Like pretty much everyone else in the world, I spend quite a lot of time in my life watching TV. Whether I’m eating a hearty meal, playing games, or just existing as a tired lump, there’s a decent chance a television is blaring away in the background. This is just the world we live in now, and we just have to embrace the screens really. If anything it’s helping set us up for a world like the one in Dystopicon, where we’re all trapped in our tiny rooms and forced to watch TV with nothing else in our miserable lives.
In case the name wasn’t enough of a hint, Dystopicon is a dystopian tale. In this world the only thing valued is work and obedience, and the only work for a nobody like you is watching the screen. You’ll earn money for every second you stare at the idiot box, and that’s basically your life now unless you raise your citizen rating high enough to be allowed outside.
Not everyone is happy with this setup though, as you’ll soon find out when peeking outside at riots. While you’re trying to survive your own miserable existence, others are fighting or giving up entirely. You’ll get plenty of dark glimpses into this by peeking through windows and grates, and by reading letters hidden around the apartment you’ve been assigned. Don’t expect anything uplifting though, this isn’t that sort of game.
You understand the concept of Dystopicon now, so let’s talk about what you actually do while playing. It’s essentially a time management game, where you have four meters you need to keep topped up to survive. Managing your health is important, and you do this by sleeping and washing your hands at the sink. Comfort is raised by turning on the heating or having a shower. Food is a simple one that involves devouring snacks (or later on eating rats), and finally fun can be gained by watching more entertaining channels that earn you less money. The issue with keeping your meters topped up though is money, because almost all these actions cost some while pausing your income from the telly.
There are multiple channels on your screen to choose between, each with their own benefit to watching them. Politics raises your citizen rating, Religion grants the most money, and Porn is the most fun. None of them are actually exciting to watch as they’re just stick figures and flashing lights though, so don’t get too excited you pervert.
Although most of Dystopicon is about watching TV, that’s not all you do. Like any good session in front of the telly there are other things to keep you busy, like clicking on rats to earn a bit of extra cash. There’s also recycling, which means clicking all the leftover bottles and bits of charcoal you leave lying around to earn more bucks for shower time. It’s clicky busywork that helps pass the time as the screen ticks away.
As intriguing a game as Dystopicon is, it’s hard to shake the fact it’s a bit tedious to actually play. There’s not enough going on at any one time, and even when the interesting story elements appear it’s just a text dump or quick comic to check out before you get back to watching meters tick up and down. It’s also frustrating how many actions automatically turn off the TV, because I just ended up forgetting to turn it back on and making my life harder. Small annoyances are made rather a lot bigger when you’re just sat bored for the majority of your time with a game.
Dystopicon is an incredibly interesting game with a seriously unique concept, but the small story beats aren’t enough to beat back the boredom. I guess thematically it’s supposed to be a boring experience (with your neighbours ending their lives instead of living in this existence) but I didn’t want that passing on to me. Hopefully some find enough intrigue and existential horror from Dystopicon to enjoy it, but for now I’ll go back to my own telly and watch something else.