7th Sector

When I talk about the publisher Sometimes You, it's usually to deride them for releasing yet another terrible game. This is, of course, the company that put out barely playable dumpster fires like SkyTime, North and the headache-inducing game Music Racer that I reviewed just a few days ago. But now they're back with what can best be described as their prestige release, a polished and captivating new adventure game called 7th Sector that is so good that I had to double (and even triple) check to make sure this was from the same company that put out crap like Blood Waves and Save the Ninja Clan. This is not just a great game by Sometimes You standards, but rather a genuinely amazing adventure that may end up being one of my favorite games of the year.

It all starts with a little spark of energy. 7th Sector is a side-scrolling adventure game that follows the journey of a little spark that initially travels through the many power cables scattered around this dystopian cyberpunk world. We're able to jump between the lines and interact with the environment by taking over some of the high-tech equipment, which will often result in solving the many math, logic and physics puzzles that keep us from moving to the next room or building. It's a moody and pessimistic look at the future that reminds me a bit of Limbo without the platforming.

As our little spark gets acclimated with this strange world and solves the various puzzles, it will begin to take on a number of different forms that help to shake up both the story and gameplay. An early example of the game shaking things up is when the spark takes over a magnetic ball droid and is forced to push items around the room. This is just the first of several mechanical bodies you'll inhabit, with each one radically changing the way you interact with the puzzles.

This is a confident game that knows how to tell a brisk, well-paced story. Coming in at around three or four hours, there's almost no filler to be found in 7th Sector. Instead what you get is a story that is constantly subverting your expectations and tossing us into one perilous situation after another. And if you think you know where it's going, you may be wrong. There are four different endings to discover based on the choices you make throughout the journey.

What I especially love about this game is the way it goes about world building. Without saying a single word, this game perfectly conveys its message and story. The backgrounds are filled with important details that not only flesh out the world at large, but what your place within it. And it's not just small details here and there, but major events that will shape how you view this cyberpunk future. Best of all, we end up seeing its ins and outs from almost every angle you can think of, to the point where it felt like I was personally connected to the world by the end.

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Part of the reason why all of this is so effective is because the game is absolutely gorgeous. It has a lived-in quality that helps sell the realism of this dystopian world. It's also beautifully constructed by somebody who clearly knows how to use colors and lighting to their full effect. Given the shoddy graphics found in most games published by Sometimes You, I was legitimately caught off guard by how good 7th Sector looks.

I also really enjoyed the puzzles. Well, most of them. For the most part, we get a lot of math and physics puzzles. You'll need to find the right pattern to open up a door, move a bunch of crates to get to your destination and overload the machine by jumping between the motors. There are definitely a few legitimate brain-teasers here that left me stumped longer than I would like to admit, but there's usually a simple solution that will seem obvious in retrospect.

Unfortunately, there are a few puzzles that blunt the game's momentum. Things fall apart whenever you're forced to move other objects around the area. The worst example of that sees you trying to carry a massive metal brick up several stories in order to unload it into a bin. Not only is this a world away from the math problems we were doing just a few minutes ago, but the brick is hard to balance and far too easy to drop. This is one of those moments where I knew exactly what I needed to do, but couldn't do it because the gameplay was getting in the way. There are also a few trial-and-error puzzles that left a bad taste in my mouth, but nothing is as bad as the brick challenge.

The good news is that the captivating story and fully realized world more than make up for a few annoying puzzles. I was completely sucked into the cyberpunk future of 7th Sector right from the start and couldn't wait to see how things would ultimately conclude, and I was not disappointed. This is a great looking adventure that has a lot to say without speaking a single word.