Desert Child is an a game I played about an hour of before shelving about a 3rd of the way through. Which makes it very strange that I'd probably reccomend the experience a great deal. I think this comes down to the fact that while Desert Child's core game loop is not great, it does so many other things so well or at least interestingly that it's worth checking out for the unique experience alone.
The game opens with the protagonist trying to get off earth, now in the far future existing as a barren desert mostly void of life (apart from loners on hoverbikes), through scraping together enough cash (by racing hoverbikes) to get to mars, the new frontier of humanity, in order to win a hover bike Grand Prix. If you've noticed the theme, almost all conflicts within desert child are resolved entirely through high-speed hoverbike races including money matches, pizza delivery, and hacking into corporate data vaults. The formula for each in-game day generally follows the formula of doing a maintenence task or too such as eating or fixing/upgrading the bike before hopping on the bike for another death defying thrill ride.
I'm not going into the fairly mediocre bike gameplay itself for fear of writing longer than it took me to play the game but also because the real meat of desert child lies more in it's little moments.
The moment when you finally make it to mars is overwhelming in a way I've rarely seen in games. Until now, all you've known are three stores on a tiny strip in the desert. Now the city expands all around you instantly. In a initially bizzare design decision, Desert Child lacks any kind of map and switches camera angle Resi style whenever you enter a new street, disorienting you and making it easy to get lost in the urban sprawl. This is fustrating at first but after a few in game days you'll start to learn which streets interconnect, gaining a mental map of how to traverse your enviroment.
I can understand that this decision isn't going to be appreciated by most players but as someone discontent with modern open world design, specifically waypoint based navigation, it was refreshing to be forced to think about direction and navigation. Choices like this are what adds to the life and feeling of Desert Child's city. There are secrets in every nook and cranny of it's world that beckon to the player and I just wish this sort of immersive depth extended to it's actual core gameplay.
Once you get to mars itself, you're asked to raise $10'000 cash in order to buy a ticket into the Grand Prix. When I got to this point I realized that I'd have to do about 50 races to just buy the ticket without factoring in repairs and eating so I decided I had had my fill. Overall, Desert Child isn't very great as an actual game but if you're interested in the medium of games and how they can present themselves I think it's worth a look.
The game opens with the protagonist trying to get off earth, now in the far future existing as a barren desert mostly void of life (apart from loners on hoverbikes), through scraping together enough cash (by racing hoverbikes) to get to mars, the new frontier of humanity, in order to win a hover bike Grand Prix. If you've noticed the theme, almost all conflicts within desert child are resolved entirely through high-speed hoverbike races including money matches, pizza delivery, and hacking into corporate data vaults. The formula for each in-game day generally follows the formula of doing a maintenence task or too such as eating or fixing/upgrading the bike before hopping on the bike for another death defying thrill ride.
I'm not going into the fairly mediocre bike gameplay itself for fear of writing longer than it took me to play the game but also because the real meat of desert child lies more in it's little moments.
The moment when you finally make it to mars is overwhelming in a way I've rarely seen in games. Until now, all you've known are three stores on a tiny strip in the desert. Now the city expands all around you instantly. In a initially bizzare design decision, Desert Child lacks any kind of map and switches camera angle Resi style whenever you enter a new street, disorienting you and making it easy to get lost in the urban sprawl. This is fustrating at first but after a few in game days you'll start to learn which streets interconnect, gaining a mental map of how to traverse your enviroment.
I can understand that this decision isn't going to be appreciated by most players but as someone discontent with modern open world design, specifically waypoint based navigation, it was refreshing to be forced to think about direction and navigation. Choices like this are what adds to the life and feeling of Desert Child's city. There are secrets in every nook and cranny of it's world that beckon to the player and I just wish this sort of immersive depth extended to it's actual core gameplay.
Once you get to mars itself, you're asked to raise $10'000 cash in order to buy a ticket into the Grand Prix. When I got to this point I realized that I'd have to do about 50 races to just buy the ticket without factoring in repairs and eating so I decided I had had my fill. Overall, Desert Child isn't very great as an actual game but if you're interested in the medium of games and how they can present themselves I think it's worth a look.