I've enjoyed a lot of my time with Cloudpunk but it's definitely a game that I think is difficult to recommend. Ultimately I do recommend it, but I think it's important to know what you're in for. I'll start with the good.
Nivallis is gorgeous. It's easy to forget the whole city is made up of voxels, honestly. The RTX makes it look even more gorgeous. Driving your HOVA around and even taking in the sights on foot contains some fever dream moments that please me as a fan of Blade Runner and similar cyberpunk worlds. The developers knew it would be this way too, as they included a dedicated button to turn off the HUD (right D-pad on controller!) So you can get some really pretty pictures, and cinematic pans as you soak all the neon in.
The HOVA drives exceptionally well, and it was very fun to zip around at high speeds when it was required. Driving a HOVA takes up probably 75% of the game, so having the driving controls be intuitive and dialed in enough to not be frustrating in any way is vital for what this game is trying to accomplish, so I definitely appreciated that they nailed that.
Cloudpunk also contains some great “cyberpunk” stories and conundrums. The narratives are at their best when they're exploring ethics and morality surrounding futuristic ideas like androids, automata, individuality, and megacorps. It's provoked some fun thinking in those regards and more with its rhetoric, and I absolutely am glad the writing is as good as it is in those breakthrough moments to facilitate that.
The true bread and butter of Cloudpunk is a combination of all of these things strung together through loosely linear delivery missions that made for a great “cozy” cyberpunk game. Nothing about Cloudpunk requires a lot of brain power, as much of the game loop is easy to understand, though a bit tedious and monotonous. But that pairing makes it an excellent game to play alongside watching TV or listening to a podcast or something. In that sense, I'm calling it a Strand-lite. It's not quite as demanding as Death Stranding and it definitely doesn't have as many engaging systems to compete on that AAA level, but the core of Cloudpunk still elicits some of the same emotions I had while playing Death Stranding (not to mention their obvious connection through deliveries).
But Cloudpunk is still difficult to recommend and here are a few points as to why.
The voice work is B-tier, at best. I can tell that a few voice actors tried to do many different parts, so I would constantly hear inklings of familiar voices throughout Nivalis. I also thought that a lot of the line deliveries didn’t land and they sounded like… I don’t know, an audiobook at best. I think that will be charming for some, but for me, I actually would have preferred a grunt for the text boxes or something similar, leaving the rest up for my mind’s interpretation.
The vendors and items wholly don’t matter. I’m amazed that there are so many vendors in Nivalis, you have food vendors and drug dealers, and smugglers of every kind, all of them with about 3 potentially unique items for sale. But there’s a catch. The items don’t do much of anything. The drugs provide small speed boosts at best, and the food… not sure if that has any effects. The items, from what I understand, such as clothes and things serve no purpose other than to exist for you to game the market and resell at a potential profit, which is cool if you need to do that. But I beat the game and had enough money for all the HOVA upgrades and apartment upgrades without needing to do that. There is no reason to interact with any of the vendors in Nivalis other than for a few achievements should you be seeking them, and the simple gimmicky nature of it… so why bother having them here at all? If the vast majority of items serve no purpose I wonder why the time was spent to include them at all?
The collectibles feel very shoehorned in. Many of them you just collect for resell value which is practically the only reason to speak with any NPC outside of deliveries. Others go towards a large collect-a-thon quest. I think the city would be a bit boring without them, as it does give you the incentive to visit new places, but I almost wish that these items served a greater purpose other than just resale value.
Picking up and playing Cloudpunk showed me that this studio has so much potential. The other day I saw their reveal for Nivalis, what I’m assuming is another cyberpunk game, and in the same world, kicked up a notch, and I’m super here for that. I think if they can iron out some of the finer details they’ll have a game that I won’t hesitate to recommend, and will certainly be eager to play. I’m very interested in keeping a close eye on them to see what they do next.
Ultimately I do recommend Cloudpunk but I know it’s not for everyone, and it’s not going to be the best experience for all players. There is a niche collective of people that will enjoy it as I have, and I think you’ll know if you’re that kind of person just by looking at screenshots and videos of the early stages of the game. It’s cozy, a bit tedious, cyberpunk, and just a superb little jam you can play on the couch, and if that sounds like your thing, pick it up and give it a go.
I came to this conclusion after playing Cloudpunk for a little over 11 hours primarily on SteamDeck, in offline mode (Steam does not add offline hours to your playtime). When I played on PC, I played on my RTX 3070 and Ryzen 7. Performance was great for both, though on SteamDeck it needed a lot of power to perform, which required a lot of cooling, and ultimately became the reason I ditched my crappy, whiney Delta fans and upgraded to the quieter set in my first-ever self-repair. So thanks for that Cloudpunk, lol.
If you enjoyed this review, consider visiting my website.
Nivallis is gorgeous. It's easy to forget the whole city is made up of voxels, honestly. The RTX makes it look even more gorgeous. Driving your HOVA around and even taking in the sights on foot contains some fever dream moments that please me as a fan of Blade Runner and similar cyberpunk worlds. The developers knew it would be this way too, as they included a dedicated button to turn off the HUD (right D-pad on controller!) So you can get some really pretty pictures, and cinematic pans as you soak all the neon in.
The HOVA drives exceptionally well, and it was very fun to zip around at high speeds when it was required. Driving a HOVA takes up probably 75% of the game, so having the driving controls be intuitive and dialed in enough to not be frustrating in any way is vital for what this game is trying to accomplish, so I definitely appreciated that they nailed that.
Cloudpunk also contains some great “cyberpunk” stories and conundrums. The narratives are at their best when they're exploring ethics and morality surrounding futuristic ideas like androids, automata, individuality, and megacorps. It's provoked some fun thinking in those regards and more with its rhetoric, and I absolutely am glad the writing is as good as it is in those breakthrough moments to facilitate that.
The true bread and butter of Cloudpunk is a combination of all of these things strung together through loosely linear delivery missions that made for a great “cozy” cyberpunk game. Nothing about Cloudpunk requires a lot of brain power, as much of the game loop is easy to understand, though a bit tedious and monotonous. But that pairing makes it an excellent game to play alongside watching TV or listening to a podcast or something. In that sense, I'm calling it a Strand-lite. It's not quite as demanding as Death Stranding and it definitely doesn't have as many engaging systems to compete on that AAA level, but the core of Cloudpunk still elicits some of the same emotions I had while playing Death Stranding (not to mention their obvious connection through deliveries).
But Cloudpunk is still difficult to recommend and here are a few points as to why.
The voice work is B-tier, at best. I can tell that a few voice actors tried to do many different parts, so I would constantly hear inklings of familiar voices throughout Nivalis. I also thought that a lot of the line deliveries didn’t land and they sounded like… I don’t know, an audiobook at best. I think that will be charming for some, but for me, I actually would have preferred a grunt for the text boxes or something similar, leaving the rest up for my mind’s interpretation.
The vendors and items wholly don’t matter. I’m amazed that there are so many vendors in Nivalis, you have food vendors and drug dealers, and smugglers of every kind, all of them with about 3 potentially unique items for sale. But there’s a catch. The items don’t do much of anything. The drugs provide small speed boosts at best, and the food… not sure if that has any effects. The items, from what I understand, such as clothes and things serve no purpose other than to exist for you to game the market and resell at a potential profit, which is cool if you need to do that. But I beat the game and had enough money for all the HOVA upgrades and apartment upgrades without needing to do that. There is no reason to interact with any of the vendors in Nivalis other than for a few achievements should you be seeking them, and the simple gimmicky nature of it… so why bother having them here at all? If the vast majority of items serve no purpose I wonder why the time was spent to include them at all?
The collectibles feel very shoehorned in. Many of them you just collect for resell value which is practically the only reason to speak with any NPC outside of deliveries. Others go towards a large collect-a-thon quest. I think the city would be a bit boring without them, as it does give you the incentive to visit new places, but I almost wish that these items served a greater purpose other than just resale value.
Picking up and playing Cloudpunk showed me that this studio has so much potential. The other day I saw their reveal for Nivalis, what I’m assuming is another cyberpunk game, and in the same world, kicked up a notch, and I’m super here for that. I think if they can iron out some of the finer details they’ll have a game that I won’t hesitate to recommend, and will certainly be eager to play. I’m very interested in keeping a close eye on them to see what they do next.
Ultimately I do recommend Cloudpunk but I know it’s not for everyone, and it’s not going to be the best experience for all players. There is a niche collective of people that will enjoy it as I have, and I think you’ll know if you’re that kind of person just by looking at screenshots and videos of the early stages of the game. It’s cozy, a bit tedious, cyberpunk, and just a superb little jam you can play on the couch, and if that sounds like your thing, pick it up and give it a go.
I came to this conclusion after playing Cloudpunk for a little over 11 hours primarily on SteamDeck, in offline mode (Steam does not add offline hours to your playtime). When I played on PC, I played on my RTX 3070 and Ryzen 7. Performance was great for both, though on SteamDeck it needed a lot of power to perform, which required a lot of cooling, and ultimately became the reason I ditched my crappy, whiney Delta fans and upgraded to the quieter set in my first-ever self-repair. So thanks for that Cloudpunk, lol.
If you enjoyed this review, consider visiting my website.