Review: 2064: Read Only Memories
Feb. 12th, 2019 11:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xandromedovna(You can just assume all my reviews have spoilers)
So first things first I'm realizing that nearly all the queer games I've done so far in my semi-formal exploration have been adventure games. I can't tell if there's a greater proportion of queer games in this format, or if they're just the ones I found more interesting so I started there. At any rate, most of these games don't have timed tasks, which is great because I'm discovering timed tasks are really stressful for me because I can't process information that fast. This was one of the few things I disliked about 2064: Read Only Memories (MidBoss, 2017), where one of the tasks late in the game gives you 180 seconds to solve five visual pattern matching puzzles or someone dies. That said, just like with Phantasmagoria I'm more interested in how these mechanics function narratively given my inability to complete the puzzle. The game's approach to gender and sexuality was interesting, and I have Feelings about Turing and about the noir genre, plus once again we have cyborgs!
Quick summary: You, a journalist, wake up in Neo-S[an]F[rancisco] in 2064 in your dingy apartment, acquaint yourself with the game mechanics (including adding spoiled milk to your inventory), then go back to bed, only to wake up to a robot staring at you. Turing explains that their creator, Hayden, was just kidnapped and as a distant friend of Hayden's, you're the person best equipped to help them* (see below) find Hayden. Your adventures imbricate you in a struggle between ROMs (basically robotic servant/pets), hybrids (humans with cyborg implants and/or animal gene splices), and "genotypical" humans. Turing, meanwhile, is the first known sapient machine, which ends up being one of the reasons Hayden was killed. The body count increases dramatically in the media arc and you and Turing almost die in a game of hide and seek with a military android as you try and sabotage Parallax's (the main evil corporation) deployment of Big Blue, a truly terrifying method of panoptical surveillance. In my playthrough, Turing sacrifices themself to grant all ROMs sapience, and thus freedom from Big Blue's reach.
Well, technically the first time I did the ending I deliberately spilled the spoiled milk over the console for the aesthetic, accidentally killing Turing, but luckily it lets you reboot to right before that decision. There are evidently four endings, depending on both whether you manage to save Turing's source code and whether you and Turing have a good relationship by the end. Thus relationships and capability are equally important in the outcome of the game. I love that relationship-building is an integral part of success in this game, because not only does it foster investment in the story, but it values the effects we have on other people, which gets to the ethical questions at the heart of 2064: ROM (but more on that later). Not only is a good relationship with Turing important, but the finale requires the help of all the allies you've accrued throughout the game, from hybrid rights lawyer Jess to computer ace TOMCAT to troublemaking boyfriends Starfucker and Oliver to your sister's ex-girlfriend Lexi. Thus while from a mechanical standpoint the game is quite easy, from a relational standpoint the seemingly innocuous decisions you make in conversation add up to a network of friends--or lack thereof--that when the chips are down you must rely on to succeed.
Because the majority of the game is easy to navigate, the timed tasks add significantly to the stress of the situation, because you only get one chance to complete them. Whether or not you succeed directly affects who lives and who dies. In the maze of the sewers, if you take too long navigating the tunnels, you, Turing, Lexi, and Dekker (the military android) will drown (or so I extrapolate from the Steam achievements; surprisingly I didn't drown the first time!) In the puzzle mentioned earlier, if you can't figure out the patterns, then you aren't able to rescue all of Turing's source code, which means in the ending TOMCAT is unable to revive them when they sacrifice themself. These tasks significantly increase the stakes of the game at crucial moments precisely because they only appear so late. The knowledge that my inability to complete the task is the reason Turing later dies adds a distressing level of realism.
The showdown with Dekker is suspenseful for a different reason. The mechanics of the sequence were practiced earlier in the autocab chase with Starfucker and Oliver, but unlike in that part when the threat is that they will escape the map, in this one there is no escape and the threat is that Dekker will win hide-and-seek, and you only have four charges of your taser to stop him if he catches you, which aren't enough to kill him. This puzzle requires strategy and patience as you stall Dekker long enough to come up with a plan to stop him--which ends up being Turing getting themself caught and taking him out.
For me the other major source of suspense had to do with my knowledge of the noir genre. Structurally, Turing is the femme fatale, the mysterious harbinger of plot with which you must work closely, with whom you develop a strong relationship, and who is ultimately central to the final showdown. Often, the femme fatale either has a damaging secret or is secretly working for/as the villain, and this expectation haunted every interaction I had with Turing in this game. The fact that Turing is an AI, which is also a common indicator of danger and betrayal, compounded this expectation. I didn't trust them up until they died, because I was subconsciously anticipating one of the other endings, where Turing does actually turn on you because of how you treat them. Ironically enough, my fear and distrust of them led me to treat them in such a way that I ended up having nothing to fear.
I think that's one of the most powerful parts of this game for me, that it illustrates love as methodology. Turing could very well become the monster one would expect them to be, but won't if you treat them with basic human decency like an equal. With them and almost all the other characters, even your houseplant, you can work on building that relationship or you can tank it and deal with the consequences. One of the central questions of the game is: what makes us human? The narrative structure's answer seems to be that our relationships are what make us human, not our physiology or origins. Turing and Dekker are foils in this manner: Turing starts out seemingly non-human, but becomes one of the most human characters in the whole game, while Dekker appears human for most of the game until revealed to be an android.
But even Dekker has a sliver of humanity, and that is showcased by his relationships. Dekker was apparently on life support, and his family agreed to have his consciousness transferred into an electric brain. The trauma of this transplantation combined with his work as military personnel led him to lose touch with his humanity. He wants to be with his family but his murderous 'nature' gets in the way. Eventually, he asks Turing to kill him, which he does. I don't think it's an accident that Dekker is a white man, because he becomes a stand-in for toxic masculinity. Being cut off from his relationships and his emotions birthed a murderous rage and lack of empathy that threatens to destroy the whole world, which are hallmarks of US 'lone wolf' terrorism.
The game uses species as a proxy for other social categories of difference, mainly race, gender, and sexuality. You make friends both with genotypicals and hybrids, and convince them to work together to help you despite their disdain for each other. This solidarity between ROMs, cyborgs, genotypicals, and hybrids emphasizes what unites us--our humanity--over what separates us--our species. This unity is crucial in overthrowing the omnipresent technocapitalist regime under which they all operate.
Of course, this utopic vision of movement building can erase some of its complications. Many of your allies are members of the Human Revolution, who are Neo-SF's version of both the Westboro Baptist Church and anti-choice protesters with some thinly-veiled white supremacy. Their leader Brian is portrayed as charismatic and attention-hungry, as well as being an absent father to Starfucker. His disengagement from his dad's mission combined with the gentle guidance of Oliver are what make Starfucker a suitable ally because of how they bring out his sympathy, but his violence makes him a dangerous one. The way you get the genotypicals and hybrids to work together is by making them both stage a riot, easy enough because they hate each other. The interpersonal glue you provide does not solve the important political divides that shape Neo-SF. If anything, your efforts make these politics more complicated by birthing an entire generation of sentient creatures.
I love my queer children but we knew this. First of all, the game not only asks for your name and pronouns, but provides several pronoun options besides he/him and she/her, including a write-in option, and even takes the time to explain gender pronouns as necessary. For economy's sake, the spoken words of the characters avoid pronouns while on-screen the pronouns are used (or at least this is the case with write-in pronouns). Turing is called he or they throughout the game but one person calls them she which spurs a conversation about Turing's gender. They decide tentatively to use they pronouns and this musing about their gender is what convinces their interlocutor that they are sentient.
Meanwhile, TOMCAT is non-binary, Lexi is your sister's ex-girlfriend, Starfucker and Oliver are apparently sleeping together, the bar owners Majid and Gus are a cute gay couple: there are more queer and queer-coded major characters than there are confirmed cishets. This world seems to be envisioning a US post-queerphobia in how nonchalantly queer couples and trans/nb people are included. Of course, queerphobia is not so easily rooted out, but as an escapist fantasy it is nice to live in a world where queerphobia is over.
Overall I really liked this game, and while yeah Turing could get annoying at times, they grew on me as the game went on. My favourite character is probably Wilty the jade plant because they are TRYING THEIR BEST AND THEY DESERVE BETTER THAN MY PLANT-KILLING ASS. Literally all they want is for you to talk nicely to them, such a valid cinnamon roll. Also at random points during my day my brain will just sing "Hassy" and if that's not the most effective ad campaign I've ever encountered for a product that doesn't even exist then idek.
So first things first I'm realizing that nearly all the queer games I've done so far in my semi-formal exploration have been adventure games. I can't tell if there's a greater proportion of queer games in this format, or if they're just the ones I found more interesting so I started there. At any rate, most of these games don't have timed tasks, which is great because I'm discovering timed tasks are really stressful for me because I can't process information that fast. This was one of the few things I disliked about 2064: Read Only Memories (MidBoss, 2017), where one of the tasks late in the game gives you 180 seconds to solve five visual pattern matching puzzles or someone dies. That said, just like with Phantasmagoria I'm more interested in how these mechanics function narratively given my inability to complete the puzzle. The game's approach to gender and sexuality was interesting, and I have Feelings about Turing and about the noir genre, plus once again we have cyborgs!
Quick summary: You, a journalist, wake up in Neo-S[an]F[rancisco] in 2064 in your dingy apartment, acquaint yourself with the game mechanics (including adding spoiled milk to your inventory), then go back to bed, only to wake up to a robot staring at you. Turing explains that their creator, Hayden, was just kidnapped and as a distant friend of Hayden's, you're the person best equipped to help them* (see below) find Hayden. Your adventures imbricate you in a struggle between ROMs (basically robotic servant/pets), hybrids (humans with cyborg implants and/or animal gene splices), and "genotypical" humans. Turing, meanwhile, is the first known sapient machine, which ends up being one of the reasons Hayden was killed. The body count increases dramatically in the media arc and you and Turing almost die in a game of hide and seek with a military android as you try and sabotage Parallax's (the main evil corporation) deployment of Big Blue, a truly terrifying method of panoptical surveillance. In my playthrough, Turing sacrifices themself to grant all ROMs sapience, and thus freedom from Big Blue's reach.
Well, technically the first time I did the ending I deliberately spilled the spoiled milk over the console for the aesthetic, accidentally killing Turing, but luckily it lets you reboot to right before that decision. There are evidently four endings, depending on both whether you manage to save Turing's source code and whether you and Turing have a good relationship by the end. Thus relationships and capability are equally important in the outcome of the game. I love that relationship-building is an integral part of success in this game, because not only does it foster investment in the story, but it values the effects we have on other people, which gets to the ethical questions at the heart of 2064: ROM (but more on that later). Not only is a good relationship with Turing important, but the finale requires the help of all the allies you've accrued throughout the game, from hybrid rights lawyer Jess to computer ace TOMCAT to troublemaking boyfriends Starfucker and Oliver to your sister's ex-girlfriend Lexi. Thus while from a mechanical standpoint the game is quite easy, from a relational standpoint the seemingly innocuous decisions you make in conversation add up to a network of friends--or lack thereof--that when the chips are down you must rely on to succeed.
Because the majority of the game is easy to navigate, the timed tasks add significantly to the stress of the situation, because you only get one chance to complete them. Whether or not you succeed directly affects who lives and who dies. In the maze of the sewers, if you take too long navigating the tunnels, you, Turing, Lexi, and Dekker (the military android) will drown (or so I extrapolate from the Steam achievements; surprisingly I didn't drown the first time!) In the puzzle mentioned earlier, if you can't figure out the patterns, then you aren't able to rescue all of Turing's source code, which means in the ending TOMCAT is unable to revive them when they sacrifice themself. These tasks significantly increase the stakes of the game at crucial moments precisely because they only appear so late. The knowledge that my inability to complete the task is the reason Turing later dies adds a distressing level of realism.
The showdown with Dekker is suspenseful for a different reason. The mechanics of the sequence were practiced earlier in the autocab chase with Starfucker and Oliver, but unlike in that part when the threat is that they will escape the map, in this one there is no escape and the threat is that Dekker will win hide-and-seek, and you only have four charges of your taser to stop him if he catches you, which aren't enough to kill him. This puzzle requires strategy and patience as you stall Dekker long enough to come up with a plan to stop him--which ends up being Turing getting themself caught and taking him out.
For me the other major source of suspense had to do with my knowledge of the noir genre. Structurally, Turing is the femme fatale, the mysterious harbinger of plot with which you must work closely, with whom you develop a strong relationship, and who is ultimately central to the final showdown. Often, the femme fatale either has a damaging secret or is secretly working for/as the villain, and this expectation haunted every interaction I had with Turing in this game. The fact that Turing is an AI, which is also a common indicator of danger and betrayal, compounded this expectation. I didn't trust them up until they died, because I was subconsciously anticipating one of the other endings, where Turing does actually turn on you because of how you treat them. Ironically enough, my fear and distrust of them led me to treat them in such a way that I ended up having nothing to fear.
I think that's one of the most powerful parts of this game for me, that it illustrates love as methodology. Turing could very well become the monster one would expect them to be, but won't if you treat them with basic human decency like an equal. With them and almost all the other characters, even your houseplant, you can work on building that relationship or you can tank it and deal with the consequences. One of the central questions of the game is: what makes us human? The narrative structure's answer seems to be that our relationships are what make us human, not our physiology or origins. Turing and Dekker are foils in this manner: Turing starts out seemingly non-human, but becomes one of the most human characters in the whole game, while Dekker appears human for most of the game until revealed to be an android.
But even Dekker has a sliver of humanity, and that is showcased by his relationships. Dekker was apparently on life support, and his family agreed to have his consciousness transferred into an electric brain. The trauma of this transplantation combined with his work as military personnel led him to lose touch with his humanity. He wants to be with his family but his murderous 'nature' gets in the way. Eventually, he asks Turing to kill him, which he does. I don't think it's an accident that Dekker is a white man, because he becomes a stand-in for toxic masculinity. Being cut off from his relationships and his emotions birthed a murderous rage and lack of empathy that threatens to destroy the whole world, which are hallmarks of US 'lone wolf' terrorism.
The game uses species as a proxy for other social categories of difference, mainly race, gender, and sexuality. You make friends both with genotypicals and hybrids, and convince them to work together to help you despite their disdain for each other. This solidarity between ROMs, cyborgs, genotypicals, and hybrids emphasizes what unites us--our humanity--over what separates us--our species. This unity is crucial in overthrowing the omnipresent technocapitalist regime under which they all operate.
Of course, this utopic vision of movement building can erase some of its complications. Many of your allies are members of the Human Revolution, who are Neo-SF's version of both the Westboro Baptist Church and anti-choice protesters with some thinly-veiled white supremacy. Their leader Brian is portrayed as charismatic and attention-hungry, as well as being an absent father to Starfucker. His disengagement from his dad's mission combined with the gentle guidance of Oliver are what make Starfucker a suitable ally because of how they bring out his sympathy, but his violence makes him a dangerous one. The way you get the genotypicals and hybrids to work together is by making them both stage a riot, easy enough because they hate each other. The interpersonal glue you provide does not solve the important political divides that shape Neo-SF. If anything, your efforts make these politics more complicated by birthing an entire generation of sentient creatures.
I love my queer children but we knew this. First of all, the game not only asks for your name and pronouns, but provides several pronoun options besides he/him and she/her, including a write-in option, and even takes the time to explain gender pronouns as necessary. For economy's sake, the spoken words of the characters avoid pronouns while on-screen the pronouns are used (or at least this is the case with write-in pronouns). Turing is called he or they throughout the game but one person calls them she which spurs a conversation about Turing's gender. They decide tentatively to use they pronouns and this musing about their gender is what convinces their interlocutor that they are sentient.
Meanwhile, TOMCAT is non-binary, Lexi is your sister's ex-girlfriend, Starfucker and Oliver are apparently sleeping together, the bar owners Majid and Gus are a cute gay couple: there are more queer and queer-coded major characters than there are confirmed cishets. This world seems to be envisioning a US post-queerphobia in how nonchalantly queer couples and trans/nb people are included. Of course, queerphobia is not so easily rooted out, but as an escapist fantasy it is nice to live in a world where queerphobia is over.
Overall I really liked this game, and while yeah Turing could get annoying at times, they grew on me as the game went on. My favourite character is probably Wilty the jade plant because they are TRYING THEIR BEST AND THEY DESERVE BETTER THAN MY PLANT-KILLING ASS. Literally all they want is for you to talk nicely to them, such a valid cinnamon roll. Also at random points during my day my brain will just sing "Hassy" and if that's not the most effective ad campaign I've ever encountered for a product that doesn't even exist then idek.
