Cyberpunk” elicits many different responses depending on the generation. For the current, it may be, well, Cyberpunk 2077, perhaps even Edgerunners – of chooms bonding, becoming legends or fading away in the hellscape that is Night City. But the genre offers such a litany of capitalist viewscapes, where megastructures barely rise above the dregs and rogue artificial intelligences are more common than clean air—a dystopian wonderland a la Neuromancer or perhaps something more akin to 2000 AD‘s Mega-City One.
And even if this nightmarish mix of living space constraints, run-down architecture and hotbeds of crime resembles today’s world a little too closely for comfort, it’s still enough to inspire wonder, like in emptyvessel’s DEFECT. Not so different from our home.
Launching sometime in the future, hopefully nearer than farther (with only PC confirmed), three factions have been revealed thus far: The Rogue Police, gangs, and the law enforcement authorities of THE SYSTEM, an AI that controls everything with an iron fist (but with more ones and zeroes involved, probably). Not the most subtle term for an all-encompassing authoritarian power, but cold and effective.
If you’re one of THE SYSTEM’s tools, you’re sent into areas of the last city where the chaos has gotten a little too out of hand. As your squad is unceremoniously transported to the awaiting stacks, heartbeat monitors keeping tabs in the background, you have a choice of several different objectives. Retrieve, Extract and Profit Operation, aka R.E.P.O., arresting a key individual or terminating a rogue AI. You’ll need to carry along specific kinds of equipment, but pick your poison when it comes to the cold, bulky firearms. Shotguns, assault rifles, SMGs, sticky grenades and even a Cobra turret.
Infiltration is amid NPC residents who watch blankly. If someone insults your squad, it’s out of sight. Sometimes they’ll ask for help to reach higher floors, or barely acknowledge your presence through the gloom. Things take a turn when Nordrog, a gang leader, welcomes you to “the grinder” over P.A. Handheld scanners through the many floors of the megastructure show hostiles – likely the welcoming committee – en route to your position.
Past deteriorating corridors and graffiti depicting police oppression, your squad breaches into an apartment, gunning down the multi-armed occupant known as an Orchestrator and listening to what seems to be the AI, just chilling in a bathtub, attached to an unknown host. After retrieving all the required Datacubes and dealing with a sudden ambush, the way is clear to the system mainframe, where you stand and fight against gang members attempting to stop you in a dizzying array of lights, ammunition and crumbling pillars. Until you’re stabbed and told that the gangs are the law.
But you’re the law, and after a neural failsafe deposits your consciousness inside a newly awakened Orchestrator, the mission seemingly continues. Suddenly, the AI telling you that you’re all the same starts to make more sense. For all we know, the people of this world are all consciousnesses enslaved by THE SYSTEM to use as it pleases. Freedom is a fallacy, and a fate worse than death awaits those whom you arrest.
Believe it or not, this entire sequence seemingly depicts the 4v4v4v4 mode that DEFECT offers. Each team is part of a faction; each faction has a mission (further progress unlocks secondary objectives). If your job is to seize Datacubes and eventually wipe the gang’s mainframe, then it’s their job to stop you (and maybe get up to some crimes on the side). Where the Rogue Police intervene remains to be seen, but they’re as much a live target as anyone else, as THE SYSTEM ordains.
Leaving aside the fact that I’ve always wanted to experience a nightmare scenario akin to The Raid or 2012’s Dredd, there is so much fascinating about DEFECT’s gameplay. I’ve seen comparisons to Warhammer 40,000: Darktide; one comment said the Maelstrom from Cyberpunk 2077 finally got its own game. But there’s also a distinct tactical feel a la SWAT (which served as one of the game’s inspirations). Weapons can decimate chunks of walls, revealing entry points for your team, and which hostiles can use to surprise you.
There’s no health regen – you need to leverage terminals with limited charges to recover between each harrowing encounter. Perhaps the most intriguing element is subduing a perp and using consciousness transfer on his poor skull. Had a team member die in the line of duty? Voila, they’re now piloting this gang member’s shell and serve as a replacement. The minimal UI gives way to a tighter observation of your environment, where checking corners is as important as whipping out the Scanner to assess any potential threats (and yes, it needs both hands, so fight or scan).
And while the visuals could have you admiring the sleek atmospherics and particle effects, they’re also employed in harsher ways. Neon red can soak the rooms where you’re fighting; dust and harsh lighting obscure your vision. Even if the world is ugly, seeing it come to life in such a messy fashion almost makes you forget about THE SYSTEM’s hold. Ordinance and other tools (like a stealth wall) become especially important in such circumstances, and so does leveraging everything in the vicinity.
Now I know what you’re thinking. On the verge of greatness, this close, and all for the sake of PvP? Well, there’s good news: DEFECT also has a single-player mode, which is completely separate from the other modes (and even playable offline). There’s co-op, allowing you to descend into the darkness with your team and potentially deal with only AI-controlled enemies. Everything boils down to your equipment, whether it’s guns unlocked by THE SYSTEM’s grace or whatever you find in the environment. Kick over a table and use it for cover, if you have to, especially since health is a resource.
It remains to be seen if it can capture the level of chaos that PvP offers in its single-player and co-op modes. And as always, one must align their expectations accordingly, especially with visual fidelity like this. But the prospect of four different teams entering a building, completing their own objectives and eventually crossing paths, resulting in total mayhem, is too enticing to resist. The fact that it’s not trying to be a battle royale or an extraction shooter is all the more intriguing. After all, the gangs and the Rogue Police aren’t the law. You’re the law.
My mind is already racing with possibilities of what DEFECT could offer. Higher floors with more difficult objectives? A mission to save a key individual from another team that’s trying to kill them? Heavy weapons that tear the environment to shreds, making you feel powerful before getting gunned down? If leveraging your surroundings is the name of the game, who says you can’t toss someone to their death? The fact that enemies can kidnap you or your teammates certainly makes it seem likely. And what if you can keep the bodies used for consciousness transfer to use as backup in future missions?
Whichever way you look at it, this is a unique effort – a passion project that speaks to a bygone era of cyberpunk where the last shreds of hope are dashed, and regardless of the side you choose, it’s always judgment time.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
