The Red Strings Club

got this game recommended to me by a classmate. He has good taste in games.

shot of existentialism

ⁱ ˡᵒᵛᵉ ᵗʰⁱˢ ᵍᵃᵐᵉ

This game is perfect. I got to throw bio-pottery on a wheel to sick beats, hack a corporation, and manipulate people with psychicocktails. Lots of games steal the slick aesthetic, but there are few other games that get at the philosophies and pathos that are core to the cyberpunk genre. The writing is just fantastic and I love the interesting game mechanics and puzzles. They're not hard, but that's not the point. They encourage creativity and trial and error to see what changing a single variable might will do (which really reinforces the overarching plot with the AI hive mind). The love story is so good and is also a fucking punch in the gut. You know what's going to happen because it's what the game opens with, but I still held out hope for Brandeis till the end. The music is also great and it's good for working to.

the best 4 Hours I've had in a few months

Story was fine, a little convoluted. I checked out toward the end. Felt more or less like cheap philosophical dialogue. It's also a political game if anyone wasn't aware.

I did however enjoy the end minigames as someone who works in IT. A little futuristic social engineering was cool.

In all, wouldn't have finished if I wasn't drinking while playing

beautiful, unique, nice story *****

What a touching and lovely story.

this game reminded me about people saying how indie games always hit different

great short game 3-4 hours longs, played & finished in one sitting
awesome near future cyberpunk world
fun minigames to keep it interactive while most of the game is point and click dialogue
good story & dialogue, never felt disinterested
multiple choices all along the way, multiple outcomes for the story, good twist at the end
lgbt aspects aren't shoved down your throat, they're just there, kind of irrelevant if anything
great themes in the story, regarding fate, consciousness, free will, ethics, etc
overall great little game for $5

Excellent!

the red strings club is a 2018 narrative adventure game where you try to stop a corporate conspiracy. there is a diverse cast of characters, all of which have a heavy focus on their dialogue which is extremely well-written. the story, while being the classic "corporation bad, hackers good" is still great, as is the soundtrack & overall aesthetic. the gameplay with the bartending, pottery, etc. isn't the BEST, but it's a short enough game where it never feels like it's overstaying it's welcome. it's definitely one of those games where you might plan on beating it in a couple sessions, but it hooks you and you play through the entire game in one sitting.

the worst this game has to offer is far outweighed by the good-to-great things on offer here, and for a cheap price (especially when discounted), i cannot recommend this game enough! devolver digital publishes nothing but bangers, i swear.

Visuals were awesome! There is definitely a strong and coherent color scheme to this game that contributes to the styles and themes throughout. Especially in a pixel art style, color takes the wheel a lot, and it yields an incredible experience to the player.

The music was awesome. Daunting at times, fun at others, always fitting like a perfect puzzle piece.

The game play is mostly visual novel, which is certainly not a bad thing as the story is complex, chilling, and violently compelling. The bartending mechanic and the Akara implant decision mechanic "minigames" were so much fun though, I could play those for hours.

Finally, the biggest W in this game by far: the story. The writer made sweet love to this story. Not often in games are you presented with a choice and you lean back in your chair, thinking "oh shit." That happened a lot. Rather than stop at the surface level of sci-fi, cyberpunk tropes, the narrative quickly dives into the people in this world and tells us about how they modify themselves with futuristic technology, but then swings the right hand around and hits us with all the ways they modify themselves to be different, more optimized human beings, constantly defending themselves from other people, their boss, their vices, and most horrifyingly, their own minds.

This game asked me questions I wasn't ready to answer, and it will stick with me for quite some time.

"Love. People." -Donovan

11/10

Fun

you know a game is good when it gets you thinking. even though some of the questions seem really simple they make you ponder on the topic of what makes us human. i got so focused on the made up by me vision of world in this game that i completely didn't expect the ending (besides the falling part obviously). very well made game!

Masterpiece

beautiful

Oh, it turns out to be a masterpiece.

As good as disco elysium, that's how good it can get.

Ambitious Ideas, but Ultimately Falls Flat

The Red Strings Club is a game with big ambitions, tackling thought-provoking themes like free will, ethics, and corporate control. However, despite its intriguing premise and stylish presentation, the execution leaves a lot to be desired, making the game feel more like a missed opportunity than a cohesive experience.

The storytelling is the game’s primary focus, but it’s often heavy-handed and clumsy. While the philosophical questions it raises are interesting, the writing tends to feel preachy and one-sided, leaving little room for genuine player interpretation. The dialogue is long-winded, and the game’s attempts to be profound often come across as pretentious rather than meaningful.

The gameplay, unfortunately, doesn’t do much to complement the story. The core mechanics—mixing drinks, crafting implants, and making dialogue choices—are novel at first but quickly become repetitive and shallow. The drink-mixing mechanic, in particular, feels more like a gimmick than a fully fleshed-out system, and it doesn’t evolve in a way that keeps it engaging. Similarly, the implant design mini-game feels underdeveloped and lacks any real depth or challenge.

While the game promises to offer choices that matter, the illusion of choice becomes apparent as you progress. Many decisions feel inconsequential, and the branching paths are limited. This undermines the sense of agency that the game seems to be striving for, making the experience feel more linear than it should.

Visually, The Red Strings Club has a strong pixel art style, but it doesn’t stand out compared to other indie games in the same vein. The environments are static and lack interactivity, which makes the world feel less immersive. The soundtrack, while atmospheric, is forgettable and doesn’t do much to elevate the game’s emotional beats.

While The Red Strings Club deserves credit for tackling complex themes and trying to push the boundaries of what a narrative game can be, the execution leaves much to be desired. Between the lackluster gameplay, heavy-handed writing, and limited player agency, it’s hard to stay invested. It’s a game with big ideas but struggles to deliver on its promise, leaving it feeling more style than substance.

The topics in this game are so heavy and deep that it got me staring at my screen for a good while after finishing it. This is a masterpiece of a game that I will think about for a long time.
If you have a few free hours and you wanna think about the world and the human nature, I cannot recommend this game enough!

this game feels like a warm cup of milk on a stormy night

This game is an amazing little mindf*ck. It was so enjoyable with the music and dialogue, but the actual plot and premise of the game is so worth a play through or two. I really enjoyed the choice making part of it, and the way it makes you think and search for an answer.

Akira's first mission task left me speechless... How can you let a "social media commentator" sell their computer???? Here we call it "break one's only bowl" This game better doing it better in the following content.

One-evening game (but, pretty good evening)

Before buying this game, I should warn you about a problem with Linux version of this game.
Linux version don't support achievements. So, if you love to collect achievements - Windows version is your choice.

So, let's go to the review.

In my opinion, plot isn't a strong side of this game. There is a typical plot about dangerous shit from big corporation in cyberpunk world. Also, if you once completed this game, you won't be able to complete it again with the same strong feelings and interest (this game has an unexpected plot twist at the end). Couple of similar games (VA-11 HALL-a, for example, or Coffee Talk) can be completed twice without losing feelings.

But, the biggest advantages of this game are dialogues and vibe.

This game has excellent soundtrack, unique vibe and art style with their own charisma. Characters have well-written dialogues (and also good translation into Russian).

If you wanna play something in evening and you don't hate that kind of games - you can buy it. It's cheap game, so, you may lose only your time.

incredible writings

I have never cried my eyes out harder, THIS GAME IS WORTH EVERY CENT

l

Не очень понравилось быть секретарем в конце :(

banger

Must play

It was really fun. The story is fun and engaging. I wish there could be a way to try different endings without starting the game all over again. I will play again in the future to try and get other achievements. I'm not a huge fan of cyberpunk worlds but playing this game made it work.

WTF. is my initial reaction after playing red strings club. I dont want to delve into this deeply but if you ponder about big questions in life. your place in the world and the implications that can have, I would highly recommend going into this blind and its only a couple bucks when its on sale

10/10 would play again

Em um determinado questionário, comecei respondendo da maneira que eu acharia mais correta pra não afetarem a liberdade de escolha e individualidade ser humano , mas a medida que ia respondendo fui me sentindo cada vez mais hipócrita. Bem reflexivo.

A trilha sonora é bem agradável e a arte é bem bonita, mas infelizmente não dá pra tirar screenshots :[

An incredible story. Simple graphics, a variety of mechanics. One of the best indie games I've played. Highly recommend.

In general i have to say it was a pretty good game. Short, but very good.

Art style was good, sound-track was fitting, gay/trans characters weren't stereotypical caricatures.

Only flaw was probably calling the player an idiot for saying women weren't oppressed (which given the setting of the game and lack of worldbuilding for what's outside, was pretty bullshit. Literally all the women besides the first one are privileged AF and transitioning isn't considered odd either so the message could have been delivered better imo) Not gonna put it as Not Recommended tho

WIll replay for the achievements/different choices. GG

Yes! but...

There's a lot of reading. It's an interesting narrative and a cool approach to the "branching narrative"... It has strong Heavy Rain or Detroit: Become Human vibes, but executed well (most branches seem to come to a common choke point when the client leaves...).

There's a number of spelling/grammar errors. "off" instead of "of", "there" instead of their"... it's doesn't make the game unplayable, but for $14.99... I would have said "no" to the recommend.

On sale at $2.99, it's an interesting narrative game with some cute mini games, I would totally recommend for an afternoon of entertainment.

Not interesting.
Not user friendly

love DOS like games but this one is hard to play, looks better on trailer and screenshots than in reality
by hard i mean boring and tasteless

Fun game, the first story-rich type of game that I actually like. Mostly because I really enjoy Brave New World, and this is practically the SOMA bit (with some extra AI twist). But it turns out that it’s not so easy to actually make those choices one by one. Other than that, though, I'm not exactly blown away by the story. And I definitely don’t understand why people are so hell-bent on telling Donovan they love him. It’s not like the game portrayed him as a super charismatic character!

The writing and the music are phenomenal.

don't skip any line in dialogue, there's no way back
i like it

Interesting dialogues, makes you think

I pirated this game 4 years ago when i had no money to buy it and things weren't great overall; 4 years later and i can say much has changed, but i still think this is a beautiful and introspective storie about personal values and people, with fun gameplay with more outcomes than your typical telltale-type game.

11/10 would buy again

I really wanted to liked this game and it has lot's of good in it, but as there's no option to leave neutral review this one is negative.

The Red Strings Club has wonderful ideas and most of them are very well implemented, but writing sways from philosophical pondering to blanket statements and some options that should have a role in last stage of game have no impact at all.

There are couple of mini games. While I appreciate the idea, in practice mixing drinks mini game became frustrating distraction and mini games also possibly create accessibility issue for people who suffer from anything affecting their motor coordination.

Game has very good characters, dialogue, soundtrack contributing to mood that works for game very well and that can be felt by player.

Mature aspects work seamlessly in context of story are covered in intellectually mature manner. I think this might be the only game I have ever played that has adult people conversing about sex in a way that really reflects real world conversations between adults that are familiar with each other to have such conversation. Excellent job there and something other game writers could learn from. This sort of boots on the ground approach can work in a video game.

I can't really comment the LBQT aspects of game from the point of view of heterosexual male how that works for them, but from my point of view there was nothing that felt inconsistent in story and setting. Sexual orientation / identity wasn't something that defined relevant characters personality and that makes sense to me.

Game isn't very long, which is one of its strong points. I don't believe in quantity over quality, especially when it comes to games like this. If it weren't for mini games that gets more convoluted along the way, game would be shorter, but in my opinion, better.

The Red Strings Club is a nice point & click game with a great story in a cyberpunk ambiant. The story is good and the pixels graphics are beautiful. I recommend it!!! ❤️❤️❤️

Started playing and I'm loving it. The cyberpunk vibe, pixel art, music, and exploring morality in a late-capitalist world through well written characters. aaaaaaa, reccommended (tho I haven't finished yet)

仙品

All the games are boring and tedious. Especially the phone call game, 0 interest.

my brain chip got a virus that makes me go to the liquor store

Stunning.