Sun Dogs

The game is like a free roam, text-based adventure, where there is no storyline, few side quests and infinite combinations of collectibles. Excellent world building, but there isn't much to do in the world.

The premise of Sun Dogs sounds fantastic, but the game itself was disappointing. You are at the mercy of random events, and rely on the roll of dice for gains and losses.

dipping under the gas clouds of venus. disintergrating in an interstellar blast. skimming the debris field of earth. sitting in a cafe watching a parade. beyond the soul and beyond the body.

Mentioning a theme is not exploring a theme, and disjoint passages you have no control over isn't a game. This is like a series of tweet-length passages about a world, printed out and strewn on the floor, then when you've read a certain amount of them, they all catch on fire and a new copy of the same notes is thrown on the ground. I don't wish to be unduly cruel, but if an experience isn't fun, it's not fun. If you're okay reading through an experience that randomly resets, not "death isn't the end" but just flat-out resets, then it might be for you, but I wouldn't recommend it.

[h1]Summary[/h1] Sun Dogs is an “art project” of sorts disguised as a video game. It is set in a post-mortal transhuman civilization; that which used to be mankind is now consciousness, backed up by a “cortical stack”, that inhabits a “sleeve”. Sleeves can come in many varieties and shapes, including a non-humanoid arachnid-esque frame for those that feel particularly spider-ey. Anyway, civilization spans all across the solar system (not including or beyond Jupiter. So I believe five of the microplanets if you include Vesta, in addition to the known planets and moons.) You are an inhabitant of a “sleeve”, with a space ship. The planets, locations, and yourself are represented as circles orbiting the central axis in what is a two-dimensional representation of our solar system. The extent of the “gameplay” is merely pressing one singular button; interact with the given environment that you currently occupy (say, if you’re at Vesta for example, you can hit the button to explore or interact with Vesta.) Every time you hit the button, you get a short wall of text with a little snippet of lore from that region. You can occasionally acquire items and sleeve upgrades from hitting this but…

A great game for curious people, one of my favorite text games.