Just for you punks, I’ve saved the best for last. Since you’ll probably be spending what’s left of your dwindling savings on mass-produced goods in a frenzy of debaucherous spending as per the custom demanded by our consumer gods, I come to you with an offering of my own: the cream of the crop, a final list of games that will not leave you stranded in the gutter as your fingers twitch uncontrollably, mimicking the motions as they would play out on your favorite PS4 controller. Happy Holidays, you filthy animals.

Adventure Games

Among Thorns

PC: $3.00

Taking place in 2056, the world of Among Thorns is ravaged by a techno-plague known as Necronite, which is transmitted by and causes advanced technology to degrade and lose all functionality. If your body is over fifty percent cybernetic, you see the problem. Luckily, you, as Cora Bry, a smuggler-for-hire, are not augmented. Better yet, one of your contacts has tasked you with finding one Cordell Jann, who supposedly is in possession of a cure for the Necronite virus, which will fetch a high price on the black web. However, it turns out the job is not what it seems; the cops are looking for Cordell, and are soon hot on your trail.

Developer Matt Frith knew what he was doing when he made Among Thorns. It feels ripped straight out of 1995, rich with wonderfully retrofuturistic tech (cassette IDs, currency chips) and classic cyberpunk tropes evocative of Johnny Mnemonic‘s moody, international-technophiliac visuals and Ghost in the Shell‘s intricate world-building while managing to forge its own identity. The game’s opening scene takes place at an AI-run noodle bar, a slight update on a scene that might be familiar to you. The world feels lived in, almost on par with that of a Deus Ex game, featuring beautiful set-pieces in the pixel art style of Beneath a Steel Sky. My only gripe is that the game feels too short–it takes less than an hour to finish, questions are left unanswered, plot points are unresolved. But, considering this is just an alpha version of the game, consider it a taste of what’s to come. Keep an eye out for the finished product–we know we will.

Among Thorns – 8/10

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Uplink

Android: $4.99

iOS: $4.99

It’s unclear to me why it took me until now to check out Introversion Software’s Uplink. Initially released in 2001, the game puts you in the shoes of a “contractor” of sorts, having just signed on with the Uplink Corporation in the distant year of 2010. It’s your job in this sandbox hacker simulator to accept assignments at will (skill level allowing), infiltrate targeted computer systems, and steal data, plant false evidence, or whatever other morally-dubious acts may be asked of you. In order to do this, you have the ability to purchase tools, ranging from simple password breakers to LAN spoofs that disguise you as a part of the system you’re cracking into. All of this is done from the comfort and security of you own private terminal.

Uplink requires a level head and quick thinking to get in, get out, and get paid without leaving a trace. If you do, there’s serious cash involved. If you don’t, you’ll find yourself under the gun of the authorities–or worse, rival agents. Just like real life! However, Uplink is something of an acquired taste. I, personally, am more of a punch-’em-until-they-stop-moving-games kinda guy, so it was difficult for me to get into a game that essentially looks like a bunch of command windows stacked on top of one another. This may be due to the fact that Hollywood and triple-A games have brainwashed me into thinking that “hacking” is supposed to look like a puzzle or a virtual world, but for you aspiring Wizard-class hackers out there, this may be the game for you. Uplink is available within budget for mobile devices, but I played my version of the game on my gaming PC, which runs Linux. Alternatively, you can find Uplink on GOG.com for less.

Uplink – 7/10

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Subsurface Circular

PC, Mac: $5.99

iOS: $4.99

Nintendo Switch: $5.99

As far as text adventures go, bithell‘s Subsurface Circular takes the cake. In a structural twist on the sci-fi noir, you play as an android–or Tek in this case–detective (you have several options on what you’d like to name him, I picked Theta) who finds himself in the machine-exclusive Subsurface subway system on route Circular. After boarding, you are confronted by a Tek with mid-level intelligence in hopes that a fellow android with higher intelligence will assist him in finding a missing friend. Being that you are one of the few higher-level machines, you break your protocol and accept, and proceed to interview each boarding android in an attempt to unfurl a conspiracy surrounding human/machine relations and the nature of free will.

Every detail of Subsurface Circular seems to have been thought out immensely. The entire game takes place on one subway car and includes no action sequences, but is still compelling to the bitter end. Each character you come across is unique (save for some bots that are fully checked out and jamming to music), and the world feels fully fleshed out, even though the details are dispersed solely through dialogue. Cleverly, Subsurface Circular maintains its minimalism while still feeling like a cyber-noir in that it subverts common tropes (bloody gunplay, chase sequences, fisticuffs) through plot devices. At one point, Theta is accosted by two fellow investigators that reset him to factory mode by speaking a coded phrase. What remains is a battle of wills and wits as you wind your way through a world devoid of humans, suggesting that a person’s agency is determined largely by intelligence. The game is fairly short, takes between three to four hours to complete, and while the price is above the $5 limit if you’re playing on PC or the Switch, I’m willing to make an exception because this is a game that deserves to be played.

Subsurface Circular – 9/10

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Pathos

Name your own price on itch.io

However, if we’re talking personal favorites, Pathos, made by John Craige, was my most enjoyable text-based experience. You begin the game as Opera-09, an agent sent by a totalitarian regime to the AR-GUS facility, a high-security autonomous prison in which its inhabitants are kept in suspended animation and are free to interact with one another in a simulation that caters to their needs until their sentences are up. Sent to investigate a recent, massive hack that shut down life support on most of the prisoners’ stasis pods in order to target a specific few individuals connected to the chillingly phantomesque hacker, you come in contact with the prison’s Architecture, an artificial intelligence weakened by the attack, who guides you as you question the surviving prisoners. You do all of this from a terminal that looks like a red-and-black DOS screen, complete with CRT static.

The amount of detail put into this game gives it a significant horror edge, from the design to the music, down to the little details in the dialogue; at one point, Architecture characterizes the unknown hacker as a parasite, wriggling around inside it. Unfortunately, Pathos is little more than a 30-minute demo at this point, but hopefully someday soon that will change–the developer at the end expresses that he wishes to expand it into a full-length, minimalistic visual novel. You can get it for free, but I’d suggest at least throwing a couple of bucks his way, because it’s worth the ride.

Pathos – 9/10

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Action Games

Akane

PC, Mac, Linux: $4.99

Developed and published by Ludic Studios, Akane tells the story of its namesake, a techno-samurai gone on a killing spree in Mega-Tokyo in the year 2121. What ensues is a neon-soaked version of the Crazy 88 fight from Kill Bill.

And god damn, it is so much fun. As far as cyberpunk endless-wave arcade slashers go (and I’ve come across a couple), Akane delivers you the satisfaction of dozens, even hundreds of bloody deaths while offering up simple-but-brutal gameplay. The plot may seem threadbare, but after a couple of fights with the boss, Katsuro, a cyborg ninja that shows up every hundred kills, it seems like there may be some story there, suggesting that the game might actually have an ending. I couldn’t tell you for certain–the game requires so much precision that I haven’t progressed past two fights with Katsuro to know for sure. Whatever the case, if you’re looking for adrenaline-drenched, graphic mayhem, buy the shit out of this game.

Akane – 9/10

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REDO!

Download PC version for free on Game Jolt

REDO! is a short alpha build taking place in a crumbling world. You, as one of the last surviving humans (if not the very last) of some unknown apocalyptic event, must scavenge your way through a metallic world filled with bio-mechanical monsters to meet someone at the top of a communications tower. A moody pixel-graphic side-scrolling survival horror game in the vein of Blame! and Axiom Verge, it shows a lot of promise, but as little more than a demo of what’s to come, the game does have a few design flaws (somewhat sluggish controls, music that leaves a bit to be desired) and only takes about 15-30 minutes to complete. However, if you’d like to see this game come to life (as I would), consider backing developer Robson Paiva’s Patreon if you’ve got a couple monthly bucks to spare.

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Honorable mentions

I looked at a lot of games for these last articles–unfortunately too many to cover between the two of them, but also too simplistic (for the most part) to cover on their own. Below is a list of games that I found worthy of note but didn’t quite make the cut, as well as brief descriptions and links to download or purchase if you’re interested.

Coma – Third-person shooter-platformer that takes place in 2076. Similar visuals to the Deus Ex reboots. Pre-alpha build. Free PC download here

NetWork – Hacker puzzle game. Extract data packages on behalf of the Tokyo Two Police Department. Free PC download here

Arashi – Time manipulation racing platformer in a futuristic city. Student game, free PC download here

Gunkatana – Fast-paced multiplayer arena fighter. Pixel graphics, Cyber City Oedo 808–esque. Free PC, Mac, and Linux downloads here

ShellShift – Endless wave hack and slasher. Transfer your mind into those of your fallen enemies. Name your own price for PC

Saigo – Endless wave hack and slasher. Play as a samurai android fighting against other samurai androids. Akane prototype by same developers. Play in-browser or download free for PC here

Pivotal – Short VN. Choose between practical and sentimental items to take with you before the cops arrive in a futuristic dystopia. Name your own price for PC or Mac download

Swampstar – 2-minute VN set in futuristic Louisiana. Prelude to the upcoming Norco. Free PC or Mac download here, play in-browser here

The Mercury Man – Point-and-click isometric adventure. Cyber-noir in the vein of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? $3.99 for PC

A Landlord’s Dream – Point-and-click adventure. Discover why your apartment building–or perhaps the world–is experiencing a digital blackout and messing with people’s neural chips. Name your own price here

Simulacra: Pipe Dreams – found phone game, sequel to Simulacra. Free downloads for PC, Android, and iOS

JYDGE – Top-down level-based shooter. A high-quality knockoff of Judge Dredd by the developers of Neon Chrome. Technically not $5, but goes on sale often. $14.99 on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC/Mac/Linux, $9.99 on Android, and $8.99 on iOS

And, as a last hurrah, if this is your first time joining us, you can find all the previous articles below. Thank you, you’ve been a wonderful audience.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8