AdvertCity

Megacorporations seen in the cyberspace view.

Gameplay in AdvertCity involves selling advertising to client megacorporations; the player does this by moving around the city from a first person god-view perspective, selecting buildings and sites in cyberspace as targets for their advertising. Advertising technologies are unlocked progressively depending on reputation with various megacorporations, and range from flyers to billboards and blimps.

A key mechanic in the game is the ability to switch between meatspace and cyberspace at any time,[2] which is required to perform different actions in each space and to orchestrate advertising effectively.

The goal of the game is to take over the city, and to do this the player must gain the trust of the various megacorporations they interact with.[3]

The game has a roguelike save system[2] to increase the level of challenge - there is only one savegame available, the player has no choice but to save their progress when exiting, and the player cannot reload to a previous state if they make a mistake.

Development of the game began when an early version of the game was built in 7 days for the 2014 Cyberpunk Game Jam.[4][5] After receiving positive feedback during the jam,[6] the developers decided to continue work on the game to create a full-scale release.[7]

The game sought crowdfunding via Kickstarter on 25 March 2014,[8] and was fully funded on the second day of the campaign, going on be overfunded by 373%[9] at its conclusion.

AdvertCity was submitted to Steam Greenlight during its Kickstarter in 2014[10] and was eventually greenlit after an unusually long delay[11] in April 2015.

AdvertCity entered a period of closed beta testing during development after its kickstarter; the final release was announced on 17 April 2015, and by June it had appeared on Steam and several other stores.[1][7][12]

AdvertCity received mixed reviews from critics.[19][20]

From its initial alpha launch, AdvertCity drew comment widely about its stark and "hyper-stylized" aesthetic.[21] Critics frequently praised the dark neo-noir cyberpunk aesthetic of the game,[22][20] as well as its tone,[19] and referred to the vision of cyberspace as Gibson-inspired. Stylistically, reviewers appreciated the dystopian bleakness of the vision of the future in the game, mentioning that your adverts are the only splashes of colour on the cold and uniform city,[13] and the surreal building-linked conception of cyberspace.[23] Reviewers also praised the dark and cynical sense of humour throughout the game.[19][23] Reviewers also expressed interest in the Oculus Rift support which was included in the game from the alpha stage.[24] One common complaint is the high level of difficulty and steep learning curve at the start of the game.[19] Reviewers also cited the disorientating nature of the interface and immutable fast pace of the game as a negative.[20] The developers cited games such as Dwarf Fortress as an inspiration, which is well known for its steep learning curve and difficult interface.[23]

The game also drew praise for its high-performing engine, which enables the game to run on previous-generation hardware;[25] the minimum system requirements for CPU on Steam are stated simply as "Anything made since 2004"[18] and the game supports Windows XP despite Microsoft having discontinued support for that operating system before development of AdvertCity began.[26]

Critics praised the "cyber-jazz"[19] soundtrack's "postrock, jazz & glitch"[2] qualities and praised the way it dovetails with the gameplay and "backs your every move"[20] in the game.

• AdvertCity official website