Consortium - Deus ex, Mass Effect and Dredd had a kickass baby

[Michael Wade]

After seeing the 1st game get a remastered VR version I had to do a thread on this CRIMINALLY underrated gem of a series.



Consortium is an FPS roleplaying game where you control law enforcement officer Bishop 6
And if you so choose.... Go judge Dredd on everybody's ass.


Paragon


Renegade




Quite literally the best way to play this game is to go in as blind as possible, but ill tell you what makes this series great. The game pretends everything is real and that you the player actually affect things. What that means is the person you're controlling has an actual life and history to them. A life your not granted ANY knowledge of when you take control.

So basically your a body snatcher stumbling through this fully realized Deus Ex like world of intrigue, crime and cloak and dagger spy shit, but you have to WATCH what you say and do.

People will catch on if your asking too many questions, If you act like a dumbass or know things your not supposed to know. They will even react if you try to tell them your using this guy as a meatsuit. So you can choose to play it cool and roleplay, or go nuts and see how everybody reacts.

Ive never played any other game like this. It's a very unique experience and I really enjoyed that sensation of isolation, mystery and intrigue the first few hours of playing brought to me. Eventually Shit gets real and you start to get really paranoid of everything and everyone.

The writing is so good. There's a lot going on you need to pay attention to, but I never felt overwhelmed so much as in the dark. Couldn't even tell who the hell the main villain even is. Lot of great character interaction, lot of fantastic secrets to uncover in the narrative and expand upon in the sequel.




Yeah this is part of a planned trilogy. And unlike a lot of planned trilogy's they actually have the second one out now. Sort of. ill break it down.




The first game is basically mass effect if you never left the ship, it's mostly talking with a bit of gunplay. Very engaging but your in a small area stuffed with things to do.




The second game is where you get to go full lawgiver. It's the Deus Dredd game you never knew you wanted, as you explore a commercial tower in London hijacked by "terrorists". You've got a lot of options on how you want to deal with these guys and Depending on how you acted in the first game they'll respond differently to you.


You can be diplomatic, non lethal, lethal, stealthy or just straight up surrender. (That's not a joke ending surprisingly enough)

Your actions will determine how people and factions see you. As EVERYONE can like or dislike you as shown by a point based influence system.

The only catch is the second one is in early access on steam and does not have everything available yet. But what's there is great.

This is a game where the developers clearly put their heart and soul into the writing, the narrative options and the overall mystery. There's a 140 page online pamphlet I got when I first purchased this on steam a ways back that details the ARG reality game they had to promote this. I can only imagine a couple hundred people ever playing that, but it's there and it has huge lore dumps on everything that actually change your perspective of the game if you read them and reveal to another in-game character that you have.

It's just mind blowing the amount of effort these guys put in when this game is so completely unknown. If you really love Deus ex and ACTUAL choice based narrative games you'd really enjoy this.

Right now they've delisted the original Source version of Consortium 1 in favor of an upcoming unreal 4 remaster. What they have out now is the remastered VR version which is 35 bucks on steam and the quest 2 port which has a 30 min free trial.

 

[Duiker]

Iam a sucker for when people tell me to go and try something blind. So far it hasnt failed me yet. Ill check it out.

One good 'go in blind' deserves another. Go check out the zombie comedy movie 'One Cut of the Dead'. Its got a great twist.

 

[DuranceVile]

Oh wow, played this like 10 years ago. I agree, it was quite an experience. Haven't played The Tower yet, though.

I agree going into it blind is the best way to go. So I'll spoil my overall description of how I felt playing it:

Spoiler: Consortium feel

Like playing through several episodes of Star Trek, but on a plane.

I did figure things out, and it was super satisfying knowing I got it right. I might have to try it again soon.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole 2]

I've been waiting for this to get finished and come out of early access. But it's been in early access for six years and the last game update was in 2019, they have two different project they're working on and in the forum/discussion on Steam the devs say "All this is to say that our team is working tirelessly to create a comprehensive budget for THE TOWER while minimizing expenses." which just sounds weird.

 

[Michael Wade]

I've been waiting for this to get finished and come out of early access. But it's been in early access for six years and the last game update was in 2019, they have two different project they're working on and in the forum/discussion on Steam the devs say "All this is to say that our team is working tirelessly to create a comprehensive budget for THE TOWER while minimizing expenses." which just sounds weird.

The development history of this series has been pretty wild. Starting from conception it's been on and off again in some form Since 2010 (earlier if wikipedia reference to the cancelled game Amen are to be believed)

Because it's a Canadian company they've been able to get a fair amount of grants and funds but I very much get the feeling they're barely been scraping by till now. There's a real passion for the work here that shines through and keeps me coming back to check on them. They are very consistent on giving updates to their progress and efforts to make the game.
I do think they at times are over ambitious because right now they are working on three products and have made it difficult to experience some of them in order to maintain polish and consistency.

The 1st game: which has been out in some form since 2014 but now is only available in VR unreal till they cook the non VR version. Presumably they a got a better deal out of vr so they're gunning for that.

Whispers from the rift: A visual novel prequel that I actually have an early version of. It's mostly finished writing wise and im having trouble figuring out why it hasn't come out yet. It's pretty good and feels a lot more darker in terms of making you realize what your doing to another human being.

And then there's the sequel In early access. Which Ive admittedly held back on to prevent too many spoilers. But my understanding is it's at least 2/3rds done.

They are a small budget team working with big ideas. And frankly If RoboCop has taught me anything, that's what we need these days.

Oh wow, played this like 10 years ago. I agree, it was quite an experience. Haven't played The Tower yet, though.

I agree going into it blind is the best way to go. So I'll spoil my overall description of how I felt playing it:

Spoiler: Consortium feel

Like playing through several episodes of Star Trek, but on a plane.

I did figure things out, and it was super satisfying knowing I got it right. I might have to try it again soon.

You're right in a way but what I really like is the hard edge it has.

From how many opportunities you have to let crew members die I very much got the feeling that the further on you get in the next game the more you might regret saving certain people.

I can totally see you having to go back and assassinate a particular character to get the best ending and having everyone get pissed off and wonder what the hell is wrong with you.

You can go nuts and not get a game over, but you'll be on thin fucking ice for the sequel and not allowed to kill without consequences. (Unless you find someone in the tower..)


There's a moment in the visual novel where you HAVE to be a brutal son of a bitch to get the best ending. And that was the moment I realized the dev team had balls.

 

[Steinercard]

I disagree about going in blind. The best way to go in is with full knowledge of the ARG that went on for many years before the game's release. Which really helped build the lore of the setting and the meta narrative of the entire game's events being an experiment using a satellite that can read and write info from a parallel earth. The ARG gets into the implications of that. The other side can absolutely do to us what we're doing to them. And they may have already been doing so. You can even prove in the game that you have knowledge of events from the ARG and that unlocks secret content for you. There's a lot in the ARG that the game misses out for the sake of brevity but really helps deepen and expand the mystery surrounding the game's events.

The original version of Consortium came with a PDF guide to the ARG to catch up newcomers and a full archive of the old forums where characters from the parallel world would interact with others. At one point everyone fucked up so bad it created a doomed timeline that had to be redone. But that doomed timeline persisted with characters from there posting on the forums about how fucked everything is. It was very interesting and morbid. The devs didn't pull any punches.

Basically, the entire franchise is a really interesting and unique little series. I don't want to spoil anything but it has a VERY fleshed out lore for an overambitious first attempt at a video game. Because of everything preceding it. In a bit I'll see if I can get those PDFs for those interested. It's very fascinating.

 

[Michael Wade]

I disagree about going in blind. The best way to go in is with full knowledge of the ARG that went on for many years before the game's release. Which really helped build the lore of the setting and the meta narrative of the entire game's events being an experiment using a satellite that can read and write info from a parallel earth. The ARG gets into the implications of that. The other side can absolutely do to us what we're doing to them. And they may have already been doing so. You can even prove in the game that you have knowledge of events from the ARG and that unlocks secret content for you. There's a lot in the ARG that the game misses out for the sake of brevity but really helps deepen and expand the mystery surrounding the game's events.

The original version of Consortium came with a PDF guide to the ARG to catch up newcomers and a full archive of the old forums where characters from the parallel world would interact with others. At one point everyone fucked up so bad it created a doomed timeline that had to be redone. But that doomed timeline persisted with characters from there posting on the forums about how fucked everything is. It was very interesting and morbid. The devs didn't pull any punches.

Basically, the entire franchise is a really interesting and unique little series. I don't want to spoil anything but it has a VERY fleshed out lore for an overambitious first attempt at a video game. Because of everything preceding it. In a bit I'll see if I can get those PDFs for those interested. It's very fascinating.

I feel like your right and wrong. There is a lot of stuff that opens up and makes sense if you read the lore, but I was able to catch a character in a major lie because I had no clue what was going on and got morally outraged.

Spoiler

. If you admit to king that you don't know anything he gets pissed off, but you can get pissed right back at him and demand to know why he's taken control away from Bishop 6 and what exactly he's done to him. He gets flustered and you can press him into saying Bishop 6 had no knowledge about what was going to happen and that his psyche is peacefully sleeping. Talking with Kiril confirms this is bullshit. It's even more explicit In the final ending of the visual novel.

The lore reading makes a second playthrough essential. But I wouldn't count out stumbling by the seat of your pants.