I, Cyborg

Good one. Plenty of variations despite following the same path, actually meaningful choices that can make remove main characters from the story and different objectives to pursue each time. Flavorful. Fair world building. It's not the best of the best I've played or read, but it's definitely recommended.

It's pretty bland. Never cared for a single character. Weak plot. All choices obviously depend on stats every time, which takes away a lot of immersion, as there's like 4 or 5 skills in total.

I’ve enjoyed reading through "I, Cyborg" multiple times over the years, and while it’s true that the choices only impact the story modestly at best and can be quite unforgiving stat-wise. It’s enough to keep the game interesting, and there are many colorful characters to get to know. The romances, however, came across as a bit rushed, and I never felt as close to any of them as I would’ve liked, but other than that, it was pretty good. (7/10)

First of all, and this is vital, you do not play a cyborg. Unless we're going with the very incorrect Terminator definition of cyborg. But hey, you're still biomechanical-ish. And this game is yet another CYOA that is too harsh/opaque with stats. For those of you unaware, books by Choice of Games sometimes have a horrible problem with punishing you horribly for having the wrong stats and or not correctly guessing which stat you should use. This results in an incredibly frustrating experience of feeling like you're doomed to failure because you didn't play the game the *correct* way. Ah, but what about the actual story? It's okay. Again, if you saw "Cyborg" in the title and assumed things you're going to have a bad time. Aside from not being an actual cyborg, there sure isn't much cyberpunk in a story about a "cyborg". This is barely any cyberpunk and a lot more space opera as you play a Han Solo type except not nearly as cool or capable. The plot is also going to drag you around by the nose. If you wanted good romances as you probably were looking for in a CoG book? Find another game. There is some genuinely amusing/humorous writing to be found here. But not nearly enough …

It’s not BAD, but more bad than good.

Bittersweet. Do I like mathematical stat systems? Not really, since human experience is more varied than that, but there's no way to effectively code that and not be inconsistent so I can't fault the author. I like how the story was written and the fact that, despite some events happening regardless of what choice you take, ultimately it never feels like you're being forced in any direction. What I was affected most by was the fact that there was a lot of melancholy in this story. It's written like an action/adventure scifi with optional romance, and it clearly wasn't meant to be sad, but the origin story given to the protagonist plus the general linear progression the game dictates leads to them getting taken advantage of constantly and forced into situations as a puppet. They reach their ultimate goal which makes it a happy ending, but the way that goal is presented to the reader is so distant and irrelevant that it's not meaningful. I found it hard to be happy for them knowing that ultimately, despite being involved with the authorities in multiple stations, they didn't manage to instigate substantial change and in fact never even had the option to consider doing so.