Encodya Reviews
Encodya has some lovely elements – the soundtrack, a few interesting plays on dystopian fiction and the heart at the core of its story – but uninteresting puzzles, lack of environmental variety, and unremarkable storytelling mean I can't recommend it over its contemporaries.
Encodya truly has some neat aspects going for it. Endearing characters, beautiful art design, solid quality of life features. However, none of those are enough to overcome a heavy-handed narrative and some messy gameplay mechanics. Encodya is a sometimes passable, middling take on Cyberpunk, and an average point-and-click adventure.
Despite being a low budget game, Encodya is a solid and convincing point-and-click adventure, capable to leave a smile on the face of the genre's fans.
Review in Italian | Read full review
We might define Encodya as a casual adventure. Although it doesn't add anything new to the genre and it's very easy to complete, we can't deny that Chaosmonger was brave enough to bring back to life an almost forgotten gameplay, with a good and compelling story. The dark atmosphere of the dystopian world clashes with the innocence of the little protagonist in a game whose lack of complexity could turn out to be a winning move, hooking new players to a genre that has been experiencing a crisis for many years now.
Review in Italian | Read full review
It’s interesting how ENCODYA began as a short film called ‘Robot Will Protect You’ before becoming a game and story. It is a wonderful adventure and honestly, Tina and SAM’s relationship was nothing but heartwarming. For fans of the point-and-click genre or a good cyberpunk-themed story, you should definitely check this one out as it’s certainly worth a try. I’m hoping the frame rate issue is because of the age of my machine and not because of possible poor optimization for the previous generations of consoles, or that a patch is forthcoming to address the problem.
I’m a big fan of point and click adventure games, and Encodya was such a genuinely earnest attempt at capturing the magic of the genre that I’m disappointed I didn’t enjoy it more. I wanted to like it, the whole time I was playing I was waiting for a moment when I would realise that I was loving the game, but it never came. It was too referential and the puzzles too simple for it to capture the feeling of a King’s Quest or Monkey Island. I can see elements of what is a very good game, but as a whole, it falls a little flat.
Encodya brings an atmospheric, cyberpunk feel to a well-worn genre, but with a mundane plot and puzzles, it fails to capitalise on its setting.
Encodya is a disappointing attempt at reviving the point-and-click genre. It has none of the charm or challenge of the greats of the past and offers nothing new.
Encodya, is a charming point and click adventure, that harkens back to the glory days of the Genre. While Grim Fandango this is not, people who love the genre, will love Encodya.
An interesting world full of cool ideas sadly hampered by its story and gameplay pacing. Encodya will supply a great variety of content and puzzles to baffle and test players of all skill levels, backed by a great story and world that make the game worth the price of admission. If point and click adventures are of interest, then this title should be on a wish list as it presents a unique experience and story that would have benefitted from a little bit more feedback and a patch.
Looks promising, but this adventure offers only weak story and gameplay.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Encodya is a fun point-and-click- adventure game but has some minor flaws that do take away from the fun.
Although Encodya has good humor, likeable characters, nice music and distinct art style, mediocre and boring puzzle design stops us from recommending it to the fans of point and click games.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Encodya is a very strong adventure game that will definitely please old-school point and click fans and sci-fi enthusiasts.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Although an amazingly beautiful game with a great story, the lack of replay does let it down in the end. I would have liked to have more instances of going back and seeing what happens after the end or changing character story arcs through my actions. All that said, it was a touching and poignant experience that was well told and that is enough.
For what it’s worth, point-and-click adventures largely end up becoming a story. Encodya is exactly that. It’s a heartwarming story of life and lessons learned. The gameplay is largely incidental, but the setting, though derivative, is an absolute win. Players that are unfamiliar with the genre may want to forego it if they crave a bit more action, but it’s difficult to not suggest Encodya to point-and-click enthusiasts. It’s difficult, it’s enchanting, and it’s a bit odd—even if it isn’t wholly original. But, to be fair, the studio praised their inspirations more openly than most would anyways.