Release Date: 14/11/1997
Played On: Win
Available On: Win
Time Played: 5h 48m
Progress: Completed
Developer: Westwood Studios
Publisher: Virgin Interactive
Fair warning, I'm very much one of those weird Blade Runner fans who loves the movie more than is reasonable for anyone to love a movie. I have multiple copies of all five different cuts of the original, as well as a collector's edition that came with lithographic prints and a model cop car from the film. So everything I have to say about this game, should probably be taken with a grain of salt.
Although, it was only recently that I even knew this old point-and-click adventure existed at all, as it never hit my radar when it was released. Perhaps as I was in my final years of high school I had other things on my mind than licensed video games, but I'm still a little surprised that it took me this long to play the thing.
I have to admit that I'm not even half-joking when I say that I'm an massive fan of the movie, so my opinion of the game might be coloured. There are things in the game that I definitely got excited about thanks to my love of the film, but I also think this game can stand on its own feet as a solid 90s adventure game. Not only that, there are some unique ideas and systems involved, which seem a little advanced for the game's era, regardless of how you feel about the setting.
Thankfully though, the Blade Runner game doesn't try to copy the film and mimic every scene. In fact, you play as a completely different character known as McCoy, even though he might as well be Deckard's doppelganger, as McCoy closely shadows the movements of the film. There are even references throughout the story to another Blade Runner called Deckard, who has interviewed some of the same people and visited some of the same locations.
For the fan in me, the real excitement in Blade Runner came from meeting characters from the movie like Chew and JF Sebastian. Not to mention how cool it is to visit Tyrell's office and interrogate the man for any clues on your investigation. In fact, second only to the recognisable characters you meet are the locations; each one of which seems to be pulled straight from the movie with very little changed or edited.
However, this is kind of where the similarities end, but I jumped up and down with glee every time I was introduced to someone in the world that I recognised from the film. Even bumping into the sleazeball Taffy at Taffy's Bar brought a smile to my face as I bantered with the bastard for more information.
Despite all of this lovely fan service, the downside to having a fresh Blade Runner story, set in among the characters and settings of the film, often felt a little dissonant. You're tasked with essentially the same job as Deckard, to hunt down and retire a group of androids who crash landed and are running free around the city. You interview many of the same people as Deckard, you even find a scale and take it to be tested, only to find that it's from a snake instead of a fish. There's the replicant dancer at Taffy's, and the innocent replicant girl who you must choose to save, or not.
These similarities to Deckard's mission in the film are simultaneously exciting and frustrating, as it often felt like I would have been having a better time if the game just stuck to the movie and did nothing else. Either that or send me on a completely different investigation that had no similarities to the film, even if some familiar characters and locales were involved. This may not matter so much to anyone who isn't as fanatical about the movie as I am, but it's perhaps the only thing that I actually didn't enjoy about this Blade Runner game.
In the world of point-and-click adventures, this is actually one of the best classic games in the genre that I've played in a long time. In some ways it can't help but feel a little dated, but in every other way this is without a doubt one of those games that everyone with an interest in the genre. What's more, there are some innovate systems at play throughout the game, which seem to be well ahead of their time.
The first of which led me to start calling Blade Runner a point-and-click action game, as McCoy's investigation takes him into some fairly intense scenarios. By comparison, most point-and-click games often share some pacing with turn-based games, as you can walk away for a while, and come back with nothing having progressed or changed. Typically there are a series of gates that you must open, but unless you're actively opening one, you can take as much time as you want.
The difference in Blade Runner is that there are certain points in the game where characters and events will put you on a ticking clock and demand that you react in a timely manner. Depending on your actions, McCoy might trigger a replicant to hunt him and appear unexpectedly in a scene. It's then up to us to pull out our gun and shoot them down, or at least stop them hurting us.
Which brings me to the next interesting system in the game: the morality system. Now, I'm not sure whether choices and morality systems where common back in 1997, but off the top of my head I can't think of any games that were doing the same thing at the time. What happens is that during a number of specific moments in the game, McCoy must choose what he does in the course of his duty. This tips the scale from "True Blade Runner" to "Replicant Sympathiser" You can no doubt figure out how to reach either one of those branches, but the ending you reach when the game is over depend entirely on whether you retire or spare the replicants you meet.
It's a nice nod to one of the film's most discussed theories, which asks whether or not Deckard is also a replicant, and what that could mean for the themes and plot of the movie. The same idea is raised in the Blade Runner game about McCoy's true nature, and even blatantly planted within the narrative to make you think one way or the other. Again, it plays as a nice nod to the movie for the fans, but I kind of wish that McCoy was allowed to stretch his own legs and get out from under Deckard's presence. Either that or just play as Deckard and be done with it.
Nevertheless, there's a lot of investigating to be done and evidence to examine. It doesn't take long to start filling up McCoy's wrist mounted computer and gather clues to lead us onto the next part of the case. One of the highlights for me was finding photos and then examining with the same machine that allows you to gain new perspectives and print out hard copies.
If you forget about all the Blade Runner fan service and references for a second, I think this would be a really good detective point-and-click action adventure game. The trail of evidence is fairly logical and while there's a bit of back-tracking to be done, the moon-logic puzzles are kept to a minimum. What's more, is that even the surprising events like fighting angry replicants, or performing a Voight-Kampff test on a suspect, are interesting and really add to the overall gameplay experience. The only times I got stuck where when I had forgotten to speak to a particular character, or missed a pixel of evidence from the latest scene.
For a game of this age, it certainly is a compliment to say that Blade Runner serves its point-and-click genre well without being obtuse and frustrating. The addition of systems like the branching morality, and the real-time combat, only enhance what is already a smooth and well-paced adventure. I think I would have cried if I had to give up thanks to some nonsense puzzle that made no sense.
I understand that I may have a strong bias towards liking a Blade Runner game, simply thanks to recognisable characters and locations, but I would argue that I love it so much that I'm harder to impress. In fact, the parts I didn't like about the game, probably won't bother most people who aren't as obsessed with the movie as I am. If this was your first introduction to the Blade Runner universe, then a lot of the adjacent storyline between the game and film wouldn't even matter.
Either way I feel confident recommending this game as a bit of a hidden classic for the point-and-click genre. Yes the mechanics have dated a little bit, but even then they are among the best of the old-school adventures, and I have played many contemporaries that were a painful chore to complete. Thankfully, Blade Runner had none of that and it managed to deliver on both the point-and-click adventure front, as well as the licensed movie tie-in front.
Needless to say that I enjoyed every minute I spent in the Blade Runner game, and I am contemplating another playthrough, just to see the alternate endings. Although, maybe I should just stick to re-watching the 5 different movie cuts I have on rotation, and make room for other games to capture my attention.