Sunday Gold
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Sunday Gold
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this game.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Sunday Gold is a downloadable investigative combat game available for Windows PCs. You play as a group of three friends who work together to take down dystopian villains by means of coercion, strategy, and violence. If the graphic content isn't a deterrent for parents, they may also want to take note that the challenges of the game could be too tricky for kids to maneuver. Mini-games (like lock-breaking) are fun but challenging, and the overwhelming user-interface may hurt a player's ability to stay connected to the game. There are few positive messages and role models here, although teamwork is a strong tenant. The player is almost always working with their in-game teammates to accomplish a goal. But parents should also be warned that there's loads of bloody violence that continually occurs, along with violence against animals (even with some of them being robotic, it feels extreme), and graphic depictions of limbs and body parts as casualties of combat. Profanity is also constantly used and frequently extreme, with a mix of British slang, "s--t," "f--k," and other words used. Characters also smoke often, visit pubs, and steal painkillers to heal themselves.
What’s It About?
In SUNDAY GOLD, British anti-heroes (Frank, Sally, and Gavin) fight off and take down mobsters, corporate villains, and crime throughout Britain's dystopian-future. The trio fight to infiltrate a dog-fighting ring that uses re-animated cyber dogs (one is named the titular "Sunday Gold"). Part point-and-click investigation, part turn-based combat game, this release brings a rare genre combination to the table, which will undoubtedly make for a unique gameplay experience for any player. Players can click on almost every asset in each scene to interact with or analyze them – but at the cost of points that must be reset by completing a "turn." Turn completion raises enemy awareness, and may result in a battle. Battles consist of several choices, like choosing to attack or guard, as well as picking from different weapons and moves that are gained overtime. Additionally, there's a substantial amount of comic book-style dialogue, making this game feel similar to an interactive graphic novel on top of its multiple other genres.
Is It Any Good?
What's most frustrating about this game is that it has all of the makings of a revolutionary, genre-changing release. Sunday Gold does itself a disservice early on by rushing through tutorials and displaying new instructions at seemingly random times. Well into the game, it still feels like you were dropped into the story several gameplay hours after what most would consider to be appropriate context. The turn system is compelling, but like other mechanics, becomes much clearer later in the story than desired. Smaller challenges, like lock-picking, are difficult and unforgiving. Despite this, Sunday Gold's visuals are gorgeous. The art feels dynamically brand new, and the comic-book style of effects and dialogue makes it feel like every single click and movement is intentional (and was anticipated) by the developers. Moments like these are what make the end product confusing, because it appears that so much thought was put into the art and dialogue, but not nearly enough into the mechanics and plot.
Although Sunday Gold's playstyle is certainly a unique experience, with its combination of RPG (role-playing game), turn-based combat, and point-and-click investigation styles, it feels overwhelming, and would have been remarkably more engaging if it had stuck to one or two genres. There are fantastically unique aspects of this game that are relatively new to the industry, which will be exciting for any player. But at the end of the day, Sunday Gold unfortunately feels like it thought of twenty fantastic ideas and implemented them all, instead of focusing on their best five.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about violence in video games. Is the impact of the violence in Sunday Gold affected by the cartoonish nature of the visuals? How does it compare to violence in non-animated media? Does it make it better that the violence came from "fake" characters?
Frank considers himself a modern-day Robin Hood, but is it okay to do something wrong if it eventually leads to a right?
Game Details
- Platform: Windows
- Pricing structure: Paid ($21.99)
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Team 17
- Release date: October 13, 2022
- Genre: Action/Adventure
- Topics: Adventures, Robots
- ESRB rating: NR for No Descriptions
- Last updated: October 26, 2022
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