Sunday Gold review: tactical point and click puzzling that fails to mesh

"Oh, come on!" is a phrase you hear a lot in Sunday Gold. It's often uttered by your knuckle-dusting healer Sally, and is invariably followed up by, "You havin' a laugh, mate?" and "Facking hell!" - partly because Sally is from Laaaandan and is thus obligated to speak lik' tha', innit (because how else would you know this is a game set in Laaaandan), but also because the thugs, security guards and cybernetic dogs she's often fighting in this seedy tale of corporate dystopia are some of the most frustrating enemies known to video games. The type who are seemingly resistant to every single weapon type in your arsenal, or who invariably have big, scripted healing sequences just when you're about to nail 'em.

It's a phrase I often found myself echoing while playing Sunday Gold for review, too, both during its tedious, war of attrition-style turn-based battles, and while trying to figure out some of its more obtuse puzzles. BKOM Studios have tried to fuse one too many things together in Sunday Gold, and the result is a messy, somewhat artificial blend of Deathloop's style, Invisible Inc's tension and a more action-led focus on the cerebral role-playing of Disco Elysium. There's still much to admire in its stylish visuals and atmospheric music, but I also haven't been this cross playing a video game since Felix The Reaper, and that's saying something.

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