Games for Noobs: Cloudpunk
A Neon Pixelated Cyberpunk Ride
Maybe I’m biased since Cloudpunk holds a special place in my heart. It came at a pivotal time in my life. It was the first game I played during the pandemic, not to mention the first game I’d played in five years. I’d just lost my day job. I was quarantining. It was a strange time (still is). I was anxious (still am). I was looking for something…comforting. And Cloudpunk was it.
What is Cloudpunk?
Cloudpunk is a dubious delivery company that transports suspicious packages. Playing as Rania, a plucky courier who just moved to Nivalis, you fly around in your HOVA (Cloudpunk parlance for hovercraft), picking up and delivering packages. That’s it. There’s not much to it, gameplay-wise. For some gamers, that might be a deal-breaker, but if you’re just dipping your toes into video games, Cloudpunk could be exactly what you need.
You Can’t Die
I’m starting to detect a pattern in my recommendations for the “Games for Noobs” series. All the games in my queue to publish (and the ones already published) are light on gameplay. It’s not the only prerequisite I have when identifying a game to feature, but it’s an important one. The Dark Souls series might be the best set of video games in history, but I’m not going to recommend games that are widely described as “punishing” to players who are just testing the waters; ergo, many of the games in this series are “easy.”
And Cloudpunk is easy. You can’t lose. You can only delay. The only thing stopping you is you. If you get tired of playing, you’ll turn off the game. Otherwise, you’ll keep playing, because the game can’t stop you.
There are no tough bosses or labyrinthine levels that will impede your progress. You can’t die. The worst thing that ever happens is that you make a wrong turn and have to turn around. There’s more danger pulling out of a spot in a strip mall parking lot.
Crashing Is Not A Problem
You can crash in Cloudpunk, which I did all the time, but nothing really goes wrong. The other HOVAs bounce off you like blimps, and you just keep plugging along. Sure, your chassis takes damage, and eventually you have to take your vehicle to a mechanic, but the cost of the repairs is never enough to factor into your experience in any meaningful way. In other words, there is no real danger. There’s no deterrent.
There’s not much of a challenge either. Apart from the occasional wrong turn or having to repair and gas up your HOVA, the only challenge is driving your hovercraft, which handles like a boat on ice. It takes a little getting used to, but since there’s no prohibitive penalty for damaging your vehicle, it doesn’t even matter.
Neon Verve and Cinematic Synthwave
Cloudpunk doesn’t need to give you a stiff challenge to keep you interested, though. The game has a main character you root for; it boasts a gorgeous neon-dappled landscape that begs to be traversed; and it comes with a bracing synthwave soundtrack that urges you to take the metaphorical top down.
There’s also some cool urban lore, much of which will be familiar to cyberpunk enthusiasts: AIs run amok, malfunctioning androids, corporate slaves, cybernetic viruses, decaying infrastructure and organized crime.
The story is fun, and the characters are likeable, but Cloudpunk is at its best when you’re in your HOVA about to set out on a new mission. These moments capture the feeling of being young in a big city. Grinding. Getting by. Going out. Sometimes the ride is the best part.
Cloudpunk Control calls you. You have a new mission. The waypoint appears. The beat drops, you turn up the base, switch on your vertical repulsor, and cruise through the neon glow.
