions either result in strengthening supplies or increasing cyberoid prosperity levels. Building coffee shops, hospitals, and fast-food joints will increase prosperity, enabling more cyberoids for play. Building more factories and workshops increases production capability.
The player can only complete production with the cyberoids, so the amount of simultaneous production/construction depends on the number of available cyberoids. Growing the base through cyberoid labor and conducting research with Hope is where most of the gameplay is. There’s a lot of room to explore and evolve on the Earth base, which keeps it interesting.
The game encourages exploration in all aspects. The tutorials aren’t hand-holding guides, but prompts to experiment, search and learn the game’s mechanics. It’s complimentary to the game’s character. The experience of the game relies heavily on the player’s ability to initiate their own investigation and take on Hope’s mission as their own. There are clues everywhere about the truth of the past and foreshadowing of what’s to come. While it may be a simulation game, it never abandons its story.
