Dex Review

If you couldn't tell from my previous reviews, I am fond of the 80s. From the iconic gaming consoles to its classic movies, I can always find something I love from that era. So naturally, Cyberpunk's rise in popularity these recent years has me beaming with delight. Admittedly I have not played Cyberpunk 2077, and perhaps I will play it at some point, but it can take me quite a while to get around to playing some titles. The 2D action-adventure title Dex is one such case. But once it integrated into my cycle of games, I was both amazed and, at times, infuriated by the gameplay of Dreadlocks' 2nd title.

In Dex, you play a woman of the same name as she uncovers a secret plot run by shady characters. The gameplay is what you would expect if you ever played other action RPG titles such as Wonderboy or Metroidvania. You explore the world while undertaking quests in exchange for items or experience points. At the time of my first play-through, I had no idea there was a learning curve. You need to have a certain amount of skill points to perform advanced combos or use certain guns such as shotguns. In my experience, the most important skill to level was hacking, which we will get to later.

For now, let's focus more on the combat. You hold down the button to draw your weapon and use the right analog stick to aim. A simple yet effective mechanic used in several action games regarding gunplay. I used the Knock-17, the standard Glock of this world, and it was a decent enough weapon. You could also purchase assault rifles, shotguns, and EMP guns. You can also go hand in hand, increasing your attacks and combos with more skill points. Both bring their own fun and charm to the game, but now comes the learning curve I mentioned earlier.

For starters, it will take multiple shots to kill any enemy you encounter with the Knock-17. The Shotgun does more damage, but as stated earlier, you need to spend several skill points to become proficient. But the biggest issue you'll encounter fighting the enemies is the unbalanced knockback you have. While damaging, punches, kicks, uppercuts, and even bullets will show no seeming effects on your adversary. But as far as you are concerned, they can knock you down quickly, aim ideally, and unload an entire clip to slag you at a moment's notice. I will point out that you can perform a sweep attack to knock them off their feet, but it does no damage and isn't very useful when you have more than one enemy on screen.

Now to be fair, these battles aren't nearly as daunting as I made them out to be. Once you get the hang of fighting and pace yourself, you'll learn how to survive. As I was playing through, I noticed security cams and turrets in various buildings, typical cyberpunk decor, if you will. If this is your first time playing, I strongly suggest maxing out all hacking and computer-related skills since you can control security systems. You can also hack people, but the most it does, it stuns them. For example, if you were to hack a turret, it would attack any and all enemies within its range. This made combat much easier, but hacking is a different beast in and of itself.

You press a button to activate your hacking ability and see random code and viruses floating on the screen. These are harmless until you try to take control of something or someone. Once you are considered a threat, everything on the screen will try to attack, meaning you have to dodge and shoot all hostile threats in cyberspace. Like combat in the real world, there is a learning curve, and you will probably fail quite a bit. However, once you get used to it, you can be a rather dangerous force in this gritty world. Hacking into a computer is slightly different from hacking in the real world. While the enemies are somewhat the same, inside a PC is a maze where you will have to get through barriers and other obstacles in your path.

The world-building of this game is nuanced. I have no critical notes about it. There were a few areas I couldn't get to, which affected my ability to complete quests. I could have looked online to find the solution. I encourage you to do so if you are ever stuck. Still, when I write these reviews, I try to go in as inexperienced as possible to try and emulate a person who has never played a title like the one I am writing. But Dex did fall into a few pits with designing a 2d side-scrolling RPG. Returning to areas that are hard to access, when you are playing on a 2d plane, you can only go left, right, or into a door regardless of whether it's in the foreground or background. Because of this, it can somewhat limit certain things from the screen transfer.

For example, I believe I was in an area, the slums, and there was a man I needed to talk to. I found him. The problem was that he was at a higher point in the area. I tried every door in the area and could not reach him. I even tried leaving the site and seeing if the adjacent stage had a higher point of entry I could use. But, like several Metroid and Castlevania titles, there was still nothing. Things like that can really be a pain if you are a completionist. There are also certain quests where if you don't have the right skills, you will fail that quest, such as trying to convince someone to return home to their sibling. That is fine, though, you expect this kind of thing in RPGs, and so long as it doesn't stop the overall gameplay dead, it's a fun way to ensure replay value.

In terms of replay, I honestly don't think there would be too much value to it. You can do things like finishing quests you bumbled or trying out some sweet cybernetic surgery. Still, there are only three endings, two of which can be reached by a single choice in the main story. A Google search says you can complete this title and all side quests in about 17 hours. There is nothing wrong with this, Dreadlocks is a smaller company, and a title of this size could have some shway speed runs. And in terms of its Cyberpunk world, I wish there would have been more interaction with the world itself. Don't misunderstand. They were able to build a world with the characters they met. Still, the only interactions I found in the world were lockpicking, buying drinks from a vending machine, hacking, and buying condoms from another vending machine. In short, Dex was a fun title I can see having a bit of a fan base or even a cult following. It wasn't one of my all-time favorites, but if Dreadlocks ever releases a sequel, I would like to play it.