Kickstarter clears the way to Neo Junk City

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Successful crowdfunding campaign to bring cyberpunk pixel art mystery to PC in 2025

You'd think solving a murder case would be a whole lot easier when you already know who the killer is. It gets a little more complicated, however, when the killer is YOU but you have no memory of the incident. This is the challenge of Neo Junk City, an upcoming cyberpunk mystery that's been successfully crowdfunded through Kickstarter.

The titular metropolis, formed from the remains of the old New York when "the tides rose and claimed the east coast," is colloquially known as The Drowned City. In this dystopian "tangled mess of urban living," a new drug radically and permanently changes a user's DNA, either "gifting them with powers unimaginable or transforming them into a formidable hybrid of beast and man." Humans rely on robots to do all the menial work, including policing the dangerous and borderline anarchic streets. The "imposing" Buster 09 is one such android detective who is assigned to investigate a homicide, but "a haunting void in her memory banks eludes her, hinting at a crime she herself may have committed." Clearly there's more here than meets the eye, so Buster 09's task is to "navigate a delicate balance between being an unwavering guardian of justice and uncovering the secrets of her own shadowy past."

Presented in stunning pixel art, Neo Junk City is a cyberpunk adventure that aims to put "a unique spin on the point-and-click genre." Interaction with hotspots in the environment is done via context-sensitive icons knowns as "interaction blocks." Some are simple, with only one available action, while others are more complex, enabling multiple different options – including "blast" if you want to try shooting first and asking questions later. As you talk with city's "eccentric inhabitants" and learn more about this world, you will unlock new action blocks while potentially disabling some old ones. Still others may be indicated visually but currently inactive, suggesting that other actions are required first. There's an RPG element as well, as your level of certain personality stats like "charisma" factors into your your success in achieving your desired interactions. In between conversations and other investigative work, you'll also have the chance to hop into a car for some "exhilarating" high-speed arcade-style racing through the neon-drenched streets.

If it sounds like it'd cost a lot to complete such an ambitious adventure, you'd be right, but Neo Junk City cleared that hurdle with a successful Kickstarter campaign that saw it raise almost $80,000. If it sounds like would take quite a while to complete such a game anyway, you'd be correct there too, as we may not see the complete version of the game released on Windows PC on Steam until late 2025.

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