Still incubating

Danger Crew, a turn-based RPG themed around computer programming and tech culture, is a cute idea -- and not much more.

It's neat that an attack called curl steals (GETs) an item from the enemy; and it's fun that NPC dialog lampoons tropes like "everyone has a startup," and "interviews are a nightmare."

But the facade is generally thin, and the game underneath it is fairly rote.

The combat mechanics aren't really special: your HP is "battery charge," you attack with "scripts," and items can buff attributes like offense or defense or accuracy. Nor is the top-down overworld remarkable, just more of the same grid-based navigation that RPGs have done for the past 35 or 40 years.

And that'd be fine if the game's writing was more distinctive, but... too many opportunities for immersive flavor text get squandered (pro tip: computer code doesn't use literal wires):

And mission dialogs just read like an excuse to make you walk the map and do battles (another pro tip: don't put an ongoing meeting "on hold" while waiting for the new guy to finish his office tour):

... granted, poorly-planned meetings are actually kinda realistic.

I like the idea! But the execution isn't deep or thorough enough. Danger Crew feels like nothing more than a stripped-down RPG with some Wired articles pasted on top.

Progress: Level 6, didn't start the meeting yet.