It's been many years since I've gamed on my PC with any degree of regularity, and as such there are certain types of games that I just never really play as they tend not to make the leap to consoles. Cyber Manhunt 2: New World falls squarely into this kind of category, being a point and click mystery game, and whilst I was unsure if it was going to be something that I'd enjoy when I started playing it I was very quickly sucked into the narrative and the fiendishly simple gameplay.
Cyber Manhunt 2: New World makes the player give up their humanity in order to play as an AI, created to assist Ashley Grayson, a senior team member at Titan, a company who specialises in tech advancement and the development of artificial intelligence. You get a little bit of freedom to decide what kind of AI you want to be at the start, when you get asked a number of questions about what you'd do in certain ethical situations. I don't know if this dictates any changes in the game itself, but it's at least nice to click on the options that say you won't harm humans (no Skynet here).
After a quick set-up you get put through a tutorial level, in which Grayson needs you to investigate another member of the Titan team who may be leaking information to a disgraced former colleague. Using their company information you're able to search for their social media accounts, where you can gather other important info such as their age and where they live, and who he's been having conversations with. Using the data you gather you can unlock more sources to hack, such as their instant messages and emails, where you can continue your search for clues and start ton build a bigger picture of what's going on. If you come across anyone else along the way that strikes you as possibly being a shady individual you can do the same process with them, further expanding the narrative.
After this introduction to the basics of the game the story starts in earnest as a man enters the Titan lobby with a bomb strapped to his chest. He's screaming about getting even with the people at Titan, and claims that they've ruined his life. From here, you are able to start investigating the man, trying to find out if his claims of people being out to get him are true so that this can be passed on to the negotiators to try and deescalate things. However, it quickly becomes apparent that there is a lot more going on here than you first think, and a much larger story begins to form as you look into his life.
Cyber Manhunt 2: New World is not the kind of game that I normally play, and I've had some bad experiences in the past with puzzle games that are so obtuse that I would get stuck on relatively simple things (or at least simple if you know what you're doing). Looking at everything in the game, how you can hack into multiple different accounts, how you can break into phones, and even create fake voiceprints to trick people into talking about their crimes, it can all feel a little overwhelming. However, the game introduces you to a lot of these things very slowly, letting you get used to one area of the game before moving on to another.
It also helps that there's not a huge amount to do other than to click on buttons and occasionally type some snippets of code. As you're playing an AI you don't exist in the real world, there's no environment for you to explore, and your domain is the computer display. As such, you simply point your mouse and click. It's incredibly simple, but thanks to the appearance of complexity you feel like you're achieving something. I can barely do more than post here to my blog in real life when it comes to tech, but the game let me feel like I was hacking my way through security code with a couple of simple command prompts and a click or two.
The simplicity of the gameplay works brilliantly in conjunction with the complexity of the story. Very early on I thought I knew what was happening, why this man had entered a building ready to blow himself up and kill people. However, my assumptions were proven wrong, multiple times. During my investigation I would come up with a theory, and then the game would throw a curveball at me. I thought I understood a certain character, but then they'd shift and reveal a very different motivation that changed the entire trajectory of the story. There was never a time where I accurately guessed every twist or turn, but I also found that I wasn't trying to. By being involved and actively searching for the answers I was enjoying things on the fly, rather than trying to see the next stage.
I knew the game had hooked me when I had to leave it for a while in order to go and do something else and all I could think about was getting back to it in order to find the next clue and to see what the story had in store. There are a lot of games I play that fail to hook me that way, and it's a large part of why I don't game nearly as much as I used to, but this game gave me that high, that drive to dive back into it.
Graphically, the game is very simple, and doesn't need to do anything flashy in order to get you invested. Instead of opting for a more realistic approach, the game has an animated flavour to it, with characters on screen represented by artwork, and cutscenes playing out like motion comics. It works well, and removes the game from reality somewhat by making it less real. I don't know how easy it is to hack into things, my experience of it is what film and TV tell me, and it's never really been something that has interested me; so I can't help but feel if the game tried to be realistic, or used real actors in filmed scenes it would be too close to reality to grab me in the same way.
The final thing to talk about is the game's music. The music for Cyber Manhunt 2: New World is very subtle, and most of the time I didn't even realise it was there. The music is repetitive, sitting in the background as you search for clues, accompanying the tone of the game without overpowering it or distracting you. If anything, it helps to get you into the zone.
I'm glad I took a shot with Cyber Manhunt 2: New World as it's been a game that I've genuinely loved playing. Not only has it brought me a lot of enjoyment, but its made me consider an entire new genre of games to try out. I'll certainly be diving back into it soon, and can't wait to see what the team behind it does next.
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