“You are Kalia Lavel. You’ve always wanted to fight crime like your famous ancestors, so you joined the elite BelCor forces. They turned you into a highly trained cyber-agent, but it didn’t take you long to figure out that your bosses cared much more about their profit than about justice for ordinary people. You turned in your badge and now you live in a tiny apartment in a bad neighborhood, stripped of most of your cybernetic implants. It doesn’t matter though, as you can finally do what a Lavel is meant to do: solve crimes and help those who can’t count on anyone else in this merciless world.”
In the standalone game Chronicles of Crime: 2400, you can use all the latest technology to solve crimes. Your pet Cyber-Raven can analyze evidence and search the web to find information on suspects. During the course of a scenario, you may also obtain cybernetic implants that would increase your abilities. Super-senses that help you find evidence on the crime scene? A tomograph to quickly check the person you’re talking to for cyber enhancements? Or maybe a zapper to quickly neutralize any electronic device? The future is full of useful stuff!
Be careful though, as the technology is not always on your side! Is the character you’re talking to a human or an android? Who’s hiding behind the avatars you meet in the virtual cyberspace locations? The struggle between criminals and detectives is millennia old, but at the beginning of the 25th century, it’s been taken to a whole new level.
Welcome to Paris in the year 2400! Technology has taken a giant leap forward: androids, indistinguishable from humans, walk the streets, and having cybernetic implants has slowly become the norm. Artificial intelligence plays a major role in everyone’s daily life and, for many, Cyberspace has become a world as important as the real one.
The landscape of Paris is now dominated by a gargantuan translucent Dome covering half a district. Under it, there’s a private city on its own, created and ruled by BelCor. Only the rich and privileged can live there and enjoy comfortable houses, unlimited access to water, clean air and controlled temperature.
Uneven access to new technologies, and a host of other inequalities, fuel social unrest which often turns into open violence. Paris has become a popular destination for people from regions that suffered catastrophic droughts, epidemics, and wars. It isn’t, however, a promised land, but a merciless world where the constant fight for influence takes place on every level, from big international corporations, through political extremist groups to ordinary street gangs.
Part of Chronicles of Crime - The Millennium Series
Chronicles of Crime is back with a range of games called "The Millennium Series". Three brand new standalone Chronicles of Crime games, working with the same great system but providing interesting gameplay twists and refreshing universes that span an entire millennium from 1400 to 1900 and finally 2400. All three games are standalone but will offer connecting narrative threads for players to discover.
-description from publisher
- corporate power and surveillance, memory implants, gang warfare
- Paris in the year 2400; cyberpunk city with a crime underworld and corporate influence
- investigative, app-guided interactive story with cyberspace exploration
- Chronicles of Crime 1900
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- app-guided case progress — Cases are accessed and tracked within a smartphone-like app, including case introductions and scenario flow.
- cyberspace exploration — Cyberspace locations, avatars, and online interactions accessed via the app; the raven provides information.
- evidence board — Evidence and character locations are tracked on a dedicated board within the app/game.
- implant board — Cyber implants are slotted onto a physical implant board to grant abilities.
- memory — Special item; once found, decodes data and contributes to solving the case.
- memory core item — Special item; once found, decodes data and contributes to solving the case.
- rest and energy management — Resting at home recovers bio energy and consumes time.
- search the scene — Players can 'search the scene' to look for clues, drawing cards as evidence.
- sniffer implant — The sniffer highlights details at a location to reveal hard-to-see clues.
- tomograph scanner — Tomograph scans inspect cybernetics and organs; reveals irregularities.
- zapper (interrogation mode) — A weapon-like implant used to interrogate or disable electronics during conversations.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the year is 2400 and we are kalia lavelle we've always wanted to follow in the footsteps of our famous crime-fighting ancestors
- in the neon twilight
- i am so offended by your upgrade
- you win some you lose some
- don't trust anyone here
References (from this video)
- Standalone experience with four scenarios
- New cybernetic implants and Raven companion
- App-driven interaction for scanning and data gathering
- Tutorial scenario included
- Four scenarios that can form a campaign
- Not a full tutorial
- cyber-detective investigation in a cyberpunk future
- the year 2400 where crime occurs on streets and cyberspace
- standalone scenarios with a linked mini-campaign
- Chronicles of Crime
- Chronicles of Crime 1400
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- App Assisted — the app tells you how implants can be used and what you can scan
- app-guided interactions — the app tells you how implants can be used and what you can scan
- cyber implants — gain implants, place into matching space, reveal upgrade; using implants costs energy
- cyberspace travel — travel to cyberspace locations; no time cost but energy cost; multiple cyberspace locations allow travel without cost; raven/implants not usable in cyberspace
- energy and recharge — energy decreases with implant use; energy displayed in the app; recharge at home to 100% costing one hour of in-game time
- location type and cyberspace constraints — some locations allow travel to cyberspace; high-security buildings may block scanning; you cannot travel directly from some places
- raven data analysis — raven scans characters/items/evidence to provide data and search information
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- chronicles of crime is a series of games and this 2400 edition is a completely standalone experience
- this box comes with four full scenarios plus a tutorial
- one of the main new elements are your personal cybernetic implants
- you also have a raven nearby which will be your companion throughout most of the game
- the app will tell you how it can be used usually you'll be able to scan it and then scan something else
- an option to recharge to a hundred percent and this will use up one hour of in-game time
- there are four scenarios in the game
- not going to be a full tutorial