I enjoyed my experience with Dex. It has a nice Cyberpunk 2d old school feel. For $5 this game was definitely worth it. The gameplay did not get boring at all and the side quests were enjoyable. A lot of picking up certain items but they were grouped well and I never found that I had to go too far out of the way to complete one.

It has light Metroid exploration type gameplay with a mix of NES Double Dragon thrown in. The story wasn't anything too special but it wasn't bad and did a good job of moving things along. The mini game (hacking) was pretty good also and broke up the 2d segments nicely. Overall I would recommend this game if you enjoyed any of the games that I mentioned or enjoy a good Cyberpunk storyline.

When I first played this game I gave it a bad review, because I died in the first fight and got a little upset. However, it turns out that playing other games, which only require a player to roll their face along the keyboard to win, may actually dampen reaction speeds and general video game skills.

After playing Dex a bit longer, and getting gud, it turns out this is a very fun game with a rewarding combat system. You can’t just run in and hammer the attack button. Well, you can, but you’ll probably die. It’s important in Dex to read your opponents, then block, dodge and attack appropriately.

Added to this even after choosing the melee combat route guns do not feel unessential, as they still play a crucial part in thinning down opponents as they run towards you to prevent you from being overwhelmed. Mix in some stealth takedowns and the combat system becomes simple yet very rewarding.

This is mixed into a Dues Ex type body modification system, and layered with good voice acting and an engaging plot in a 2D environment.

I’m having a lot of fun. I’d highly recommend this game.

Dex is a 2d sidescrolling metroidvania set in a futuristic cyberpunk world where corporations secretly rule over the impoverished masses. Set in a location known as Harbor City, you play the hero Dex, a young woman with latent and mysterious cybernetic powers who is caught in a conspiracy involving various shadow organizations scheming to control the world.

The majority of your time in this game will be spent in one of two worlds: meatspace, where you run around on foot and battle with various enemies, and cyberspace, where you move around an avatar and break various defenses in order to hack systems. The meatspace parts of Dex are fairly simple and straightforward and also offer a kind of “hacking” via augmented reality, allowing you to disable opponents and cameras or hack turrets so they fire on enemies instead of you. Combat can be resolved by either gunplay or melee, and both methods are equally effective when done properly. In cyberspace, you have a variety of obstacles to negotiate and 3 special types of attack, each suited for different kinds of enemies (along with a few one-use items that can do things like clear the screen or shield you).

Besides combat, you will have to interact with many different kinds of people as you unravel mysteries and complete quests, and the game gives you a multitude of different ways of dealing with each encounter. You can opt for the more diplomatic route (charisma) and convince people that your way is the best way, or just put a gun to their face or use some form of deception to get what you want. Each choice you make will have actual consequences later on in the story and sometimes even immediately afterwards. Exploration has the same level of variety, with different avenues depending on your skill-set such as a door that can be lockpicked or a vent to crawl through.

Graphically, the game is kind of a treat with the way it pulls off the whole retro-aesthetic. At first you might feel that it’s kind of deliberately ugly but after a few hours of play it sort of grows on you and becomes pretty in its own unique way. The devs were also not afraid of portraying a believable cyberpunk universe in all its grime, blood, and general unsavoriness. The musical score is catchy enough and the sounds reminiscent of what one would expect from a title in this genre (little bleeps and boops in cyberspace for example).

Dex is incredibly well rounded for what it’s worth, I only felt that maybe it could have possibly been two games as the last portion of the game seems almost like it could have been its own adventure. Additionally the sound could use some normalization for the cyberspace sequences, which are way louder than the rest of the game and forced me to reach for my volume dial each time. Overall though, I had no real problems with the game itself and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the cyberpunk genre, especially if you liked (D)eus (Ex).

I'm dissappointed. I was willing to overlook the cludgie mellee combat system. Isolate the enemy, get close and slowly punch them to death(too fast and they can fight back). However, the end game 'trials' feel trite at best. All augmentations earned/bought are stipped away, but "here's some bonus healing potions". I understand the intent, but the impelmentation sucks nuts harder than a squirl-vacuum hybrid.


If you want to play this game, do not sell 1 F--king healing 'potion'.
<spoiler>





The 'trials' at the end negate ALL of your augments/progress. The only way to counter this is with the varrious healing options. If you choose to ignore healing options for special regeneration, you will be screwed. Heck you may be screwed anyway. But don't count on the healing augment. It's turned off in the end game. This is your only warning.

Dex is a sidescrolling cyberpunk adventure. For most of the way through I was thinking Shadowrun by way of Castlevania, but it's more Deus Ex than Shadowrun. No matter how you look at it, Dex hewes pretty closely to cyberpunk tropes: from the rain-soaked neon-lit city in the intro, to the machinations of shadowy megacorps and the threat of globe-spanning AIs. Dex wears its influnces proudly. Case in point: Your mentor through the game is a "retired" hacker by the name of Decker, which hearkens back to the "deckers" of Shadowrun and Rick Deckard of Blade Runner.

So, is it any good? Yes, and no. Let's start with the good. The writing, while not phenomenal, manages to be entertaining throughout. It's full of cliches, sure. It does put together a memorable cast of characters, though. Some of the quests are groan-inducingly standard (help, a gang stole some of my stuff), but others are more memorable (ie. the singer and her superfan). There are e-mails and notes to read scattered throughout the game, but thankfully not an overwhelming amount, and they do a good job of sketching out a city full of people just doing what they must to get by.

The art is both good and bad. The cinematics and character dialog portraits are quite good, as are the environments. The character models, though... ugh. Dex is flat-out ugly, as are most people you meet. The character artist seems to have trouble with faces. Well, not just faces. The human body in general; try not to shudder when you see the "sexy" dancers on display at Afterlight. Animations are also pretty stilted.

The combat system is best described as awkward. It's also hard as balls, until you get a few upgrades under your belt. I probably save-scummed my way through the first 20-30% of the game, until I had enough skills to "hack" enemies with relative ease and and rely mostly on stealth takedowns of all but the strongest enemies. When it's down to just one-on-one, it's pretty easy to cheese out a hand-to-hand combat victory without taking any damage at all.

Ranged combat is an option, and a terrible one, as far as I could tell. There's only like 4 different guns in the whole game, and no way to block or dodge enemy fire. I found it best to get up close and personal, at which point the gunslingers would just try to kick and punch you, which was each to block or dodge. I ended up putting all my upgrade points into the non-combat options (hacking/lockpicking/conversation) which I think served me much better. That is, until a couple of sequences at the very end where gunplay was completely unavoidable. Really, was nothing learned from Deus Ex: Human Revolution?

Oh, and I haven't mentioned hacking yet. Do you like arena-shooters? Your answer to that question will determine how much you enjoy "hacking". Like the regular combat, it's ridiculously hard until you get a few upgrades about 25% of the way through, at which point it changes into a cakewalk.

Pros:
+ Story & Characters
+ Art (cutscenes, portraits, environments)
+ Pretty much all the cyberpunk tropes you can imagine

Cons:
- Combat
- Art (characters, animations)
- Pretty much all the cyberpunk tropes you can imagine

Meh:
= Hacking

Dex is a nice game, sure it isn't long but instead very compact, every place feels like it could really be in a real city and has its own feeling to it where other 2D games get repetitive after a while and I really like that. The Cyberpunk-atmosphere is really good and additionally I liked the combat-system (melee, guns are just not as interesting), especially the part at the beginning where you literally are just a normal person to which every single enemy is a threat. And the story, well that is something I think everyone should decide for themselves.

Two additional things more:
-If you don't know to go melee or ranged, go melee it really gets used more and is more interresting (imo)
-Download the Extra-Outfit-DLC, it's gratis but it doesn't get downloaded automatically (nice little addition)

Super fun indie RPG. The cyber punk setting is one of my favorites. So far the story is pulling me right along. I bought this late in the evening with an appointment in the morning and couldn't pull myself away from it for 3 hours. I'm lovin' it.

That was a great experience.

This game plays like a sort of Choose Your Own Adventure mashup of Philip K. ♥♥♥♥'s work, Neuromancer, The Lawnmower Man, Blade Runner, and a couple more major inspirations.

If you like these works, and like cyberpunk-type games, you'll enjoy this one.

100%-ed in around 20 hours. I _might_ replay again and choose a different path (I went charisma, lockpicking, hacking, AR, melee), but I doubt it. Not because it's not good, but because the game doesn't lend itself well to replay. BUT, as I've said, I thoroughly enjoyed the twenty hours I got out of the game.

Imagine the lore of Gibson's Neuromancer combined with open world and character progression from Deus Ex with aesthetics of Gemini Rue

Sounds good?

I purchased this game looking for something similar to a 90's game, Flashback. Unfortunately, I can't recommend this game. Game fails in the most important aspect, gameplay. Movements are clunky and combat is just plain bad. Story seemed ok.
All in all, didn’t find it a fun game to play.