Late last year one of the most talked about games, based purely on its premise, was Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding. A post-apocalyptic adventure where you took on the role of a delivery man, taking packages across a weirdo future United States. Stacking boxes on boxes and figuring out the best route to get past a steep hill or rocky incline - whilst tending to a baby inside a fluid chamber.

Cloudpunk, from indie studio ION LANDS, won’t drum up the same level of mixed feedback or raised eyebrows - but the premise is surprisingly similar. An experience where you’re tasked with delivering something from Point A to Point B, wrapped up in a slow-burn narrative intrinsically tied to its striking aesthetic.



That aesthetic – cyberpunk. Neon lights and rain-soaked buildings with the bustling metropolis vibe of Blade Runner and The Fifth Element. The latter because driving on skyways and dodging traffic has a certain futuristic Bruce Willy is… The Cab Driver feel to it, and the former because the narrative takes place over the course of a single night. With a sizeable dose of classic noir dealing with androids, AI, and a society trying to get by at a truly massive scale.

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“An experience where you’re tasked with delivering something from Point A to Point B, wrapped up in a slow-burn narrative intrinsically tied to its striking aesthetic."

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A night where the rain is constant, the coffee piping hot, the food lukewarm, and the jobs increasingly more bizarre.

Taking on the role of Raina, you're punching the clock as a delivery driver for the semi-legal firm known as Cloudpunk for the very first time. Although the various characters you meet and the packages you pick up are different, the simple structure is kept throughout. But, driving to and from locations in the often-stunning Nivalis and then running around streets and alleys to get to a destination, is a visual feast. And the simplicity of the mechanics adds to Cloudpunk’s appeal, going to great lengths to put the spotlight on one of the main characters seen throughout – the city.


With various districts and regions to drive through there’s a real sense of clarity and purpose visible throughout Nivalis. From shopping, to business, and different living districts housing those from high or low society, through to the freezing underbelly for people living off the grid. Paired with the ever-present rain and the ubiquity of artificial and colourful neon lighting, there’s a level of atmospheric detail that is impressive. And immersive. The music, when it’s in ‘ambient’ mode, is wonderful too.

Created using voxels – as in 3D-cubes-within-larger-3D-cubes used to create all structures and characters found in Cloudpunk – there’s a storybook or Lego-like feel to Cloudpunk. The effect is akin to playing a moving graphic novel over, say, an interactive movie. Animation is kept simple but the effect of seeing countless sky-cars weaving in and out of traffic never loses its awe or wonder. Nor does the sense of verticality. With all characters voiced the banter between Rania, Control, and your AI canine companion Camus, is consistently engaging. As are the various stories you discover and the mysterious overarching plot.


The writing throughout is quite good, save for the odd cheesy addition here or there. Exposition is tied to situations and the individual lives (augmented, human, or digital) you meet. Details about the world happen naturally, and with Raina being new to the city even straight-up explanation (see exposition) of life in Nivalis feels directed toward her versus the player. With only a handful of time-sensitive deliveries, a very generous fuel-tank, and a bumper that can take quite a few hits before requiring repairs, the pacing is kept quite leisurely. One could call it, casual. And it works, the simple joys of driving in Cloudpunk has a meditative quality.

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“Paired with the ever-present rain and the ubiquity of artificial and colourful neon lighting, there’s a level of atmospheric detail that is impressive. And immersive."

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It’s not all seamless, some lengthy conversations do cut into player interaction, in a way that makes you wish for a more GTA-like approach where things are wrapped up the moment you reach a destination. In Cloudpunk the inverse of a talkative Uber driver, the chatty passenger or comms recipient, can create moments where you simply want to close the door and ascend into the sky.

In the end Cloudpunk is as long as its narrative, with little more than collectibles to find through exploration. Mostly there to present videogame elements like vehicle upgrades or trinkets to place around your small apartment. The story though is memorable, and often as dense and layered as the jutting buildings that make-up Nivalis. An aesthetic joy throughout, and a cyberpunk tale well worth delivering to your desktop.