The second part of the year 2064 was postponed for a full four years compared to the first plans – the posthuman world of the future is still very interesting, but the story is no longer about robots, but about mind divers.
Brain research
Jumping into someone else's mind and finding out their most secret thoughts… No, no, that's telepathy, that's not what we're talking about here. Neurodiver focuses on another superpower: the specially trained esper specialists of this world delve into the minds of their clients because they have forgotten, and even more so, bring damaged memories to the surface. Sometimes an important password is simply lost, but of course more complex facts can also be forgotten, especially if there is a malicious esper also roaming the streets and minds of New San Francisco, according to rumours. Although similar in concept in many ways, you'd be hard pressed to find a film as emotionally removed from Neurodiver's raucous anime scenes as the horror film Tarsem, which was published in Hungarian under the title Sejt – shamefully mistranslated. .
Set four years after its first announced date, Neurodiver is set in the world of 2064: Read-Only Memories, and while I wouldn't call it a sequel in the traditional sense, almost all of its important characters — like Lexi, Turing, and TOMCAT — appear here as well. Only a few years have passed since the previous adventure: we are in the year 2070, in the world of true cyberpunk, which can be classified here not only in terms of the chrome- and neon-rich surface, but in all other respects as well – both biologically and socially, we have moved beyond the stubbornness of the day, Such as fashion, entertainment or interior design. However, one thing is constant: big corporations and governments cannot be trusted here either. Although the cases that are taken up one after another seem like completely separate missions at first, sooner or later it becomes clear that there is actually a connection here, to the point that even an introduction made years ago is not just about introducing the gameplay and educating the player. , as we might naively believe.
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The heroine of Neurodiver is Luna, known to most only by her codename ES88. He acts as an agent for Giga Minerva, using his special abilities to help where he can. Agyfürkész's knowledge is supported by a special creature, the Neurodiver, a strange electronic football that we carry with us everywhere in an aquarium-like way. With the help of this asset, we not only get into the thoughts of our customers, we can literally go through the memories of our customers, which basically means detours as an adventure game. These sections provide actual challenges and puzzles, with the “present” gameplay more akin to visual storytelling than anything else. However, when we quickly jump into someone's mind, we're shown areas to visit related to their situation, several NPCs, and relatively simple quests to solve.
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The location of the disturbed (stolen?) memories is indicated by the mysterious golden butterfly through its hissing effect, and relates to it the Neurodiver's most adventurous challenge: we have to search for the fragments of memory – objects, essentially – that the mind uses. Damage can be restored. If we look at everything, if we talk to everyone, this will happen on its own with little exaggeration – Neurodiver is noticeably easier than it was in 2064, which sometimes required much larger leaps of logic. The entire adventure can be completed in about five or six hours, even if we stumble a little a few times, and this time there are no important branches of the story and radically different endings as in the previous one. It didn't really bother me; On the other hand, I felt like the playtime was particularly short this time: in such a short time, ES88 and GATE grow in our hearts, but the story simply doesn't have room for big twists, surprising discoveries, or even just creating context. Although most of the dialogue is very entertaining, there are very few new characters – most of the instances are related to the characters of 2064, which is why I felt like Neurodiver didn't have the time and space to develop its heroes and characters. Own uniqueness.
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It's still very difficult to execute, although those who hate anime deep down will certainly have a different opinion. It's hard to argue about tastes, but I still love the design, which is quite loud in every sense of the word, complemented by great (English) dubbing and excellent music. The pace is slow, and individual cases are usually resolved very quickly, so the momentum never slows. Clearly, the developers' intention was not to bring overly complex, realistic, or even downright angry characters to the screen, but rather to introduce characters that are memorable because of their different clicks. And in this regard, they're successful: Luna's exaggerated facial expressions, Jet's phlegm, or the eccentric personalities of the bird-named ranger smuggle Mafla's gentle humor into the game. Neurodiver is a fun, simple, and somewhat chaotic adventure game – but nothing more. I rarely say this, but it really could have been played for a few more hours, because the positives of the game simply don't have time to show up, so I can only recommend it to 2064 fans because for some reason it deals more with the old characters than with the new ones.
Read Only Memories: Neurodiver was released for PC, PlayStation 5, Switch, and Xbox Series.
The test game was provided by publisher Chorus Worldwide.
summary
A simple point-and-click adventure game, or a more action-packed visual novel than usual? The question does not need an answer: Neurodiver lies on the border of the two species. The gameplay is characterized by simple puzzles, the real strength lies in the stylish visuals and of course the wonderful cyberpunk world it offers. But unfortunately the game is very short and still deals too much with the characters of the previous part, so despite all its advantages, it cannot stand out from the crowd.
Key Pros of Read Only Memories: Neural Diver:
- Elegant and loud images.
- The world of 2070 is a very interesting place;
- Loveable new characters.
The biggest disadvantages of read-only memories: Neurodiver:
- Playtime is worryingly short.
- Very easy logical parts.
Laszlo Benny
