Agent Dunoz

Ready to tickle your sci-fi fancy? Agent Dunoz throws you into the murky, neon-lit waters of a cyberpunk dystopia, where your soul is leveraged by a fifteen-grand loan, and your morality is up for negotiation. Forget the flashy explosions and slick parkour of mainstream cyberpunk; this gritty text-based RPG prefers making you squint at your monitor until your eyeballs start quoting novels.

You play as a debt-laden dreamer, hoping mercenary work will claw you out of existential poverty. Like any self-respecting dystopian protagonist, you're neck-deep in danger, debt, and dice-based combat. Your choices shape every facet of your sorry existence, from tactical battles to deciding whether tonight's ramen dinner is worth sacrificing tomorrow's bullets. It's cyberpunk realism taken to an unsettlingly relatable extreme.

Neon Debt

The narrative is where Agent Dunoz shines brightest. The writing peppered generously with dark humor and authentic grit, drags you through a labyrinth of moral ambiguity. Choosing between Aegis and the Resistance isn't your average good-versus-evil binary; both paths seem determined to stain your conscience irreversibly. It's refreshing to play an RPG that recognizes "morality" isn't always heroics—it's often just survival in shades of grey.

Combat mechanics revolve around dice rolls, adding unpredictability to every encounter. This is either charmingly old-school or annoyingly chaotic, depending on your tolerance for random chance wrecking your meticulously planned stealth assassinations. Weapons range pleasingly from subtle blades to obnoxiously loud firearms, while stealth and hacking skills provide strategic variety. Unfortunately, clarity on mechanics occasionally suffers, forcing players to wade through ambiguity like swimming in a vat of cold noodles.

Your character's survival management - sleep, food, health - adds immersive tension to the precarious balance of missions and downtime. Between hanging out in dive bars or torturing yourself in grimy gyms, these downtime activities feel oddly comforting against the relentless harshness of mercenary life. However, some activities quickly feel repetitive, occasionally reminding you that realism isn't always synonymous with fun.

Technically, Agent Dunoz runs smoothly even on lower-spec systems. Its simplicity is ideal for text RPG enthusiasts whose systems might struggle with flashier cyberpunk fare. That said, the game begs for better compatibility across different devices. Its lo-fi charm is tailor-made for portable play, yet frustratingly unavailable.

Dicey Propositions

Agent Dunoz channels the gritty ethos of classic text RPGs like Shadowrun, capturing their essence but currently lacking polish in crucial areas. While deeply immersive and narratively compelling, it occasionally trips over unexplained mechanics and repetitive loops.

Round-Up - Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Strong, immersive narrative with meaningful decisions
• Dice-based combat provides a thrilling unpredictability
• Effective resource management heightens tension and realism

Cons:

• Gameplay mechanics are occasionally unclear
• Repetitive downtime activities reduce long-term engagement
• Currently lacks Steam Deck compatibility