I believe videogames to be like musical compositions. Having an array of great elements, no matter how excellent, will not be sufficient unless they are ordered in a harmonic setup enabling appropriate kind of synergetic result to emerge.
Pathologic 2 did not affect me as much as it did with just aesthetics, gameplay, or setpieces. It was so powerful because every single element was constantly interacting with every other piece of the puzzle. The biggest problem of
Quadrilateral Cowboy is the internal disjointedness.
It has an intriguing story set in interesting setting. It's told mostly without words - used sparingly here, and with no dialogue at all. Short scenes between the heists are full of character, and succeed at creating an atmosphere of disempowerment, sending a message of solidarity in dire conditions and personal bonds subsisting through (and despite) overwhelming pauperisation. My personal favourite was the theme running in the background parallel to main plot, given explicit recognition only at few points in the game.
Compassion fatigue,
as we can quite literally read on main character's shirt, that is the continuous suppression of moral conscience of a person who has no autonomy over their actions anymore. On some of the levels you may catch yourself questioning the ethical permissibility of what you are about to do - but still do it anyway, because you have no other way to progress. You have no choice, just like your in-game character.
MAKE AN HONEST MORAL INVENTORY OF YOURSELF, asks the receptionist bot before you steal brain of a patient in a coma wardIt has gameplay ideas that work. There's a lot of fun tools for you to play around with! You can remotely hack into devices in the local network, you may set up a turret sending precise projectiles into pre-programmed spots, there is a little puppy-like remote controlled bot able to crawl through narrow spaces.
But none of these tools interact with each other. Your deck, a portable computer you use to control your equipment with terminal commands, comes equipped with command chaining feature. There is nothing stopping you from chaining six turret commands, and in fact you have to do it at some point to solve time-based puzzles. There is, however, something stopping you from chaining puppy with turret or hacking commands. Every tool requires you to enter separate application for controls, meaning that you cannot invoke
Puppy, move 10 steps forward while running the app for turret controls. The design of the levels, fully aware of this limitation, never expects you to use more than one tool at a time. It makes most of the game feel like an extensive introduction to the game proper - but there is no game proper. Last two levels feel like an unsuccessful attempt to create something that would require the player to employ their creativity in not just
how do I use this tool? way, but also
which tool do I use?. It's still nothing but compartmentalised single-tool puzzles connected with corridors.
All in all, Quadrilateral Cowboy feels like a textbook definition of
unrealised potential. All the pieces are there - but the game lacks
vision. There is no space for player creativity, and the game seems hesitant to challenge the player. It missed the mark for proper balance between challenge and accessibility, leaning too much in favour of the latter.
However, I still do recommend giving this game a try. Despite the gameplay failings, it is not at any point unenjoyable. There is still a place for these typical puzzle game
I'm so smart! moments, and the story, themes and setting are genuinely captivating. With how short it is, it doesn't really make you bored at any time - the disappointment hits only after the game is over, with
Wait, so that's it? and the following moment of reflection.
And if finished playthrough leaves you with taste for more gameplay in this vein, I wholeheartedly recommend checking out
Ctrl Alt Ego. In my opinion, it successfully materialised the
idea of Quadrilateral Cowboy - that is an idea of free form puzzle/immersive sim game it never fully became.
In general, there's something about Brendon Chung's work from Gravity Bone to this that makes me feel fully immersed in the game world, even though every living organism is made of squares and there's no discernible dialogue of any sort.