Augmented Empire (2024) Review: Simple Cyberpunk With Great Vibes

In my eyes, there’s a huge difference between immersive and immersing yourself. The former usually needs time to get back into the world, while the latter grips you back into the experience almost instantly after you left off, like a great book you were sad to put down. Augmented Empire is the latter.

While it lacks in action compared to other VR titles, Augmented Empire’s gripping narrative, brilliant voice acting, and beautiful visuals keep the simplistic gameplay more appealing. With a world that is as engaging as it is dark, what’s here feels like a polished experience that finishes far too soon.

Augmented Empire’s premise isn’t particularly unique. Set in a dystopian future, different classes of society are either heightened into power or left in the most dangerous, disgusting parts of New Savannah. The politically charged narrative doesn’t find you in the center of the action, however, as you take the reins leading a squad of characters from a holographic table in a fairly empty apartment.

To further immerse you into the world, your character, Craven, can’t speak to the characters directly either, so your instructions and ideas are spoken through the speech of a smooth-talking robot called Hartman. Leading a ragtag team of misfits isn’t simply about calling shots, though – it’s all about planning your next move successfully.

Augmented Empire grants you six characters to command. From the out-of-her-depth Willa to the charm of Chris, each feels distinct in both personality and abilities. Archi’s focus on snipers makes him weak to attacks from enemies but he can pick off foes at range, while Noot taunts enemies with his brute strength and even stronger whacks.

The turn-based charm of Augmented Empire falls flat fairly quickly, becoming routine battles that feel rather tedious towards the end. Each encounter feels easy but time-consuming, using very basic systems that make me want to return to the gripping story. A reactive mechanic requires you to hit the button at the right spot, making attacking and defending more engaging than just watching it unfold, but it doesn’t stop combat sections from becoming stale and repetitive.

However, it’s the moments in between that keep me captivated across each level. While it’s mostly exploring beautifully crafted levels, each of the characters speaks to each other as if they’re real people – engaging in conversations about the world itself, their connection to the plot, and events that occurred before the story even begins. It adds depth to a somewhat cliché premise, allowing you to feel like these are a squad of fragile people trusting you with their lives.

It helps that the voice cast does a terrific job at truly bringing these characters to life. Some are admittedly better than others, but it’s a pleasant experience overall to see such heart and passion brought to an experience that isn’t a mainstream series or a flatscreen triple-A title. Once again, they truly feel like human people you’d meet on the street, except this squad is on a dangerous mission and not just going to the shops like in the real world.

Back to the levels, the huge variety of small locations lack in size, but they sure make up for it with style. It’s a case where substance matters little, as the cyberpunk vibes carry the weight of making each section of the world feel fun to view. In the comfort of your apartment (or your real world in mixed reality, if you’d like), you can move the map around or switch views from different angles, letting you witness levels uniquely that few platforms aside from VR can offer.

Unfortunately, some of these levels are lacking in depth. What should be bustling streets instead offer a few unaware civilians that you can have a quick chat with but very little else, and while the areas feel brimming with detail as a whole, the actual models feel remarkably plastic – like a basic action figure playset, instead of an expensive LEGO set. It stops you from truly realizing the world, something that the rest of the game does really well.

Fortunately, the simplistic nature of the gameplay means that it’s a very comfortable experience to play. Typically, you’ll find me bouncing around my room, physically moving my entire body to play VR games, but I sat down and enjoyed the entirety of Augmented Empire without leaving the comfort of my chair. You can opt for hand tracking or using the controllers to play the game, allowing you to carefully select tiles with either option, but I recommend using the pointer option for controllers – or you’ll accidentally touch a different area.

Admittedly, I’ve never played the original version – like many others, my heavy VR experience started with the Quest 2. However, my thoughts feel familiar to that of the original review for the 2017 game. Considering it’s been seven years, Augmented Empire feels like a solid port to an easily accessible platform, delivering a fair amount of changes for the modern era, without diluting what made the original experience so engaging.

If you’re attached to your arcade-style or action-heavy games, there are plenty of them already out there, and Augmented Empire is certainly not delivering that. However, saying that, I’m not a huge turn-based strategy fan, and yet I found myself attached regardless of my action combat preference, thanks to a beautifully dark story that hits all the cyberpunk notes that I hoped for.

Augmented Empire (2024) Review – Final Verdict

While the gameplay can be fairly simplistic and levels are sometimes lacking depth, Coatsink delivers a gripping story with characters that feel truly real, like watching a book come to life. Repetitive combat may keep me from believing the game is a masterpiece, but Augmented Empire’s narrative threads, beautiful levels, and distinct vibes kept me hooked from start to finish.

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