Bootleg Systems Demo

People are already concerned about artificial intelligence and all that could go wrong with it, but it’s also worth remembering that computers can be of great help to us in a variety of scenarios. Hence, we already depend on them a lot when it comes to automation in factories, not to mention the  smarter and smarter appliances we buy for our houses.

Bootleg Systems is a first-person puzzle game with a bit of action and shooting in it, in which your job is to solve platforming puzzles and defeat a couple of enemies using a unique weapon. In essence, you are exploring virtual worlds and trying to destroy them from within, but the actual gameplay is much more fun and engaging than it sounds, especially thanks to a few interesting ideas.

It all takes place in the future in some kind of dystopian society, but things are not great when it comes to the people. Hence, they seem to have a hard time passing their genes, which is why the world population is in free fall. However, people manage to find a solution by creating an artificial world inside a computer, which is where they aim to keep humanity’s legacy. Naturally, someone manages to copy the code for this world and starts creating other systems, although each one of them has something unique.

Your role throughout the game is to explore these systems and find the ones responsible for creating them, while trying to survive the weird laws you find in these worlds. Thankfully, you have a gun that can copy objects and clone them with ease, and that’s actually the main gameplay gimmick. It’s a very addictive formula, but it might take some getting used to at first.

The graphics are not bad either, although they could certainly be better in some regards. The neon style goes great with the general atmosphere and the story, but it can make exploration a tad difficult, because you are often unable to make out the details. Moreover, the music is decent as well, which is always nice to have when you are stuck on some level thinking about a solution.

When it’s all said and done, Bootleg Systems is quite the interesting concept, especially when it comes to story and gameplay mechanics. Although it needs some work here and there, the demo is enough to captivate your attention and make you wait for the full thing in anticipation.