Just imagine: a hacker and at the same time a gay private detective, moreover, an immigrant under house arrest investigates intricate cases without leaving her computer. And outside the windows of her apartment – cyberpunk, the heyday of technology and, in general, the atmosphere of the series “Black Mirror” . And all this is from the Russian studio Wooden Monkeys , which previously released the Save Koch strategy . What came out of this, to put it mildly, a colorful vinaigrette?
Speed1
Play without complexes
Our heroine’s name is Isabella, or Izi for her own. She looks like a typical modern girl, let’s say, broad-minded, but in Fark, the city of the future, full of corporations and gangs, Izi does not support feminism, but uncovers tangled cases to order. Either a journalist friend asks to find out why the once famous actor returned to the city, then the chief engineer of a large company will ask for help – you need to find and return the kidnapped robot dog (the engineer created him), which his daughter misses. Then we need to find out who, why and how blackmails the girl, the famous stand-up girl, who in the process has romantic feelings for Izi.
Yes, Song of Farca is a game without complexes, very modern and relevant from this point of view. Even the AI assistant named Maurice, whom Isabella created herself, is both him and her. The abducted e-terrier (the very robop), who seems to be a bitch, but at the same time Sir Gavkalot, does not have a clear gender identification. You can, of course, spit, but the advantage of such liberation was the abundance of vivid characters and situations. There are nymphomaniacs, killers helping orphans, and webcam models who once transported drugs for the Serbian mafia.
Our heroine was arrested because of a fight in a club.
Yes, Song of Farca is an adult and sometimes preoccupied game, but bright. More than a dozen cases that our heroine is investigating turned out to be fascinating and intriguing. The dialogues and, in principle, the texts are well-written, and even often accompanied by selected swearing words, which in such a setting looks more than appropriate. I also liked the sense of humor, which is most evident in the dialogues with Maurice.
Izi not only investigates, but also solves his problems, helps loved ones and friends, even begins to work for the bandits, saving them from the police. And closer to the end, all this is united by a common plot convoy. Not everything looks logical, the authors do not discover America, but raise topics typical of cyberpunk. But in how they serve it, how robops are combined here, articles about art, the Serbian mafia, killers, orphans and webcam models in love, how many references not to a distant digital future, but to modern life – this, of course, is has its own charm.
A sweet and dangerous life is in full swing in Farka.
Work from home
The gameplay is also unique in its own way. Most of the time we watch two screens – from above we see Izi walking around the apartment, and when she sits down at her computer, the cursor on the screen below is activated. There we receive and make calls, communicate with Maurice when it is necessary to analyze the data, collect a dossier for each character. There is also a board with evidence – on it Izi puts the leads found and makes connections between them.
Not without a convoluted inheritance case.
We collect evidence mainly with the help of hacking tools. When another interesting place appears on the map of the city, we connect to the surveillance cameras and, turning them in different directions, look for tablets, locked cages with robotic dogs, computers with compromising correspondence, bugs, and so on.
Often controlled by drones, which can be seen by guards. Then they need to be distracted – for example, by turning on / off some system. Or you need to hack and open the door in time so that the drone has time to fly into the room with incriminating evidence. Naturally, every now and then you need to find a password for a door or computer, focusing on prompts.
In each such location, you need to collect a certain amount of evidence.
In addition, from time to time we find videos that show the faces of the suspects or the license plates of the cars. First, we compare the hazy images with the real ones and try to determine who or what is in the video. Then we break through the data on the databases and archives, including with the help of Maurice, find new leads and locations, update the profiles.
After that, communicating with suspects, customers and other characters, we can use the evidence found. For example, a hacker says that she has nothing to do with theft, and we show her the stolen cartridges found in her apartment. If this is not enough, we turn on deduction, combine the available information, conclude that the hacker is afraid of her boss, and we proceed from this.
The most interesting thing is that our findings can influence the investigation and even lead to the death of people. And if they acted differently, they would have survived or someone else would have died.
They don’t go into their pockets for a word. Fuck her, in general …
Household routine
Song of Farca’s main problem is repetition of the same actions. We spend the lion’s share of the time activating and moving surveillance cameras, and then calling back the same characters, trying to get the necessary information from them – and for this, as a rule, you just need to go through the available options for evidence and conclusions. And there will be no punishment for choosing the wrong options.
Also, the authors have been too clever in places with password hints – sometimes they are already very ornate and far-fetched. This is fine for classic quests, but here we have a more modern adventure.
This is an interesting mini-game.
One can make claims to Song of Farca , but the fascination of its story (more precisely, the stories) outweighs everything – it is a really colorful, well-written and unusual game in its own way, which is manifested both in the storyline and in the gameplay.
Pros: interesting setting; exciting cases to investigate; bright characters; the ability to influence the fate of people; well written texts; addictive gameplay; nice picture.
Cons: a lot of repetitions in the gameplay; some riddles are frankly far-fetched.