As someone who wrote a controversial Dustborn review, this game is almost exactly what I was hoping Dustborn would have been in terms of its political narrative. While Dustborn has a largely "tell, don't show" approach to its politics because it wants to focus on the relationship building aspect of the story, Neofeud will tell and show in equally large measures, since it will give you lots of text about the dystopian political situation while showing visceral cutscenes of state violence, giving it way more bite than Dustborn. While there are dark moments, there are some over-the-top parodies of capitalism and rich hedonism to balance it out, like the smart meter having three different weapons built into it in order to kill those who try to steal power. The only downside is that the political monologues can get a bit long-winded, but I think it's preferable to keeping the player in the dark about the worldbuilding.

My favorite protagonist is Sybil Clington-Busch, who is part of the ruling class, but seeks to bring about equality for the poor and the non-humans who suffer from specieist discrimination. The other protagonists wonder if she's truly sincere in her political convictions, but she does prove to be genuine, since she used a backup robot body to directly experience underclass life and is willing to subject herself to doing so again in her Egalite policy in the ending. At the same time, the game makes it clear that despite her efforts, her privilege still blinds her to the fact that her allies are more at risk than her. which costs her an alliance with Noah Goertzel because she failed to realize how constrained he felt under protective house arrest in the landfill. She also has the advantage of being able to survive her death in backup bodies due to consciousness uploading, but that also means she doesn't fully grasp that her allies are more mortal than her, which is implied to be the reason she came up with an overly risky plan to test Karl at the start of the game. Her strained relationship with Noah Goertzel also provides some nuance to the idea of "eating the rich," since it acknowledges that Goertzel's plan to kill all Neofeudals is foolish because he's alienating potential allies. To a lesser extent, I also enjoyed Karl and Proto-J's character development, with Karl trying to find a way to atone for his past as a corrupt cop and Proto-J learning that the high life he sought isn't worth it if it means exploiting others.

Warren Clington-Busch is probably one of the best antifa story antagonists, since while he has plenty over over-the-top moments of power abuse and hedonism, he remains a competent threat and manages to argue his own philosophy. He states that the reason he wants to maintain the status-quo of the 1% having disproportionately more wealth and power than the 99% is because if he tried to uplift the underclass, he would have less resources allocated to fighting against his Neofeudal rivals, rendering egalitarian efforts self-defeating. It's a realistic, albeit extremely cynical and anti-social philosophy that ultimately results in him seeking godhood like a classic JRPG villain, but he's definitely a bit more complex than similar greedy and bigoted villains.This also indicates that despite being the biggest villain, he's still a symptom of civilization's dog-eat-dog tendencies than the root cause of it, which is something Sybil has to contend with when she takes power in the ending. Though it's subtly implied that a world where the 99% are trapped in a financial death spiral also causes stagnation, since people like Goertzel and Gen won't have the resources they need to make their own innovations, which counters Warren's argument about ROI. I like that he's able to challenge Sybil's philosophy as well as Sybil's resolve to fight back against his cynicism in favor of doing what she thinks is right.

However, the plot itself has some noticeable plot holes, loose ends, and things that need more elaboration.

• When Karl first receives a call from Shuffler, the dialogue makes it sound like he met Proto-J in the past, but he doesn't recognize Proto-J in the present or even knows which apartment room is his. The only explanation that makes sense is that Proto-J used ESP to wipe Karl's memory in an earlier encounter.
  
• The Steam and Itch descriptions state Karl got fired for refusing to shoot a robot, but the game itself confirms he actually did shoot the robot on his superiors' orders. This sounds like a RETCON and you should update the Steam, Itch, and other site descriptions to reflect that. On that note, I think the twist should be supplemented with scenes or even nightmares where he ponders his guilt.
  
• There's no follow-up for Shuffler and Princess. While Shuffler is probably fine due to Sybil's deal, Princess's fate is unknown despite how worried Proto-J was for her. Also, what happened to Suzette? Does she ever reunite with her children?
  
• Did Borges survive his battle against Proto-J? The game implies there's a stable time loop in Goertzel's lab, but Borges took a heavy dose of mythium and an ESP attack. Maybe he'll show up in the sequel?
  
• Aleph needs more characterization and not just get killed off so suddenly. Maybe he should get a notepad to write down his thoughts and explain his origin story?
  
• Even if you refuse to surrender to Warren during the hostage situation with Karl's family, the game treats it as if you did surrender.
  
• The game never really explains why Warren needed to keep Karl alive as a prisoner.

The gameplay is simple point-and-click for the most part, with well-thought out puzzles. However, the shootout in the arcade has too many extra buttons and moving parts for how time-sensitive it is, making it the most difficult and jank portion of the game. The shooting/cover mechanic also feels very jank and you don't get a lot of time to master it. It's so much harder than the final action sequence that I consider it the actual final boss of the game, lol.

The game has a lot of voiced and unvoiced dialogue, but it's easy to accidentally click through them. IMO, the game really needs a text log like in the Trails series that also allows you to replay voice clips.


7.9/10

I really like the dynamic between Sybil versus Warren as well as how the game doesn't shy away from showing the more brutal aspects of capitalism and racism, but the game's story needs more proofreading to fix plot holes and address some forgotten plot threads.

[h1]Paradox in Paradise[/h1] [h2]Story[/h2] As someone who wrote a controversial Dustborn review, this game is almost exactly what I was hoping Dustborn would have been in terms of its political narrative. While Dustborn has a largely "tell, don't show" approach to its politics because it wants to focus on the relationship building aspect of the story, Neofeud will tell and show in equally large measures, since it will give you lots of text about the dystopian political situation while showing visceral cutscenes of state violence, giving it way more bite than Dustborn. While there are dark moments, there are some over-the-top parodies of capitalism and rich hedonism to balance it out, like the smart meter having three different weapons built into it in order to kill those who try to steal power. The only downside is that the political monologues can get a bit long-winded, but I think it's preferable to keeping the player in the dark about the worldbuilding. My favorite protagonist is Sybil Clington-Busch, who is part of the ruling class, but seeks to bring about equality for the poor and the non-humans who suffer from specieist discrimination. The other protagonists wonder if she's truly sincere in her political convictions, but she does prove to be genuine, since she [spoiler]used a backup robot body to directly experience underclass life and is willing to subject herself to doing so again in her Egalite policy in the ending[/spoiler]. At the same time, the game makes it clear that despite her efforts, her privilege still blinds her to the fact that her allies are more at risk than her. [spoiler]which costs her an alliance with Noah Goertzel because she failed to realize how constrained he felt under protective house arrest in the landfill. She also has the advantage of being able to survive her death in backup bodies due to consciousness uploading, but that also means she doesn't fully grasp that her allies are more mortal than her, which is implied to be the reason she came up with an overly risky plan to test Karl at the start of the game. Her strained relationship with Noah Goertzel also provides some nuance to the idea of "eating the rich," since it acknowledges that Goertzel's plan to kill all Neofeudals is foolish because he's alienating potential allies.[/spoiler] To a lesser extent, I also enjoyed Karl and Proto-J's character development, with Karl trying to find a way to atone for his past as a corrupt cop and Proto-J learning that the high life he sought isn't worth it if it means exploiting others. Warren Clington-Busch is probably one of the best antifa story antagonists, since while he has plenty over over-the-top moments of power abuse and hedonism, he remains a competent threat and manages to argue his own philosophy. He states that the reason he wants to maintain the status-quo of the 1% having disproportionately more wealth and power than the 99% is because if he tried to uplift the underclass, he would have less resources allocated to fighting against his Neofeudal rivals, rendering egalitarian efforts self-defeating. It's a realistic, albeit extremely cynical and anti-social philosophy that ultimately results in him seeking godhood like a classic JRPG villain, but he's definitely a bit more complex than similar greedy and bigoted villains.This also indicates that despite being the biggest villain, he's still a symptom of civilization's dog-eat-dog tendencies than the root cause of it, which is something Sybil has to contend with [spoiler]when she takes power in the ending.[/spoiler] Though it's subtly implied that a world where the 99% are trapped in a financial death spiral also causes stagnation, since people like Goertzel and Gen won't have the resources they need to make their own innovations, which counters Warren's argument about ROI. I like that he's able to challenge Sybil's philosophy as well as Sybil's resolve to fight back against his cynicism in favor of doing what she thinks is right. However, the plot itself has some noticeable plot holes, loose ends, and things that need more elaboration. [list] [*] When Karl first receives a call from Shuffler, the dialogue makes it sound like he met Proto-J in the past, but he doesn't recognize Proto-J in the present or even knows which apartment room is his. The only explanation that makes sense is that Proto-J used ESP to wipe Karl's memory in an earlier encounter. [*] The Steam and Itch descriptions state Karl got fired for refusing to shoot a robot, but [spoiler]the game itself confirms he actually did shoot the robot on his superiors' orders. This sounds like a RETCON and you should update the Steam, Itch, and other site descriptions to reflect that. On that note, I think the twist should be supplemented with scenes or even nightmares where he ponders his guilt.[/spoiler] [*] There's no follow-up for Shuffler and Princess. While Shuffler is probably fine due to Sybil's deal, Princess's fate is unknown despite how worried Proto-J was for her. Also, what happened to Suzette? Does she ever reunite with her children? [*] Did Borges survive his battle against Proto-J? The game implies there's a stable time loop in Goertzel's lab, but Borges took a heavy dose of mythium and an ESP attack. Maybe he'll show up in the sequel? [*] Aleph needs more characterization [spoiler]and not just get killed off so suddenly. Maybe he should get a notepad to write down his thoughts and explain his origin story?[/spoiler] [*] Even if you [spoiler]refuse to surrender to Warren during the hostage situation with Karl's family, the game treats it as if you did surrender.[/spoiler] [*] The game never really explains [spoiler]why Warren needed to keep Karl alive as a prisoner.[/spoiler] [/list] [h2]Gameplay[/h2] The gameplay is simple point-and-click for the most part, with well-thought out puzzles. However, the shootout in the arcade has too many extra buttons and moving parts for how time-sensitive it is, making it the most difficult and jank portion of the game. The shooting/cover mechanic also feels very jank and you don't get a lot of time to master it. It's so much harder than the final action sequence that I consider it the actual final boss of the game, lol. The game has a lot of voiced and unvoiced dialogue, but it's easy to accidentally click through them. IMO, the game really needs a text log like in the Trails series that also allows you to replay voice clips. [h2]Verdict[/h2] 7.9/10 I really like the dynamic between Sybil versus Warren as well as how the game doesn't shy away from showing the more brutal aspects of capitalism and racism, but the game's story needs more proofreading to fix plot holes and address some forgotten plot threads.