Science fiction scenarios are usually fantastic, almost magical. The cyberpunk genre, on the other hand, often feels frighteningly close. Disjunction takes full advantage of this strength of setting.
Imagine Google deciding who runs Germany. Imagine Amazon supplying you with new eyes, arms, with improved feet or a brand new kidney. Imagine a little Apple chip working in your head that lets you see even in the deepest darkness.
You can imagine all that quite well, can”t you? And that”s what makes the cyberpunk genre so exciting! It”s not next-century science fiction, it”s not a lightsaber fantasy with space wizards fighting aliens on distant planets. Cyberpunk is sometimes painfully close.
And that”s exactly why Disjunction is such a fascinating cyberpunk game. Because it understands exactly what makes the genre so exciting. And this despite the fact that the actual story is sometimes pretty rubbish.
What is it about?
We are in the year 2048. The citizens of New York City lost their jobs, their homes, their lives a few years ago thanks to an economic crisis. As Central Park overflowed with homeless people, the city built more and more shelters in the former green heart of the Big Apple. But this was not the solution to the problem.
The desperate citizens lost themselves in drug excesses, theft and murder were the order of the day and gang membership provided one of the few ways to stay afloat. The city lost control, shielded the former park more and more and Central City was born. Now the pressure is mounting on New York”s mayor to restore order with the help of a private army.
Disjunction skilfully draws a near future full of social and economic abysses that seems almost frustratingly tangible.
We can almost tolerate the fact that the actual story doesn”t really stand out at any point. We play private detective Frank, who wants to get an innocent Central City leader out of jail, ex-boxer Joe, who has a vendetta after the death of his daughter with the help of his metal arm and jaw, and hacker Spider, who wants to keep her gang, threatened with disintegration, together in all the chaos. The interwoven story of these three characters entertains somewhat, but remains very predictable and rather underwhelms in comparison to this fascinating game world.
How does it play?
Whoever has had any sneaking game on their plate in the last 25 years will find themselves instantly at home in Disjunction. We sneak from pixel room to pixel room by either silently taking out the mechanical and human guards, bypassing them completely or slaughtering our way through the mob like Rambo with various firearms. The latter, however, rarely leads to success after a certain point.
It gets a bit more interesting with the different characters: how exactly we proceed depends on the playable person. While Spider, for example, can make himself invisible for a short time, Joe with his metal arm is more responsible for the rougher matters. This brings much-needed variety to the gameplay, as the rest of the game mechanics are very similar in each playthrough. It takes about 10-15 hours to play through the story in Disjunction.
What do we like?
- The Game World: The economic crisis, the resulting poverty and the crime and drug infested Central City. I can see it in my mind”s eye already. The background entries that can be found in the game world make me dive even deeper into it.
- The gameplay: If you like sneak games, you can certainly have a few hours of fun here. The different characters add enough variety to keep Disjunction from feeling too repetitive, but don”t really stand out either.
- The music: When we dismantle the four-legged robot thanks to Joe”s metal arm and the bass underpins our actions, there”s a whole cyberpunk feel to it. The synthetic sounds in Disjunction are like the cherry on top of the cream cake.
- The free decision: Whether we leave behind a battlefield or our enemies didn”t even notice we were there also has an influence on the story in some moments. In dialogues we can also influence the course of the story. This even makes for different endings. That”s certainly not the focus, but it adds a bit of value to the story.
What don”t we like?
- The story: In terms of story, there could have been much more – especially given the fascinating scenario. Despite different endings, the story is often too predictable and the characters remain very pale until the end. In any case, Disjunction certainly doesn”t make it onto our list of the 100 best story games .
- The graphics: At the beginning of the game, the pixel look delights with a beautiful sunrise over the rooftops of New York City. The initial euphoria quickly wears off, however, as after that the entire gameplay takes place between dreary metal walls. We would have loved to see Central City outside the buildings, sneak around among the remaining trees and explore the game world more.
Editor”s Verdict
Whether as a prequel, sequel, book or anything else: I would love to see more of this game world! The scenario around New York”s former Central Park has stuck in my head and doesn”t want to get out. I don”t really care about the actual story of Disjunction. The gameplay is fun for me as a hobby sneak, although I have to struggle a bit through the boringly designed levels.
Disjunction is certainly not without its flaws, but it still won my cyberpunk heart.
