⚡️🔌 7th Sector | Review | PS4 | "A Cyberpunk Adventure With a Real Spark" ⚡️🔌 @NoskovSS #GameDev #IndieGames

Casting the player in the role of a sentient ‘spark’, 7th Sector is set in a futuristic, drizzly dystopian city and sees you travelling through the cables and systems that power the various apartments and factories in a bid to get to the top of the tower in the ominous, titular sector.

There’s a lot here that really make my toes dance with glee. A 2.5D puzzle game, 7th Sector really nails the oppressive mood with a sense of darkness and foreboding permeating the bleak landscape as you traverse your path and the audio work completely sucked me in, from the simple, hypnotic repetition of the menu notes to the ambient sounds that follow you through the game and become more industrial and ramped-up in the action sequences. Unfortunately, it was the more action-oriented parts of the game that I found weakest.

The early sections of the game called Inside to mind (the game, not the French horror movie from 2007, that’s VERY different) as it really conjures up the sense that you are a tiny pin-prick of light making your way through a snake-like, towering cityscape.

The challenges here are more cerebral and, whilst a mixed-bag puzzle-wise, fit into the surroundings and don’t feel out of place as you progress through your journey. You make your way past despondent scenes and humans that are ignorant of your plight as they go around their daily routines, towering over you as you pass by whatever electrical means are necessary and make your way through to the more factory-like sections where gunplay and sentient enemies come into play.

For me, this was the weakest part of the game as making my slowly through steam-presses and the abundance of timed physical puzzles was wearing. It felt like really time-consuming, generic puzzles existed purely to extend the run time as opposed to posing interesting challenges.

From a technical aspect, the frame-rate appears to be unlocked and so there is some fluctuation, depending on the camera zoom and general business of the scene. I also experienced screen-tearing in some moments and, whilst not a huge issue for me, I felt it worth mentioning.

Summary
For fans of games like Inside - where the story gradually unfolds itself from a starting point of the player having no idea what is happening and learning both the tale and controls as they go - this is definitely worth your time.

The presentation and setting are really well done and the moments in the game where the background vignettes tell the bulk of the story as you move your way through ordinary spaces were the highlights for me.

Yes, some puzzles aren’t memorable and the action sections feel thrown-in but the wordlessly cyber-punk narrative reveals itself nicely and the simplistic controls and unlockables make this a world I’d love to spend more time in.

💧❄️ RATING: MELTING ❄️💧

Ratings Explained

ICE COOL (Great Game Recommended)

MELTING (Recommended with reservations, one to consider if you are a fan of the genre)

MELTED (Not A Recommended Purchase)