We are the sum of our experiences. But what if you don’t remember them? Are we the sum of our memories, actions,…choices? Are we more than the sum of our parts? Abilities? Usefulness to society? In the mode of classic science fiction, Gemini Rue makes us question the two-fold nature of man and the role volition plays in who we are.

“Call Rekall for the memory of a lifetime.”

You’ll begin standing in a rainy, washed out street with the mood of something between Philip K. Dick and Philip Marlowe. The desaturated city, lacking the glamour we’ve come to expect from the future, feels more like an imploded waiting room for those destitute who missed their off-world opportunities in Anno 2220. But you’ll end up in a post-Heinlein space center with the dystopic feel of a 1980s psychological horror gone wrong. With amusing Easter eggs a ’plenty, the game is certainly aimed to appease veterans of the sci-fi genre. And yet the Orwellian world-crafting absolutely succeeds in creating its uncomfortable atmosphere of angst and mistrust without having to constantly reference invented historical events and incomprehensible technologies outside of our interest. You can research your environment only if you want to—though I found it interesting.

You chiefly play the character of an ex-assassin who’s done questionable things, though it took me a while to realize (or accept) that he really was an assassin-turned-cop. He looks more like a run-down PI wandering the refuse-ridden streets of some techno-noir New New York. And though the game tries hard to convince you of an ethnically homogenized city-scape with the oriental flare we’ve grown to anticipate—including a prominent role from Japanese organized crime—still, everyone looks and sounds…not Japanese.

"Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"

The personalities surrounding you are interesting if a little emotionally stunted. But it suits the situation as everyone waits their turn to go to the Island, so to speak. Baldur, who feels like he escaped from the cuckoo’s nest, was by far my favorite.

The dialogue itself feels a bit canned and the actors can’t quite pull it off (and the cheap mics don’t help). They do alright, but it ends up sounding like an old, cheesy radio drama—which actually gives it a genuine preachy sci-fi feel in the end. But this is a story about a concept rather than characters—though the shifty characters play their parts well enough.

What sets this apart and bring us back to the classic days of science fiction is the story’s exploration of humanness overshadowed by the oppression of the state. Is memory and identity solely guided by access consciousness, and therefore made vulnerable to the machinations of the powerful? And can you truly rehabilitate the soul?

It does get a bit verbose at the end as it slips into some Asimov moralizing. I did have a, "yah, I don’t care what you have to say, just die" reaction to the final monologue—which was the right reaction, apparently.

“It seems you feel our work is not a benefit to the public.”

I have somewhat mixed feelings about the art. It’s good to note that the art’s important because they chose it for the purpose of slipping us back into an older era. While I like the washed out, trash-heap-of-life mood that it presents, sometimes the art just looks muddy and lazy. The backdrops don’t have the crisp, high contrast, drawn-one-click-at-a-time love of traditional pixel art, but are more like what would happen if you were to throw all the pixels into a wet dumpster and let them sit for a few millennia. It kind of looks like someone took a nice picture, rendered it into a pixelator, and didn’t bother with the color count. It’s got jaggies and mushy edges and blurry beams of anti-aliasing. But I suppose it gives it that run-down, nobody really cares look. The character art however is certainly done by hand, and looks nice. No comments on the creepy Steam art or why they didn’t just use art from the game.

Side note: a shaking screen does not improve the drama—it just motivates me to end the scene sooner before I throw up. Just saying.

But after all that criticism, I have to say that I loved the setting and the mood-dampening colors of the backdrops. The vision for them is classy and engaging and absolutely reminiscent of angles from classic space operas. The ship details especially made me feel at home.


The soundtrack by Nathan Allen Pinard was perfect for this story. I instantly knew the time, location, and mood of the entire game within just the opening sequence. I do wish it wasn’t quite so midi-esque; I would love to hear this with a real orchestra. But the bluesy synthesized feel is a deeply felt homage to Vangelis with some sounds taken straight from Blade Runner. Sayuri’s theme also harkens back to River’s themes in Firefly: moving, simple, and beautiful. It really was the music that set the melancholy space-trance mood better than any other part of the game, and I will definitely be listening to it outside the game.


Kick stuff. Kick everything. This is not the only gaming habit you’ll have to recondition. Your walking expectations will need to devolve as well. With my low FPS system, doors are a familiar bane to me—but I didn’t expect them to be such an obstacle in a point and click adventure. The unnecessary over-clicking was a perpetual irritant for me. Your character really cannot move for himself. But you can skip walking animations—thank goodness. Until they take it away from you.

“You know the first rule of combat? Shoot them before they shoot you.”

Combat is plain irritating—with unresponsive and obnoxious hotkeys—but not necessarily challenging. I never quite figured out the timing, but random clicking seemed to work too, even on ‘hard’. With autosaves, however, there’s no real threat.

The inventory is confusing at best. Several times I thought I had exhausted my clicking options, but no. You must click that a different way. But the UI is traditional and clear.

The puzzles are a bit repetitive, but mostly a fit the right object to the right thing experience. They are familiar, but also a bit more practical than we’ve grown used to. And if you ever get really frustrated, remember that shooting stuff is a perfectly viable option.

“We're police officers! We're not trained to handle this kind of violence!”

This story really could have excelled in a 3D environment, and I absolutely believe it deserved that kind of funding. But as it is, the art relays the proper atmosphere and helps take us back into the past so we can experience the future the way we used to….

If you are one of those confused-by-emotions sort of people who care more about the story than the drama, and would enjoy a short (about nine hour) pulp science fiction on people-uses, I highly recommend this psychological exploration to all space cowboys and neo-noire detectives.

We are the sum of our experiences. But what if you don’t remember them? Are we the sum of our memories, actions,…choices? Are we more than the sum of our parts? Abilities? Usefulness to society? In the mode of classic science fiction, Gemini Rue makes us question the two-fold nature of man and the role volition plays in who we are. [quote][i]“Call Rekall for the memory of a lifetime.” [/i][/quote] [h1]Story[/h1] You’ll begin standing in a rainy, washed out street with the mood of something between Philip K. D[i]i[/i]ck and Philip Marlowe. The desaturated city, lacking the glamour we’ve come to expect from the future, feels more like an imploded waiting room for those destitute who missed their off-world opportunities in Anno 2220. But you’ll end up in a post-Heinlein space center with the dystopic feel of a 1980s psychological horror gone wrong. With amusing Easter eggs a ’plenty, the game is certainly aimed to appease veterans of the sci-fi genre. And yet the Orwellian world-crafting absolutely succeeds in creating its uncomfortable atmosphere of angst and mistrust without having to constantly reference invented historical events and incomprehensible technologies outside of our interest. You can research your environment only if you want to—though I found it interesting. You chiefly play the character of an ex-assassin who’s done questionable things, though it took me a while to realize (or accept) that he really was an assassin-turned-cop. He looks more like a run-down PI wandering the refuse-ridden streets of some techno-noir New New York. And though the game tries hard to convince you of an ethnically homogenized city-scape with the oriental flare we’ve grown to anticipate—including a prominent role from Japanese organized crime—still, everyone looks and sounds…not Japanese. [quote][i]"Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!" [/i][/quote] The personalities surrounding you are interesting if a little emotionally stunted. But it suits the situation as everyone waits their turn to go to the Island, so to speak. Baldur, who feels like he escaped from the cuckoo’s nest, was by far my favorite. The dialogue itself feels a bit canned and the actors can’t quite pull it off (and the cheap mics don’t help). They do alright, but it ends up sounding like an old, cheesy radio drama—which actually gives it a genuine preachy sci-fi feel in the end. But this is a story about a concept rather than characters—though the shifty characters play their parts well enough. What sets this apart and bring us back to the classic days of science fiction is the story’s exploration of humanness overshadowed by the oppression of the state. Is memory and identity solely guided by access consciousness, and therefore made vulnerable to the machinations of the powerful? And can you truly rehabilitate the soul? It does get a bit verbose at the end as it slips into some Asimov moralizing. I did have a, [i]"yah, I don’t care what you have to say, just die"[/i] reaction to the final monologue—which was the right reaction, apparently. [quote][i]“It seems you feel our work is not a benefit to the public.” [/i][/quote] [h1]Art[/h1] I have somewhat mixed feelings about the art. It’s good to note that the art’s important because they chose it for the purpose of slipping us back into an older era. While I like the washed out, trash-heap-of-life mood that it presents, sometimes the art just looks muddy and lazy. The backdrops don’t have the crisp, high contrast, drawn-one-click-at-a-time love of traditional pixel art, but are more like what would happen if you were to throw all the pixels into a wet dumpster and let them sit for a few millennia. It kind of looks like someone took a nice picture, rendered it into a pixelator, and didn’t bother with the color count. It’s got jaggies and mushy edges and blurry beams of anti-aliasing. But I suppose it gives it that run-down, nobody really cares look. The character art however is certainly done by hand, and looks nice. No comments on the creepy Steam art or why they didn’t just use art from the game. Side note: a shaking screen does not improve the drama—it just motivates me to end the scene sooner before I throw up. Just saying. But after all that criticism, I have to say that I loved the setting and the mood-dampening colors of the backdrops. The vision for them is classy and engaging and absolutely reminiscent of angles from classic space operas. The ship details especially made me feel at home. [h1]Music[/h1] The soundtrack by Nathan Allen Pinard was perfect for this story. I instantly knew the time, location, and mood of the entire game within just the opening sequence. I do wish it wasn’t quite so midi-esque; I would love to hear this with a real orchestra. But the bluesy synthesized feel is a deeply felt homage to Vangelis with some sounds taken straight from Blade Runner. Sayuri’s theme also harkens back to River’s themes in Firefly: moving, simple, and beautiful. It really was the music that set the melancholy space-trance mood better than any other part of the game, and I will definitely be listening to it outside the game. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] Kick stuff. Kick everything. This is not the only gaming habit you’ll have to recondition. Your walking expectations will need to devolve as well. With my low FPS system, doors are a familiar bane to me—but I didn’t expect them to be such an obstacle in a point and click adventure. The unnecessary over-clicking was a perpetual irritant for me. Your character really cannot move for himself. But you can skip walking animations—thank goodness. Until they take it away from you. [quote][i]“You know the first rule of combat? Shoot them before they shoot you.” [/i][/quote] Combat is plain irritating—with unresponsive and obnoxious hotkeys—but not necessarily challenging. I never quite figured out the timing, but random clicking seemed to work too, even on ‘hard’. With autosaves, however, there’s no real threat. The inventory is confusing at best. Several times I thought I had exhausted my clicking options, but no. You must click that a different way. But the UI is traditional and clear. The puzzles are a bit repetitive, but mostly a fit the right object to the right thing experience. They are familiar, but also a bit more practical than we’ve grown used to. And if you ever get really frustrated, remember that shooting stuff is a perfectly viable option. [quote][i] “We're police officers! We're not trained to handle this kind of violence!” [/i][/quote] [h1]Verdict[/h1] This story really could have excelled in a 3D environment, and I absolutely believe it deserved that kind of funding. But as it is, the art relays the proper atmosphere and helps take us back into the past so we can experience the future the way we used to…. If you are one of those confused-by-emotions sort of people who care more about the story than the drama, and would enjoy a short (about nine hour) pulp science fiction on people-uses, I highly recommend this psychological exploration to all space cowboys and neo-noire detectives.