Femida
Funded on Kickstarter
About the GameFemida – a nonlinear point-and-click indie game about justice where you play the role of a judge. Story-driven decision-based detective game experienced from a unique perspective.
The videogame is set in a dystopian world of the State. The State has recently undergone a violent revolution and rapidly restructures. In a year, it transitioned from a totalitarian regime and now struggles to establish a republic. Provisional Government lustrated most of the public servants so the capital needs fresh blood. You win the Labor Lottery to work at Metropolis(pretend you read these names for the first time), the capital of the State. The hero, Demian Mardoch, accepts the summon leaving countryside life with his wife and kids back in the Town. The transfer to Metropolis promises a fulfilling job, good money, and many opportunities. You were born there, your mother still resides in the capital and works for the government. But it’s not the only reason you accepted the offer. Your father disappeared during the revolution and his fate is still unknown to this day.Judge & DetectiveThe game has 2 layers: your job as a judge and your personal investigation into what happened to your father.
Judge’s duty
The first layer is your job. This is NOT an accurate simulation of what a judge’s job is. It is a fictionalized distillation of it. We didn’t aim for realism, we want you to have fun doing it.
Hero’s duty
The latter layer is about your investigation into the fate of your father. This part will look like a quest or… you can call it a visual novel. Not a weird one, we promise…or maybe not.
Features
- Do you like moral dilemmas and complicated decisions in games? How about a game filled with them?
- The story is tailored by your choices. Well, not really but there are from 4 to 7 endings depending on how you count.
- Only one good ending and it’s a challenge to achieve it.
- Dark and puzzling plot with plenty of room for theorizing and guessing.
- You don’t have to constantly suck up to different sides like in other similar games.
- The hero doesn’t make conclusions on his own. The final call is always up to you.
- However, the hero has his own personality, so you perceive the world not objectively but through his eyes.
- Find your father. We know you liked a thousand plots about it before.
- Read the reactions to your sentences and learn what’s happening in 3 newspapers, each with different points of view. The most trusted news sources in the State.
- Keep in touch in your family by writing letters. At least here she will text you first.
- You can call people using an oddly satisfying rotary dialer.
- Dating sim. You can cheat on your spouse and…something will happen.
- Try human flesh or become food for worms if you aren’t careful.
- Old fashioned Quest/text adventure. NOT a visual novel, but maybe…
- Politically incorrect and dark humor.
- Original Judge Simulator. Femida was started back in 2016.
Depressed mind suffering from a neurological condition produced this mysterious, at times horrifying, at times surreal, story. The game initially had no good ending, only later getting one and being only fully flashed out after recovering from the mental health issues.Note:The universe of Femida is generalized and draws inspiration from different cultures and historical events. We don’t make allusions to any particular real-life political parties or figures, nor do we promote any political message. The game illustrates corruption, confirmation bias, prejudice, the presumption of guilt.
Steam User 16
I can only recommend this game if you don't have a problem with the translation.
The translation/writing is full of grammatical errors. There is a mistake in almost every sentence.
I hope this gets fixed soon, since it does mess with the immersion.
Otherwise very unique game. There is no game with this subject matter yet. Thumbs up
Steam User 4
Femida is a recent addition to the Steam library of games. Femida is an indie, non-linear game, by developer Art Interactive and publisher Roman Loznevoy, featuring dialogue trees and court cases in a post-totalitarian (or still totalitarian?) world, a year after a revolution that flipped society upside down. You play a man who was just appointed judge back in the main city, after having moved away to a rural town. You left your wife, your kid, and are now in charge of many high-profile cases that will set huge precedents in this new government.
With a rustic/noir art style, Femida leads you through a case in a courtroom. The gameplay consists of going through evidence and witnesses prior to slamming down on your gavel to officially initiate the trial. You cross-examine, question, dig, prod, and try to uncover the truth, even when it is messy. Perhaps the pressure of the State is on you to deliver a certain verdict. But will you listen?
And that is mostly the extent of the gameplay. A cut scene happens every now and then, where a secondary character or scenario is introduced, and the sequence of choices dramatically impacts the outcome of Femida. (in total, as the game tells you, there are 4-7 endings, “depending on how you count”).
Femida is a world of intrigue, conspiracy, convoluted mess, and confusion. Figuring out what is real and not is a complicated task. The risk of an unreliable narrator is brought up every now and again, especially with the constant reminder of mysterious “pills” you take for your headaches… and memory? Like I said, it is unclear, but will more playthroughs of Femida, it might make more sense the picture could be more coherent.
When picking out sentences, I did wish the game would explain what certain verdicts really meant – sometimes, I had to look up the legal jargon. Furthermore, a “back” button would be nice, as I sometimes selected guilty vs innocent when I meant the other.
There are also numerous grammatical and spelling errors throughout the game which is off-putting, as well as distracting. Overall, the game is simple, is very quick to finish (less than 3 hours, for one play through), and has the promise of a deep, layered story. However, the monotony of trials and the lack of a polish diminishes the game’s potential. If you can get past that, the darkness of the story and the twists and turns the plot takes may grab you.
Verdict: 6/10
Steam User 5
Interesting litigation cases. Non-trivial.
I think I was a fair judge. I hope...)
The game will tell you ;)
And of course, this is not just a simulator, here is a very good main story!
Steam User 6
I highly recommend to get all endings. When you get the entire picture - it changes everything.
Steam User 5
The game and the DLSs are worth every penny! Each case in the game is deep and raises important questions about morality. Most of the game is reading, btw. No bugs for me. I will certainly come back to play it again later to get all the endings.
10 winning court rulings/10
Steam User 6
This is the best court simulation ever! The story is even better. It's really satisfying to see how your decisions impact the world and the plot.
The devs keep polishing the game. The bugs and errors are getting fixed.
Steam User 5
Great game. The plot is intriguing and the writing is funny.