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Bionic Dues

A fun Roguelike that could have some people enjoying many hours of it's randomly generated maps, but has a bit of a learning curve and often times has quite a bit of a time investment to it.
Bionic Dues Game Cover
75%Game Brain Score
story, gameplay
graphics, grinding
77% User Score Based on 571 reviews
Critic Score 65%Based on 1 reviews

Platforms

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Bionic Dues Game Cover

About

Bionic Dues is a single player role playing game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Arcen Games and was released on October 8, 2013. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

"Bionic Dues" is a tactical, turn-based roguelite game where you must quell robot rebellions with your customizable mech units. The game features a variety of missions filled with malfunctioning enemy robots, and you must exploit their flaws to succeed. With over 40 unique bots and challenging tactical situations, it offers depth and replayability. Brace yourself for the final attack and ensure the safety of the city.

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77%
Audience ScoreBased on 571 reviews
story32 positive mentions
graphics15 negative mentions

  • Bionic Dues offers a unique blend of turn-based tactical gameplay and roguelike elements, providing a satisfying challenge for players who enjoy strategic planning.
  • The game features extensive mech customization, allowing players to mix and match different classes and upgrades to create a tailored combat experience.
  • The humor and quirky dialogue from enemy robots add a lighthearted touch to the otherwise intense gameplay, making it enjoyable and entertaining.
  • The graphics and presentation are dated and may not appeal to all players, potentially detracting from the overall experience.
  • The learning curve can be steep, with a lack of clear tutorials and overwhelming amounts of information that may confuse new players.
  • The gameplay can become repetitive over time, as missions often boil down to similar objectives and strategies, leading to a sense of monotony.
  • story
    365 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story in *Bionic Dues* is minimal and primarily serves as a backdrop for the gameplay, revolving around a robot uprising against humanity, with players controlling customizable mechs to undertake various missions. The campaign unfolds over 50 days, where players choose from procedurally generated missions that impact their final battle against the robot forces, but the lack of narrative depth and character development leaves much to be desired. While the mission variety and strategic choices add replayability, the overall storytelling is simplistic and often feels like an afterthought, focusing more on mechanics than a compelling narrative.

    • “The campaign unfolds across a city map filled with procedurally generated missions, where you can choose which objectives to tackle over the course of dozens of days leading up to a climactic final battle.”
    • “The mission variation is fantastic and constant, trying to choose which mission to do next and trying to decide when to fight the final battle adds tension to the already tense and fun dungeon crawls.”
    • “Each mission you embark on has its own objectives and unique attributes; your goals range from killing all the enemies to destroying certain targets, to simply evading and escaping in time.”
    • “There's no build-up to this moment — it's treated the same as every other mission.”
    • “The final mission(s) were mostly a chore to hunt down all of the bots.”
    • “Those looking for a well-developed story will find very little of that here (lots of setting, but the plot is something you make yourself).”
  • gameplay
    157 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of "Bionic Dues" is characterized by its challenging turn-based tactical mechanics and roguelike elements, offering depth through customization and strategic decision-making. While some players appreciate the complexity and replayability, others criticize the cluttered interface and steep learning curve, which can detract from the overall experience. Despite its flaws, the game provides a unique blend of tactical combat and loot mechanics that can be rewarding for those willing to invest time in mastering its systems.

    • “While the game doesn’t lean heavily on cinematic presentation or elaborate storytelling, it succeeds by delivering depth through mechanics, replayability, and a palpable sense of risk in every decision.”
    • “If you take the time to learn the mechanics of this game you’ll find that it has wonderful depth, interesting engagements, and customizable replayability.”
    • “The gameplay is super fun and tactical (XCOM style) and the customization that you can do on your mechs is pretty extensive.”
    • “After that, the cheap design of the UI, graphics, gameplay, and everything else just turns you off this game.”
    • “The gameplay is repetitive and nothing too special.”
    • “The battles are annoying and the interface is overly complex for what, at its core, should be fairly simple (yet strategic) gameplay.”
  • music
    135 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many praising the catchy and energetic soundtrack composed by Pablo Vega, particularly the title and main menu themes, which are described as standout tracks. However, some players find the music repetitive and annoying after extended play, noting a tonal inconsistency between the upbeat tracks and the game's more serious themes. Overall, while the soundtrack is considered a highlight by many, its limited variety may detract from the experience for some players.

    • “However, the soundtrack, composed by Pablo Vega, injects energy into the missions and helps maintain a sense of momentum.”
    • “This game is fantastic, the strategy is simple yet complicated and perhaps the strongest point of the game is the music itself, some of the best I've heard from a game for a long while.”
    • “Seriously - one of the best game soundtracks of all time, from the anime-inspired theme tune to the in-game battle music.”
    • “Graphics are basic, music becomes annoying after a few hours, sound effects may be a little repetitive.”
    • “The music is repetitive and there are only about 3-4 different tones.”
    • “Frankly, I also found the music and voices to be awful (though a lot of the sound design itself is pretty nice), and I tend to just turn it off and listen to my own music.”
  • graphics
    84 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game have received largely negative feedback, with many users describing them as basic, outdated, and lacking polish. While some appreciate the clarity and functional design, the overall aesthetic is often criticized for being unappealing and reminiscent of low-budget or retro titles. Despite the gameplay being enjoyable, the visuals detract significantly from the overall experience, leaving many players wishing for improvements in design and artistic quality.

    • “The overall aesthetic may not dazzle, but it prioritizes clarity, ensuring players can focus on the tactical details that drive the experience.”
    • “While the graphics are nothing special, the game is stylistically pleasing with a great sense of atmosphere, sound, and writing.”
    • “Graphics are simple, sound and music are good and for the price it's totally worth it!”
    • “The game would be much more appealing to a wider audience if not for its outdated graphics and clunky UI.”
    • “I just wish the graphics weren't so totally awful; the whole screen is a chaos of edge contrasts, making discerning the contents an exercise in mouseover tooltip use.”
    • “The graphics have really put me off from playing it; plus, the game was confusing and just literally throws you into the limelight and hardly teaches you the basics.”
  • replayability
    37 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game offers high replayability due to its diverse squad loadouts, procedural generation of maps and loot, and a variety of tactical challenges. Players can experiment with different character combinations and difficulty settings, ensuring a fresh experience with each playthrough. While some may find it repetitive towards the endgame, the depth of mechanics and achievements provide ample motivation to return.

    • “There is great replayability due to the wide variety of possible squad loadouts of your exos and pilots.”
    • “With procedural drops and levels, there is lots of replay value!”
    • “Plenty of decisions to make before you can even start the game - make a party of 4 mechs out of a selection of 6 (including duplicates), choose 1 of 6 pilots with very unique traits, and finally a wide range of difficulty settings make for an absurd amount of replayability value.”
    • “Bionic Deus plays like a roguelike Front Mission, which is wonderful, but the lack of replayability and the crushing absence of a mini-map hamper its ability to be a mainstay in most gaming libraries.”
    • “This is probably intended to encourage replayability, but I didn't really feel any desire to play it again.”
    • “Even if the dungeon presentation is a little samey and the plot is an excuse, the variety of situations you can find yourself in and the fun ways you can get out of them give it a lot of replay value.”
  • humor
    34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is a mixed bag, featuring quirky and tongue-in-cheek elements that can be genuinely funny, particularly in the voiceovers and enemy dialogue. While some players appreciate the comedic moments and clever writing, others find the humor inconsistent and repetitive, especially with limited enemy barks. Overall, the game manages to maintain a lighthearted tone amidst its challenging gameplay, making it enjoyable for those who appreciate its unique brand of humor.

    • “What really got me were the hilarious death sound effects of the bots... 'I die!' 'Avenge me!' 'Not like this!' ... lmao”
    • “The writing is funny in a dark, cynical way and whilst it's not laugh out loud, it certainly makes you smile.”
    • “The voiceovers for the robot shouts are hilarious and add some humor to the game, as do some in-game tips and descriptions.”
  • grinding
    13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Reviews indicate that while the game offers a wealth of upgrades and diverse combat options, the grinding aspect can become tedious and repetitive, particularly in the later stages of the campaign. Many players find the experience rewarding initially, but it often devolves into a monotonous grind that detracts from overall enjoyment, with some even comparing it to the less engaging elements of MMO gameplay. Despite its depth and charm, the grind can overshadow the fun, leading to mixed feelings about the game's longevity.

    • “I found it tedious and unfun.”
    • “Interesting for a while, but it gets repetitive and grindy in all the wrong ways.”
    • “It's not fun, it's not challenging, it's tedious.”
  • atmosphere
    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's atmosphere is described as stylistically pleasing with strong sound and writing, though opinions vary significantly; some find it excellent, while others feel it lacks coherence and fails to create a compelling environment. The soundtrack is noted for being addictive, adding to the overall experience, but the overall atmosphere may resonate differently with individual players.

    • “While the graphics are nothing special, the game is stylistically pleasing with a great sense of atmosphere, sound, and writing.”
    • “Excellent atmosphere.”
    • “The game atmosphere might be hit or miss depending on the person: the soundtrack is weirdly addictive and pumping, like some karaoke Korean game might be.”
    • “The graphics and setting create no sense of atmosphere.”
    • “The game atmosphere might be hit or miss depending on the person; the soundtrack is weirdly addictive and pumping, like something from a karaoke Korean game.”
  • optimization
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players appreciate the depth and meaningful choices offered by the optimization system, particularly for those who enjoy fine-tuning builds. However, some find the extensive stat-based mech-optimization puzzles to be cumbersome, potentially detracting from the overall experience.

    • “For players who enjoy optimization and fine-tuning builds, this system provides depth and meaningful choices.”
    • “The same goes for the pilots: each has their own brief backstory and a special ability that affects the performance of the team.”
    • “A lot of cool concepts, but the game really bogs down with the pile-of-stats mech-optimization puzzles.”
  • stability
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Users report significant stability issues, including misalignment of the mouse cursor and buttons, glitches that reset player stats to zero, and inconsistencies with in-game save mechanics that can affect loot outcomes. These problems detract from the overall gameplay experience.

    • “The mouse cursor and buttons sometimes don't align properly, leading to frustrating gameplay.”
    • “I've encountered glitches that reset all my stats to zero, which is incredibly disheartening.”
    • “The ability to use in-game saves to your advantage is often compromised by stability issues.”
  • emotional
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The emotional aspect of the game is criticized for its slow pacing, unengaging story, and repetitive elements, which detract from the overall experience. Additionally, the music is described as nefarious, further diminishing the emotional impact.

    • “It is slow-paced, has a boring story, is repetitive, and the music is nefarious. You could only make this worse if it had Bubsy in it.”
  • character development
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The reviews indicate that while the graphics are merely acceptable, the character design and music are standout elements, suggesting that character development may be visually appealing but lacks depth in narrative or growth.

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15h Median play time
10h Average play time
1-15h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 3 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Bionic Dues is a role playing game with science fiction theme.

Bionic Dues is available on PC, Mac OS, Windows and Linux.

On average players spend around 10 hours playing Bionic Dues.

Bionic Dues was released on October 8, 2013.

Bionic Dues was developed by Arcen Games.

Bionic Dues has received mostly positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its graphics.

Bionic Dues is a single player game.

Similar games include Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus, Into the Breach, Star Renegades, SteamWorld Heist, Crowntakers and others.