Sunday Gold, the upcoming turn-based tale from Team17 and BKOM Studios, took us on a tour of the London underworld in the 2070s, and this beastly new narrative is definitely worth a trip to the Big Smoke.
What if you took the traditional turn-based caper, added a splash of comic book art, and painted the town red with a good ol’ serving of liberally applied violence? Sunday Gold is probably the answer. Tumbling out of a hands on preview like its 1970s and the Professionals are out to get us all, this brutally stylish new title from developer BKOM Studios and publisher Team17 grabbed us by the dogs unmentionables and gave us a thoroughly entertaining thrill ride when we tried it out last week.
Set in a dystopian future but giving off vibes of the recent past, Sunday Gold is ready to head out for some action on the dirtier side of town>. This upcoming turn-based adventure finds players following exploits of three characters. Frank, Sally, and Gavin are of questionable repute, but they have a plan, we think. With an opportunity to pick a few digital locks and dig up some dirt on a crooked business tycoon, the first chapter of Sunday Gold found us skulking around the car park of Hogan industries. Controlling Frank (The Vengeful Ex-Con), Sally (The Activist), and Gavin (The Disgruntled Ex-Employee), we were tasked with gaining entry to this palace of modern industry and front for brutal cybernetic dog races. The means are varied, sometimes clever, other times bloody., but the end goal here is to uncover some useful dirt on Hogan and his monstrous cyberdog, Sunday Gold. Aesthetically, Sunday Gold stands apart from many of its contemporaries. Wistful doujinshi drawings, anime inspiration, juvenile cartoons, and pixel art are all prevalent in the turn-based genre. Sunday Gold, however, draws from more adult graphic adventures. While the in-game characters rely on heavy line work and bright cell swikihading, it’s the grimy backdrop and narrative interludes that drift off into Disco Elysium territory blending the grime of London with comic book boxes and oil paint. It sounds like a mess of ideas, and somehow BKOM Studios manages to mesh it together so consistently that it works fantastically, giving each style its own particular place in this play through without a hint of s neon Cyberpuhnk dystopia in sight.
In among the drab backdrops of this corporate cage, these three unfortunate souls need to escape the car park and get on with the job. Controls in Sunday Gold are intuitive enough. This is still a turn-based point and click adventure, after all. This means that you’ll be able to perform a few basic actions like, move, inspect, and use items in the open, and it’s not particularly difficult to work out how, just point and click. Things do get mildly more complex, however. Each character possesses their own Action Points, specific skills, and inventory of items, and probably their very own dictionary of filthy language too.
As a point and click, puzzle solving doesn’t take too much time, interactive items are scattered around the bay and Action Points can be sacrificed to unlock and search the scene. Individual characters may be able to use their own innate skills to perform different actions on items. One of this threesome might be able to bash in a door, while another might hack a computer. This doesn’t just make each of the trio useful, but lends a little extra depth to the overall experience by weaving in a few mini games. Mostly, however, this opening is a click and collect affair.
Players winding their way through the tower of Hogan Industries and beyond will need to gather collectables, scavenge clues, and piece together a range of puzzles to get through security measures, unlock doors, and overcome a range of obstacles. The brain teasers are at their most engaging when they layer in some level of complexity. While evidence isn’t too difficult to discern, a pen and paper is useful to keep on hand while you note down names, numbers, and the odd birthdays. Nothing is simple enough to be a one and done, but still feels well balanced enough that you won’t spend hours trying to find the lever for a secret passageway. Cracking codes, retracing steps, and doing the leg work before trying to simply barge on into a room is rewarding but balanced enough that it never ends up being a chore.
If you do decide to simply run in guns blazing, then you’ll need to ensure that you keep some Action Points handy. Action Points don’t generally regenerate until a turn has passed, so picking how to use each character’s own special skills and in what order is incredibly important. Hogan’s security teams are already on the lookout, meaning ending a turn might end up with a security bot or two appearing without the option to shoot first or second.
Aside from being an additional planning problem on resource, Action Points are the primary means of bashing in heads. Combat is turn based, meaning each of Frank, Sally, and Gavin can execute moves in turn-based fashion. The turns are helpfully telegraphed across the top of the screen and choosing how to crack skulls is as simple as picking from a menu. Whether it’s a simple attack or something a little more specialised, each character can turn those pesky AP into a range of attack or defensive, or regenerative flourishes. From Frank’s knife wielding to Sally’s taunt, it’s all very obvious but doesn’t comes set in stone.
Each of the characters largely fit into a specific role, but these can be customized through a solid progression system. Want to give Gavin the option to craft explosives, or improve the weird and wonderful drugs that the trio have somehow acquired? Sure, that is all possible. There’s even a healing option for Sally. Further tweaking is possible by looting new weapons and gear, making the overall upgrade grind in Sunday Gold considered and just deep enough that you won’t waste too much time having to navigate a myriad of unfathomable options.
Despite being fairly familiar archetypes, Frank, Gavin, and Sally never become 2D stereotypes. In fact, the inclusion of a composure meter quickly reveals how deceptive the stylish façade of Sunday Gold is. Should Gavin get flustered then a little purple bar at the bottom of the screen will start to deplete. The overlay begins to turn purple, and Gavin gets unpredictable, spouting nonsense mid match and becoming a liability to the rest of the team. It’s such a wonderful character trait that weaves its way into the gameplay that you might not even notice more subtle changes, like character portraits that shift as the rest of the crew start to feel a little bit paranoid too.
This is largely why we loved Sunday Gold. The absolutely wonderful characterization just consumed our attention. The vision at play bleeds through the game and all over the office carpet. While the game feels like it could be cliché, it’s instead all swagger and precision. This is a highly refined operation that brings the bluster of Snatch to a master heist. The gritty comic book aesthetic is perfectly tailored to this world, and the game always keeps things moving at pace. No, Sunday Gold isn’t going to require twitch like precision or a 1st rate degree, but that wouldn’t be quite right for a trio of working class scallywags that we can’t wait to spend more time with. Sunday Gold is due to drag you down a dark alleyway and remove you of your valuables when it arrives on Steam later this year. Find out more over on the official Steam Store page now.
