Zarathustra: Cybergeddon Is A Murder Mystery With Aliens And A Cult
Zarathustra: Cybergeddon is a strange cyberpunk game with heavy Lovecraftian influence. It tells the story of humans that were changed in an instant by visiting aliens; a moment referred to as The Inflection. Players will act as a spirit guide, an AI programmed through the memories of someone who has died. This way they will not only control Amy, but find out a lot more hinges on them than it first appears. Its narrative does have a few twists but is easy enough to follow.
What Zarathustra does well is having characters that feel distinct despite its pixelated style. There is a lot of dialogue though. While each voice does have a surprising amount of personality, it quickly becomes clear that the voice acting is text to speech. At certain points words that are spelled similarly but pronounced differently, aren’t. This could be a dense read otherwise so it’s up to each player whether that’s a deal breaker or not.
The bigger issue a player might run into is the lack of instruction. There’s a single instance where players learn what their scanner is but otherwise this game will not teach players how to play it. With all the conversations there’s also little indication of who needs to be spoken to, or when a new area has opened. There will be plenty of exposition, even about things that aren’t relevant at that moment. And the mentions of kink go on for far too long. If that topic makes anyone uncomfortable, choose the option to immediately stop all mentions of it. However be warned,when Amy goes to sleep, the cage will remain there.
The lore was interesting and set up a potentially world ending threat. Ann and the other cult members felt too absent for the game to have any real tension though. Zarathustra: Cybergeddon will likely have the most appeal for players who like figuring a game out. There are multiple endings which are directly tied to items Amy picks up after being forced through a runic portal. As expected by this point, there’s very little information given about each items’ importance. And what’s supposed to go where can be a matter of trial and error. The random chess pieces are also tied to which ending the player ultimately gets.
Zarathustra is a free game with a pretty lengthy run time. It may not have as many mind-bending scenes as one might expect from cosmic horror, but it’s entertaining. It may be a little disappointing for anyone who wants a deep world to explore. On the plus side each screen rarely has more than a few things to interact with. So no pixel hunting even if you don’t use the scanner. There’s not a lot to lose for players who simply want another cyberpunk world to get immersed in for a few hours.
