There's something defiant about the trend of deliberately ugly immersive sims. It is a statement: mechanics are king and beauty is a distraction, so here is something we scraped out of the vents on a PlayStation 1. I admire it. Not the graphics; the graphics look awful. I admire the sentiment.
The latest in this proud tradition is Parkside: Decayed Soul Manipulation (in environments not restricted by the PC Gamer style guide, that title is rendered in all caps) from Banana Hardsoft, which releases on the 31st of July but has a demo you can play right now. It's got a System Shock start with a Deus Ex finish: you're Alexander, a hacker in a rundown world where the billboards blare messages like "Do Not Hinder Law Enforcement". You hack a little too deep and men with guns kick down your door.
It's not System Shock's Trioptimum Corp, though, it's a gang of zealots set up like the Catholic Illuminati. They strap you into a machine that lets you remotely pilot a combat-ready body and send you off to kill a man. It's all part of the ineffable plan to serve the Divine Rod. Or somethin...
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