Hello again, and welcome to our latest instalment of Discussion: [indie game] (spoilers!), a series which usually involves a moderately lively back-and-forth on the topic of a relatively modern indie title.

Having covered one particular type of game pretty much exclusively so far, we’ve drawn a line under walking sims for now, capping things off with a spoiler-free round-up last time around.

Today’s subject for discussion is Neo Cab, a visual novel developed by Chance Agency and published by Fellow Traveller in 2019.

You play Lina, a human cab driver in a near future dominated by automated transport. Over the course of her first week in a new city, Lina has to juggle the need to track down an errant friend with doing the day job of ferrying a variety of passengers around the city.

Here’s a trailer!

As any regular readers may know, we don’t like to say too much more here, but this is another relatively short game (around 4-5 hours) that we both really enjoyed, and would recommend. If the trailer makes it look like it might be of interest, then go no further, if you want to avoid spoilers.

Otherwise, here’s the ***FINAL SPOILER WARNING*** for the discussion below!

 

A Clicky-Choicey One

Rik: So, we move into the post-walking sim era of this series. Although Neo Cab isn’t that different, in that it’s still a narrative adventure. I guess you might call it a visual novel, or a ‘clicky-choicey’ one, to use the technical term.

Jo: What actually is the genre? Is it just narrative adventure? Which I suppose the walking sims were really.

Rik: I think ‘Visual Novel’ is the official description of Neo Cab. But narrative adventure sort of puts it in the same ball park as previous games we’ve discussed. And I think we’ll probably continue to feature story-heavy games here.

Jo: Yeah.

Rik: So, this was my choice. And I figured it would probably be a gentle move sideways from the walking sims. Apart from that, and thinking it looked quite cool, I didn’t know very much going in. Possibly I read a brief review some time ago, whenever it was released.

Jo: I didn’t know anything about it: it looked a bit futuristic, but that’s all I had.

Rik: Me too. Although it turns out it isn’t as futuristic as I first thought. I thought it might be all flying cars and other generic sci-fi stuff. But actually the setting, and the issues it deals with, are all fairly contemporary, or at least aren’t that far in the future.

Jo: Yes, you’re right. It’s got a futuristic vibe, but not quite Back To The Future 2. [Which, we know, is technically set in 2015 – Ed.]

Rik: So, Neo Cab is actually the name of the company you work for. And it’s possibly the only cab company to still use human drivers. Or one of the last few at least?

Jo: I got the impression it was the last remaining one. Not even so much as a rival to its competitor, just the last surviving company.

Rik: The big behemoth is Capra…

Jo: Capra Sun! (Not really, but I did keep thinking it).

Rik: Heh heh, me too! No, it’s just Capra, and nothing to do with squeezy pouches of juice, but rather a tech giant who operate self-driving cars, and pretty much run the big city (Los Ojos) that you, as Lina, find yourself in. Although at the start, you’re not actually in the city, which took me by surprise.

Jo: Oh yeah? In what way?

Rik: I think I imagined you’d start in the city as a hard-bitten cynical cabbie.

Jo: Like Bruce Willis in The Fifth Element?

Rik: Yeah, a bit. With some kind of inner monologue about this cesspit city and how it eats people up. Or something. All the background about meeting a long-lost friend and uprooting your whole life to move to Los Ojos, I wasn’t really expecting. It makes sense though, especially from a narrative point of view, because it means Lina can be an outsider who has to have odd things explained to her (and, by extension, to you the player).

Jo: Yeah, I see what you mean. I don’t know what I expected going in, but I suppose that part of it is maybe more… I can’t think of the best way to put it… day-to-day. So, you’re not straight in there with the politics of the city etc. Maybe at first I did think it was going to explore their friendship and life more.

Rik: Yes, I mean, you meet your friend (Savy) and then she disappears almost straight away, and doesn’t really resurface until the very end.

Jo: I should confess at this point that I did have a bit of a moment, like we talked about with the fishing in Firewatch. [Note: Rik remains genuinely disappointed that you don’t get to go fishing in Firewatch].

Rik: Oh right?

Jo: Where it took me a while to twig that I would just have to go on without Savy for most of the game. I think it took a couple of days (in the game) before I was like, ‘oh ok, I guess we’re not going to her apartment, then’. Which makes sense given the context of the game… But it took a while for me to realise that her disappearance was the central focus and that I wouldn’t be unpacking my bags any time soon.

Rik: I thought you were going to say that you knew straight away that she was going to be bad news.

Jo: Well, I did have my suspicions when she immediately flakes out of the plans upon meeting, what with the whole ‘Oh I’ve arranged to do this other thing, you don’t mind do you? You can meet us later’ etc.

Rik: Like a patronising middle-aged man, I thought: you’ve had a big fight and not seen each other since, but have decided to move in together, oh dear! Then you actually meet her, and she’s annoying and flaky – e.g. the ‘oh, can we just do this first’ type stuff.

Jo: You do get the feeling that it’s not the most stable friendship.

Rik: And you only really have Lina’s own insistence that they were once so close and the best of friends. Also, she obviously is working for Capra at the start. ‘Yeah, I’m just standing here because it’s a big building…’

 

The Germans Who Think You’re A Robot

Rik: But that bit sort of goes away for a while, which I wasn’t surprised by, because I was expecting a game of ferrying passengers around. Circumstances don’t allow Lina to do much except her job, as she has no idea where to find Savy.

Jo: Or anywhere to stay.

Rik: I think that is quite clever. Not like those big sprawling games where you ignore the supposedly urgent big quest to fanny around doing chores. You want to help, but can’t. Plus, you need money and have quotas to meet! So you have to discover the city on your own.

Jo: You have to try and investigate Savy’s disappearance while also keeping yourself afloat. But each passenger you pick up is an opportunity to find something out, either about Lina, the city or the ‘world’ as it is in the game. Or even the Savy situation, in some cases.

Rik: The main thing Savy does is give you the mood bracelet, and explain how it works.

Jo: I quite liked how different passengers reacted to the ‘Feel Grid’. Like it wasn’t just part of the game, for the player’s benefit (although that was part of it) in helping you make dialogue choices, but I also quite liked how everyone had a different opinion on them, because they were a relatively new piece of tech.

Rik: Again, I thought it was all quite clever and well done. At first I figured, well you’re sort of going to be in control of this, and what choices you make will obviously affect your mood. But I hadn’t quite expected how much what others said would impact you and potentially put you on the back foot. It’s quite good at throwing you off, much like a real conversation with a random stranger.

Jo: Yeah, exactly.

Rik: Did you find yourself being indecisive with your answers?

Jo: Yes, very. I think first time around I tried to just pick what felt most natural to me. Second time, I tried to be a bit bolder but couldn’t pull it off really. How about you?

Rik: I think that I got into character as someone who needed good ratings and money. That’s another thing it does well. You really feel the precariousness of your existence and how it hangs on the decisions of randos, who could be absolute arseholes for no good reason. So I think I tried not to upset anyone too much, but you can’t help it sometimes.

Jo: You feel that pressure to keep the 5-star rating at all costs. I mean, being a highly sensitive, not very assertive, people pleaser wasn’t too much of a reach for me…

Rik: Well, you sort of have to be a people pleaser if they’re your customers, right? Did you pick up the Germans who thought you were a robot? They pissed me off. I wondered later if I could have responded better to them, but I chose different passengers second time around.

Jo: Yeah, I did pick up the Germans. I tried to keep it light, but they gave me a bad rating, regardless, and they did piss me off too. I struggled with some of the choices, like where you had to choose between not picking someone up where they had asked (and risk the rating) or picking them up in an illegal spot (and risk a ticket).

Rik: What did you do?

Jo: The first time, I picked them up in an illegal spot and got bollocked by the police, who took all my money. What about you?

Rik: The first time, I did the illegal pickup, but then bribed the police. The second time, I didn’t risk it, and it didn’t seem to affect my rating.

Jo: Yeah, I did it second time and still got a good rating.

Rik: But it might depend who you pick. I think there’s the same dilemma, regardless of who your first passenger is.

Jo: How did you select your passengers? Was it just at random?

Rik: Um, again, first time I looked at their average rating dished out, with my survival hat on. Second time, just tried to make different choices, while also picking some of the same people up and trying different things with them.

Jo: I think I misunderstood how their ratings worked, I thought it was like Airbnb where they got rated by the drivers…

Rik: Oh, maybe it is. But either way I figured it must be an indicator of something relevant to inform your decisions. Although you can’t give out ratings yourself.

Jo: Yeah, I think I just misinterpreted it?

Rik: No, maybe I misunderstood. Also, there are some Prime passengers where you need a 5 star rating to pick them up, so I figured that must be important somehow, on top of the need in general to maintain your rating.

Jo: Yeah, both of the Prime passengers were complete dicks.

Rik: I only picked up the story-necessary guy. Was the other one the guy who was sick in your cab? (I saw you had an achievement on Steam!)

Jo: He was, and then he gave me a bad rating.

Rik: He turns up with the ex-con, Sam, as well. Did you pick him up?

Jo: Oh yeah, I gave him a lift during my first game. He also gave me a bad rating. He wanted his ride for free and I didn’t let him because I’d just been fined by the police.

Rik: I was nice first time, but then it turns out he’s a con man, so second time I wasn’t, and blackmailed him.

Jo: Oh, so not the wrongly accused man who just wants to make the world a better place by baking his aunt’s cookies?

Rik: I blackmailed him both times I think.

Jo: Blimey! You really brought out the big guns…

Rik: He gets in with the drunk guy and rips him off. And you can ask for a share of the spoils because you’ve seen through his act. Which means you can stay in nicer hotels!

Jo: Really?!

Rik: Even the mega-expensive one. He still gives you a terrible rating though.

Jo: Yeah, I was so poor during my first game.

 

Bad Moods and Motel Nightmares

Rik: I thought that using a Capra pod overnight (which is the cheapest option) would put you in a bad mood, due to your bad history with the company, so I kept going to that motel that gives you bad dreams.

Jo: Yeah, I thought the same. Although, the police took all my money on my first go, so had to spend two nights in my car. Now **that** puts you in a bad mood.

Rik: But actually the Capra pods are nice, even if it annoys you. They’re better than the motel.

Jo: In my second game, I stayed at someone’s house. She brought me cups of tea and had a really comfy mattress.

Rik: Yes! Is it Louisa? Or something? I generally tried to stay there, if possible. I actually didn’t realise you could sleep in your cab. I sort of figured running out of money might mean game over.

Jo: I think it’s only an option when you’ve got no money. It puts you in a bad mood for the next day (understandably).

Rik: I think I mainly kept in the green, which is fairly chilled out.

Jo: I was all over the place (just like in real life!) Your mood then affects how you deal with things, and how you react to some of your passengers.

Rik: If you get pissed off or depressed, some cheery options aren’t available, I think.

Jo: Yeah if you’re annoyed, you can’t be diplomatic. Likewise, if you’re in a good place, I don’t think you can be confrontational either.

Rik: Still, I can’t imagine getting fired, although I think it is definitely possible rather than just an imagined threat.

Jo: I think getting fired is one of the achievements.

Rik: Did you monitor the price of a charge closely? I think we were discussing via text our real-life desire to never go under 1/4 tank of petrol in real life.

Jo: Yes, I added a new layer of gameplay by fretting about running out of charge, but also not paying too much for a recharge.

Rik: I think when I found out you could blackmail Sam, and bribe the police, and still have cash left for hotels, money stopped being a big problem. But you do definitely really worry about it that first time, and if you don’t get that big windfall, then it is like managing the same $30-50 bouncing in and out of your account.

Jo: That was me both times. Although, the first time was worse because the fuzz took all my money.

Rik: So did you find it quite stressful?

Jo: Yes! Because I was only making about 13 money dollars a night, so I was always just breaking even.

Rik: Argh! Sorry dude.

Jo: No swanky hotels for me!

Rik: It’s weird because the music and general vibe is fairly chill, and you have to be chill to do well, but there’s this backdrop of financial peril that’s involved with the gig economy.

Jo: Yeah, it’s cleverly interwoven. I think I just thought having no money was all part of it. I should’ve played hardball more.

Rik: Any other favourite passengers? Did you pick up the Satanist guy – the pain worm man?

Jo: Pain worm on my second go. But I told him to ‘have a nice night’ and then he gave me a bad rating. Also, the girl going on the first date – Fiona?

Rik: Yes, I think I picked her up twice, but didn’t go back for the third and final time.

Jo: I was super nice, but she kept only giving me 4 stars despite my encouraging life advice and giving her my eye shadow.

 

The God-Damned Megacorp

Rik: I take it you always took the option of staying out for one more fare? I can’t imagine someone going, I’m bored of this, let’s just go to bed. It’s not a long game!

Jo: Yeah, I did on the first go, but I was trying to get through my second one a bit quicker (and didn’t manage it). It was about 5 hours for me both times. I also picked up the couple on the awkward first date – where they were each terrible but in different ways. Did you pick up the rebellious rich teenager?

Rik: Yes, but only once.

Jo: I picked her up three times on my second playthrough. There’s also the option to go to the nightclub and Anthony’s wellbeing doctors club thing… Did you go to either of those?

Rik: First time, not the nightclub, but yes to Anthony. Although I didn’t give him money. (Which Savy brings up at the end, to hold against you).

Jo: No, me neither (‘cos I didn’t have any).

Rik: I didn’t quite register that you could go to places and not just pick up fares. I thought the places would be where you found fares? I dunno, like a regular taxi or something, so I never spoke to that activist (Azul) again after rescuing them.

Jo: I think because part of me was a bit panicky about Savy leaving during my first go, and not having any money, I sort of pursued any leads quite vigorously and ended up going to the club early on to follow up.

Rik: I maybe knew enough that the Savy thing would probably be threaded through the game not to worry. And I guess I enjoyed the bits with the passengers most anyway. Part of me felt that I’d just love a game where you drive a Neo Cab for a couple of weeks or so, but obviously there needs to be more to it than that.

Jo: Yeah, the passengers were my favourite part of the game. Not that I didn’t enjoy going to the other places, but it was fairly limiting. And I think, as you said, second time around I knew I wasn’t going to find Savy any sooner, so there was less point to having long conversations trying to extract information.

Rik: I quite enjoyed getting freaked out in the same way as Lina when weird city stuff was happening. Like those headset things, and the passenger who’s conducting a survey rather than a conversation.

Jo: Yeah, again I think it dealt with that really well. It was futuristic, but not absolutely everybody had new tech.

Rik: And like we said, some people are suspicious of your tech, i.e. the Feel Grid. Rightly as it turns out!

Jo: I shouldn’t admit this, but I did think, ‘I think I might actually find one of those quite handy’.

Rik: And have certain dialogue options cut off from you in real life?

Jo: No. But that was a nice touch in the game – because when you’re angry, you’re not going to necessarily be the most diplomatic.

Rik: Also, it harvests your personal data. I guess we all have phones that do that anyway. It doesn’t beat you about the head with the fact that we’re almost there now, but it’s a plausible future.

Jo: Yeah, I thought the same. I think had there been flying cars etc. it would have maybe not had that same feel about it.

Rik: With my imaginary hard-boiled cabbie muttering something about how the god-damned Megacorp made things so god-damned difficult for the working Joe. Even though Lina does feel that way about Capra, the passengers have a range of attitudes.

Jo: I think it did well to avoid those kind of futuristic, sci-fi cliches and just hover in a place that represented where we are now, but in a slightly more fantastical way. Because, let’s face it, Capra could be Apple, or Google or Facebook or whatever.

Rik: Yes, it’s not just your basic evil corp vs rebels narrative. Although we do get some of that. Which is possibly the least interesting part of the game, in my view.

Jo: I just don’t have time for militant cyclists… [segues into an impression of our late mother] “I’m sorry Richard, but I just don’t take them seriously, with those little lycra bottoms…”

Rik: I suppose there’s a choice to not just accept the anti-corp narrative fully. Because it is a bit annoying when Azul and Savy both give you shit for driving a car. And it’s an electric car!

Jo: While you’re driving them around.

Rik: Yeah, I mean you could take the view that the game is just about your fight or relationship with Savy, and that’s what the ending is about, not trying to bring down Capra. Because there’s the option to not bring down Capra.

Jo: Oh really?

Rik: Well, what if you toss the Feel Grid [which holds incriminating stolen info about the company] out of the window at the end? I didn’t do it, but it’s an option, right?

Jo: Yeah, I think you’re right. But do you actually go ahead with it, I wonder?

Rik: It’s viable I think to say, fuck this, I’m not getting involved in Savy’s BS. But you feel like part of the wider problem if you do, like some kind of coward. I wasn’t particularly interested in that much. We know Capra is evil and Lina says she hates them, but we’ve seen Savy be unreliable and shitty in the game.

Jo: I think you’re right, you can kind of cast the whole lot aside and just say, no thanks, I don’t want to be dragged into this. But that’s not what it’s really going for, and I can’t imagine that too many people would play it that way (although some might).

 

Text Me The Deets

Jo: That final confrontation was quite uncomfortable for me. What did you think?

Rik: I figured it was coming. You have no evidence that they ever were good friends.

Jo: No, agree.

Rik: And every time you hear from her, she’s annoying and manipulative.

Jo: She’s like ‘oh sorry, but can you do me **another** favour?’

Rik: So I figured in the end what you were trying to do was not to find her and get her out of trouble, but to find her and confront her. Did you offer to get her boyfriend out of the riots?

Jo: Not the first time. I was like, sorry ‘Jace’, if indeed that is your name. I’m off to help Liam.

Rik: And then he’s not even there and your other friends are stranded. I love the piss-taking about ‘the deets’ in Lina’s journal.

Jo: Hahaha me too.

Rik: For me there was this tension that came from being the reliable uptight one, being mucked around. And then you realise that you’re probably going to have another fight when you see Savy again.

Jo: I don’t know why I found it quite so uncomfortable.

Rik: It’s not very nice. It’s like a realistic horrible personal fight.

Jo: Yeah, it’s all quite realistic, maybe a bit close to the bone? I know I’ve been on the receiving end of similar comments about being ‘too sensitive’. Often, I didn’t know how to respond, but again that only made it feel more realistic.

Rik: Yeah, the stress of the situation sort of makes the different options merge into one on the screen.

Jo: Often, I didn’t know what the best option was to select, to draw things to a close or ‘win’ the argument as Savy is so manipulative. It’s really well done, despite it being uncomfortable. There was a moment where she’s talking about how she’s so upset, but her Feel Grid is glowing green. You (as the player) notice it, and then Lina can comment on it.

Rik: I managed ok with the final confrontation, even though I didn’t quite follow what you were supposed to be doing to push Savy’s buttons. I think sometimes I did the wrong thing but ended up ‘winning’. There are prompts that say you need to do this next, or you need to seize this opportunity… I think you’re not meant to get too passive or too aggressive. And come out with therapy-type ‘growing’ phrases instead!

Jo: Yeah, it’s a difficult balance I think, even though there are hints in one direction or another.

Rik: Did you ‘win’, and get to leave her behind?

Jo: Yeah I did, just left her there, wherever she was. I didn’t quite follow what Savy was so upset about – that Lina wanted to leak the Capra stuff?

Rik: She wanted to get all the rebel credit despite using Lina to (unwittingly) get it, and didn’t understand why Lina was upset about being manipulated. She wants to get somewhere high up in the so-called rebel organisation (with no power structures and no leaders).

Jo: I just was like ‘what’re you so upset about?? You’re not the one who’s been ditched in a new city and manipulated!’

Rik: You still feel manipulated whatever happens really. I was like, well I guess I may as well destroy this big evil corporation, now we’ve got to this point. But I’d really rather it not have happened like this.

Jo: Haha, yeah!

Rik: And I guess in game world, you can have a second play, knowing what happens, and be a bit stroppier with her second time in the early exchanges.

Jo: Yeah, I mean, that was my intention for my second go.

Rik: Who did you pick up for your final ride?

Jo: Liam, I think. No, maybe it was the quantum witch?

Rik: Liam first time for me, quantum witch second time.

Jo: Liam was my sort of constant for the first playthrough.

Rik: I think the girl on a date was an option second time as well? I wondered if they become friends and Lina decides to stay in the city. But it feels like she leaves regardless. But I think to have three goes of Neo Cab consecutively is possibly stretching it a bit, even if you’re keen to see more possibilities.

Jo: Maybe, but I think I’ll give it another go some time later down the line. I’ll probably finish this second game too. What did you think, overall?

Rik: I really liked it actually.

Jo: Me too. It was a good one to kick off this next phase of discussions, and a good one to start the year with!

Rik: There was something about it that reminded me of being younger, in more precarious circumstances, in the big city with no clue. I had a weird nostalgia for it all.

Jo: Yeah, me too.

Rik: Not that I necessarily miss those days and I certainly don’t envy those in the gig economy.

Jo: There was something about it that reminded me of my early 20s.

Rik: Yep: ‘I’ll meet you for a drink when I’ve finished doing my shitty day’s work, and we can talk about it…’ That kind of thing.

Jo: Now I’m all, nah I’ll have a drink at home thanks ‘cos it’s cheaper and quieter and is less effort and I don’t have to put on shoes.

Rik: I thought it was all quite neat and clever and lingered in the memory when I wasn’t playing. And was keen for a second go when the first one finished.

Jo: Yeah, same.

Rik: Anything else you wanted to add?

Jo: No, I just really enjoyed it.

Rik: Also it looks and sounds cool!

Jo: Yes! I really liked the music.

Rik: And the music reminded me of the intro to The Private Psychedelic Reel by The Chemical Brothers.

Jo: There was sort of a 80s vibe to it even though it was futuristic.

Rik: Maybe a bit Blade Runner-y?

Jo: Yesss!

Rik: Well, thanks again for this. I guess it’s your choice next time!

—

Neo Cab is available on Steam for around £11.