Neo Cab: the most captivating video game noir that’s drifted into my life in the Trump era.
‘Neo Cab’: Video game noir at its best
- Neo Cab
- Developed by: Chance Agency
- Published by: Fellow Traveler
- Available on: iOS, Mac, PC, Nintendo Switch
Mercurial characters? To check. Moral compromises? To check. Emotionally nuanced endings? To check. In all reasonableness, "Neo Cab" is the most engaging video game noir that has invaded my life in the Trump era.
Set in the futuristic city of Los Ojos, this visual novel gives a smart, socially aware story about a woman trying to live as a taxi driver in a gigantic economy that is tilted against her. The vision of "Neo Cab" for a future in which technology has become physically more invasive, is imaginatively convincing and offers a classic science fiction warning: come on, big data is coming.
Set in the futuristic city of Los Ojos, this visual novel gives a smart, socially aware story about a woman trying to live as a taxi driver in a gigantic economy that is tilted against her. The vision of "Neo Cab" for a future in which technology has become physically more invasive, is imaginatively convincing and offers a classic science fiction warning: come on, big data is coming.
Lina is a driver for Neo Cab, a taxi company based on apps. Almost broke and longing for a new chapter in her life, she moves to Los Ojos at the invitation of her friend Savy. In L.O. she scourges Capra, a technology company whose cars without drivers dominate the streets. Lina once worked for Capra until she and everyone like them was cut down when the company updated their cars so that they would run on a driverless network.
Soon after Lina gets to town she gives Savy a lift. She doesn’t get much time to catch up with her friend who is eager to get to an engagement. Savy makes Lina drop her off a few blocks from where she is going because she doesn’t want the people she is meeting to think of her as “pro-car.” As Lina later comes to find out, Savy is involved with a grassroots political faction in Los Ojos that contends that all cars, whether human-operated or driverless, are “death machines.”
To their way of thinking, cars are unnecessarily dangerous vehicles that would be better replaced by public transportation or biking. Before Savy — the story’s the femme fatale — disappears on Lina, she gives her a Feelgrid bracelet. Feelgrids are a line of wearable tech that reflects your emotional state to the world by reading your blood flow. So, when Lina is feeling depressed, her Feelfgrid lights up blue. When she is angry it turns red, when elated, yellow, when content, green.
To their way of thinking, cars are unnecessarily dangerous vehicles that would be better replaced by public transportation or biking. Before Savy — the story’s the femme fatale — disappears on Lina, she gives her a Feelgrid bracelet. Feelgrids are a line of wearable tech that reflects your emotional state to the world by reading your blood flow. So, when Lina is feeling depressed, her Feelfgrid lights up blue. When she is angry it turns red, when elated, yellow, when content, green.
Conversational options are tied to Lina’s emotional state. If she isn’t already in the red, for example, she won’t be able to say something that registers as angry even if there might be ample reason for her to say something cutting.
If you select a response that doesn’t jibe with her emotional state a rationalization will appear on the screen to explain away her aversion. By pushing Lina into certain emotional states assorted conversation branches become available.
If you select a response that doesn’t jibe with her emotional state a rationalization will appear on the screen to explain away her aversion. By pushing Lina into certain emotional states assorted conversation branches become available.
Lina is influenced by a number of variables, such as who she picks up, the conversations she has with her passengers, where she decides to crash for the night and how well she sleeps. Capra, the company that hates Lina, offers the cheapest rooms for a one-night stay, but I never let Lina stay because the savings didn't seem worth risking her mental well-being.
Instead, I generally let Lina stay in a cheap motel where the quality of her tranquillity varied. One time I let one of Lina's passengers saddle another guy with some money by leading her away from intervention.
The man was a well-to-do jerk, and Lina wept with tears of joy at the prospect of spending the night in a cosy room. In video games, I am happy to wage a little class war whenever I can.
Instead, I generally let Lina stay in a cheap motel where the quality of her tranquillity varied. One time I let one of Lina's passengers saddle another guy with some money by leading her away from intervention.
The man was a well-to-do jerk, and Lina wept with tears of joy at the prospect of spending the night in a cosy room. In video games, I am happy to wage a little class war whenever I can.
The story of "Neo Cab" fits neatly around the ethics of biofeedback monitoring by considering how an unethical company could use such data for its benefit. The game also cleverly weaves into a subplot involving one of Lina's passengers, a 'quantum statistician', who focuses on exploring a variety of timelines spread across parallel universes.
I noticed that the story of the statistician was so engrossed in me that at some point I felt a metaphysical chill creep over me as I moved back and forth between choosing different options.
The words of the statistician ensured that I idly cherish the possibility that I might choose my answers differently in a different dimension. Given that the game is interested in the concept of suggestibility, I recommend that developers get one good narrative beat after another.
I noticed that the story of the statistician was so engrossed in me that at some point I felt a metaphysical chill creep over me as I moved back and forth between choosing different options.
The words of the statistician ensured that I idly cherish the possibility that I might choose my answers differently in a different dimension. Given that the game is interested in the concept of suggestibility, I recommend that developers get one good narrative beat after another.
I loved the story, the characters and the simple but thoughtful game mechanics of "Neo Cab". This is definitely worth a drive to catch.
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