Dupli_City
- November 15, 2019
- Rainy Rock
Get on Steam"Dupli\_City is a cyberpunk narrative game where you play as Claire, a young woman with psychic powers, seeking to stop a megacorp AI from population cleansing in Grid City. Your mission: help the party destroy the corrupt AI, earn party members' trust, and make strategic choices about relationships and missions. In this world of betrayal, trust could be the key to saving Grid City or falling to the megacorp."
Mac OS
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Reviews
- The game features strong character writing and relationships, set against a well-developed sci-fi backdrop, making it engaging and immersive.
- It offers a high level of replayability with multiple choices and outcomes, encouraging players to explore different paths and character dynamics.
- The game includes authentic and respectful queer representation, enhancing its inclusivity and relatability.
- The game is relatively short, which leaves some players wanting more depth and exploration of its themes.
- The backgrounds are inconsistent, with some being stock photos under an artsy filter, detracting from the overall visual experience.
- The title is difficult to search for, leading to a lack of attention and resources such as guides or discussions online.
- story26 mentions
- 15 % positive mentions
- 73 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The story in dupli_city is rich and well-developed, focusing on character relationships and the complexities of earning trust within a team. Players face meaningful choices that impact both dialogue and mission outcomes, enhancing replayability and engagement with the narrative. The game successfully integrates its setting and subplots, creating a compelling experience that encourages multiple playthroughs to fully explore its depth.
“All in all, dupli_city provides a rich, inclusive story, interesting and relatable characters, easy to understand UI, and has good replayability value.”
“The setting is well developed and the story is well written.”
“While there are many choices in dialogue, the novel's meatiest decisions come in how you spend the time you're allotted in each of the game's four neighborhoods -- how much time do you spend crosstraining your team vs. pursuing missions?”
“This really is all about the characters and their relationships--all with subplots that complement the setting and main story and make it feel like an actual group of less-than-ideal individuals forced together instead of pieces to progress the narrative.”
“This focus on story and characters does not remove player agency, however, and your choices will affect your outcomes.”
- gameplay6 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by light management mechanics and a strong emphasis on character-driven choices, allowing players to distribute their team and make impactful decisions. This combination makes it a compelling option for fans of visual novels seeking depth in character writing and meaningful gameplay interactions.
“I recommend this to anyone looking for good-yet-overlooked visual novels that focus on character writing, have light management gameplay mechanics, and where choices change a lot.”
“It has gameplay in the form of distributing your team and making choices with some information.”
- replayability6 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The game is noted for its high replayability, with players reporting multiple playthroughs despite a relatively short single playtime of around four hours. Its engaging story, relatable characters, and user-friendly interface contribute to its strong replay value.
“All in all, dupli_city provides a rich, inclusive story, interesting and relatable characters, easy to understand UI, and has good replayability value.”
“It's 'short' if you call four hours for a single playthrough that, and with a lot of replayability.”
“It's 'short', if you call four hours for a single playthrough that, and with a lot of replayability.”
“At the time of writing, I've replayed this game six times, so I would say this game has a high level of replayability.”
- character development2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Character development is highlighted by distinctive and well-designed characters, although the overall amount of art is limited.
- graphics2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The graphics are praised for their simplicity and effectiveness, creating a visually appealing experience that complements the overall gameplay.
“Regarding visuals and audio, I am impressed with how simple yet effective they are.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The optimization puzzles in the game are engaging yet not overly challenging, allowing players to focus on cross-training without detracting from the overall narrative experience.
“There are some optimization puzzles, and you will want to cross-train as many as possible. These aspects are not too difficult and do not detract from the narrative.”
