Point and click adventure games are one of the oldest genres in video games and have mostly been unchanged gameplay wise until the transition to 3D.
Instead of controlling everything with just the mouse pointer, Grim Fandango opted to use the arrow keys and space bar or a controller in the remaster but otherwise the gameplay remains the same. There has not been any real evolution to this gameplay formula until just in the recent years.
Developers have been mixing genres to spice up the old point and click genre, for example the recent game Brok the InvestiGator has beat em up mixed with the classic point and click gameplay, and now Sunday Gold has mixed it with the classic turn based RPG genre.
Sunday Gold is a grim dystopian story in near future London about a down on his luck crook called Frank, who along with his friend Sally gets hired by a recently fired IT manager Gavin to break into his old work and steal some sensitive data to blackmail his former boss.
This is the premise of Sunday Gold but like any good crime story, it has twists and turns a plenty.
The story gets told most often with beautifully drawn portraits of the protagonists and the whole thing is fully voice acted and brilliantly at that.
As I mentioned before the game mixes point and click and turn based RPG. Each character has an Action Point pool which is used for all actions like fighting and interacting with the world, be it picking up items, searching drawers, closets, bag and so on. When you run out of Action Points you need to end your turn and each time you do there is a chance you get waylaid by enemies which forces you to be efficient in doing what you need to do.
There are systems to be hacked, locks to be picked and heavy things to be moved, each with a corresponding mini game and Action Point cost.
Like any turn based RPG the characters gain experience, level up, enhance their skills and even gain new skills, equip weapons and armour. Completing quests, exploring, solving puzzles and fighting enemies rewards you with experience with combat the least rewarding. Combat in Sunday Gold is straight forward and can get tedious, it is a standard fare of rock, paper and scissor with some attacks good against certain buffs and some skills to negate debuffs. Combat is serviceable but can get tiring but thankfully the story is intriguing and keeps you engaged.
All in all the mix of genres is working quite well. The world is interesting, the story is gripping, the voice acting is excellent and the combat is fine.
I played the game on the Steam Deck and did not experience any bugs or crashes. The game played really well and looked fantastic on the small screen.
In conclusion I recommend this game to anyone that likes story heavy games, point and click games and even turn based games. You cant really go wrong with this dystopian crime thriller.
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