PINOT NOIR
Drink your sorrows away in The Red Strings Club.
Camdyn Lashawn is having a crisis. No matter how hard she tries, she can’t seem to grow her follower count on social media. And that’s why she’s currently hanging in front of you, naked, waiting to be fitted with a specialized implant to fix that. You are an android created by the Supercontinent megacorporation—a brand-new model that’s capable of empathy—and your job is making Camdyn happy. The Red Strings Club is a cyberpunk adventure with multiple playable characters and a focus on dialogue over puzzles and exploration, whether it’s bartender Donovan teasing information out of patrons, hacker Brandeis tricking people on the phone with a voicechanger, or Akara manipulating emotions with implants.
To fix Camdyn’s problem, Akara sculpts implants with a futuristic pottery wheel. Accessing a computer, I can see that there are several blueprints to choose from, one of which will make her a social media sensation. But will that make her truly happy?
I decide, instead, to give her an implant that will eliminate her need for social acceptance. I rapidly tap the right mouse button to spin the wheel, using tools to carefully carve out the shape of the implant. It’s kinda fiddly, but there’s an enjoyable physicality to it. When it’s done I install it and send her on her way. Later, I receive an update. “I deleted all my social media accounts,” she says. “Now I am free.”
Donovan, proprietor of the Red Strings Club, makes people happy, too. But he does it the old-fashioned way: With booze. When a patron sits down you can see their emotions, and mix a drink that will appeal to them—to make them feel better or encourage them to talk about something difficult.
Mixing cocktails is fiddly too, but again, pleasantly tactile. As you mix booze together you see a circle drifting toward the emotion you’re targeting. And when the circle is lined up you can serve the drink. Lifting and pouring from the bottles takes some getting used to, but it’s a fun gimmick.
Supercontinent, of course, isn’t all it seems. It wants to strip people of emotions, believing they’re a burden on humanity. Is there a place for flawed creatures like us in an increasingly advanced, post-human world? The Red Strings Club tackles the issue confidently, giving the story some weight.
NEW SLANG
But the game is not, like a lot of cyberpunk fiction, totally nihilistic. Its world is bleak, certainly, but the narrative focuses on the people trying to make it better. The dialogue is a little overstuffed with unconvincing future slang, but this is a wellrealized world with nuanced characters and twists that will catch you off-guard. It helps that it looks and sounds beautiful too, with a gorgeously moody neo-noir soundtrack, expressive pixel art, and an atmospheric setting to drink in.
The game is not, like a lot of cyberpunk fiction, totally nihilistic