Peripeteia, a game I've had on my Steam Wishlist for the better part of three years, has finally released in Early Access. Peripeteia belongs to the genre of Deus Ex style open ended stealth action game, colloquially known as Immersive Sims. It's set in a dystopian alternate universe Eastern Europe. The protagonist is android girl Marie, looking very intentionally like a sort of a bootleg European Alita: Battle Angel, firmly and very deliberately in the uncanny valley. Marie finds herself waking up in a pile of junk in an unnamed Polish megacity, having lost most of her memories. One of the few things she does remember is that she is supposed to be looking for a mysterious bunker. She takes on a variety of missions that are supposed to get her closer to that goal.
Peripeteia is an Early Access game and currently contains the first five of what are eventually supposed to be nine large levels, plus a small hub, Marie's apartment building, you get to visit in-between. The first three of which appear to be set in the same collosal Polish city, the latter two taking Marie to equally dystopian locations in Serbia and Russia. Peripeteia is a very... unique game in a number of ways. Its setting and general vibe definitely being one of them.
So, as I mentioned, it's set in an alternate dystopian Eastern Europe. It's a very alternative take on a Cyberpunk setting. Rather than late capitalist, it's distinctively post communist. Its seedy urban environments aren't the overcrowded, neon lit metropolises of a Blade Runner or Akira. They're industrial. Decaying. Sparse. Barely inhabited megastructures built on top of each other. Towering apartment buildings with hundreds of floors but barely a handful of people living in them. Giant monuments, either abandoned or solely occupied by vagrants and gangs. Ruins of industry. We learn that it's set after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The regions previously in its sphere of influence are now a battleground between the Soviet Union's remnants, nationalist independence movements and encroaching western interests, along with various criminal operations cropping up to fill the power vacuum. Most levels feature some sort of conflict between these groups and usually let you pick a side. And that's when the game doesn't take a turn towards the explicitly paranoid and para political in a way that makes Deus Ex blush.
Peripeteia, you see, takes a lot of influence from experimental, Soviet era Science-Fiction (Your Roadside Picnics and On The Silver Planets and O-Bi O-Ba's and such), real life conspiracy lore and haunting techno-spiritual 90's and 00's experimental Cyberpunk anime, think Lain, Ergo Proxy and Texhnolyze. You know. The sort of thing Chiaki J. Konaka would have written for. It gets very weird. Not to take anything away, but one of the later levels goes into full blown survival horror territory.
And "weird" is really the games mode of operation as a whole. It gleefully ignores a lot of design conventions. Especially when it comes to its level design which often feels like it'd made decidedly not with the player in mind. The levels are... large. No, actually, let me rephrase that. The levels are huge. And easy to get lost in. And there is no map, nor are there questmarkers. There's a lot of practically unused space. I've seen the games level design compared to EYE: Divine Cybermancy but I've never played it. Marie, however, moves quite fast and is quite agile. Every ledge can be grabbed onto and almost every fall can be broken. Which is both a blessing and a curse because the game has a very loose definition of whether you're out of bounds or not. It makes a point of letting you go everywhere but only occasionally rewarding you for doing so.
The music is likewise about as eclectic as its influences. Between patriotic songs, J-Pop and indie electronic music courtesy of alternative artist Sewerslvt it sure creates a unique atmosphere. Its stealth system operates similarly to that of Thief. There are three degrees of visibility and you can tell by your Hud which one you're one. There are still a couple of oversights there in regards to which one you should be on but it mostly works fine. There is a very large number of weapons, although there is currently no way to hold on to them between levels. Likewise, there are Deus Ex style augments which grant special abilities like bullet time, invisibility or enhanced movement and consume energy.
But at the end, what Peripeteia has, in spades, is style. Between the way it juggles its different artistic influences, the oppressive architecture, the incredibly detailed skyboxes, the ample item descriptions, the low polygon models, the moody lighting, the cigarette in Marie's mouth and the surreal architecture it really pulls you into this nightmarish world and its manifold conspiracies.
Straight up, Peripeteia is just one of the most me-coded games I've ever seen. It's weird and surreal and dark and paranoid and political and full of weird design decisions... Basically, it's what barely any games dare to be anymore. There are some very clear influences, for sure, Deus Ex, S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Thief... but there's nothing remotely like it. Now, make no mistake, this is not a finished game. It's missing most of its back half, it's buggy, it's missing plenty of gameplay refinements and quality of life features but it's already one of the most interesting games of the year. It's likely going to be a while till it's properly finished, I think the plan is early 2026 but I don't regret supporting this at all. This is shaping up to be a very special game.
Peripeteia is an Early Access game and currently contains the first five of what are eventually supposed to be nine large levels, plus a small hub, Marie's apartment building, you get to visit in-between. The first three of which appear to be set in the same collosal Polish city, the latter two taking Marie to equally dystopian locations in Serbia and Russia. Peripeteia is a very... unique game in a number of ways. Its setting and general vibe definitely being one of them.
So, as I mentioned, it's set in an alternate dystopian Eastern Europe. It's a very alternative take on a Cyberpunk setting. Rather than late capitalist, it's distinctively post communist. Its seedy urban environments aren't the overcrowded, neon lit metropolises of a Blade Runner or Akira. They're industrial. Decaying. Sparse. Barely inhabited megastructures built on top of each other. Towering apartment buildings with hundreds of floors but barely a handful of people living in them. Giant monuments, either abandoned or solely occupied by vagrants and gangs. Ruins of industry. We learn that it's set after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The regions previously in its sphere of influence are now a battleground between the Soviet Union's remnants, nationalist independence movements and encroaching western interests, along with various criminal operations cropping up to fill the power vacuum. Most levels feature some sort of conflict between these groups and usually let you pick a side. And that's when the game doesn't take a turn towards the explicitly paranoid and para political in a way that makes Deus Ex blush.
Peripeteia, you see, takes a lot of influence from experimental, Soviet era Science-Fiction (Your Roadside Picnics and On The Silver Planets and O-Bi O-Ba's and such), real life conspiracy lore and haunting techno-spiritual 90's and 00's experimental Cyberpunk anime, think Lain, Ergo Proxy and Texhnolyze. You know. The sort of thing Chiaki J. Konaka would have written for. It gets very weird. Not to take anything away, but one of the later levels goes into full blown survival horror territory.
And "weird" is really the games mode of operation as a whole. It gleefully ignores a lot of design conventions. Especially when it comes to its level design which often feels like it'd made decidedly not with the player in mind. The levels are... large. No, actually, let me rephrase that. The levels are huge. And easy to get lost in. And there is no map, nor are there questmarkers. There's a lot of practically unused space. I've seen the games level design compared to EYE: Divine Cybermancy but I've never played it. Marie, however, moves quite fast and is quite agile. Every ledge can be grabbed onto and almost every fall can be broken. Which is both a blessing and a curse because the game has a very loose definition of whether you're out of bounds or not. It makes a point of letting you go everywhere but only occasionally rewarding you for doing so.
The music is likewise about as eclectic as its influences. Between patriotic songs, J-Pop and indie electronic music courtesy of alternative artist Sewerslvt it sure creates a unique atmosphere. Its stealth system operates similarly to that of Thief. There are three degrees of visibility and you can tell by your Hud which one you're one. There are still a couple of oversights there in regards to which one you should be on but it mostly works fine. There is a very large number of weapons, although there is currently no way to hold on to them between levels. Likewise, there are Deus Ex style augments which grant special abilities like bullet time, invisibility or enhanced movement and consume energy.
But at the end, what Peripeteia has, in spades, is style. Between the way it juggles its different artistic influences, the oppressive architecture, the incredibly detailed skyboxes, the ample item descriptions, the low polygon models, the moody lighting, the cigarette in Marie's mouth and the surreal architecture it really pulls you into this nightmarish world and its manifold conspiracies.
Straight up, Peripeteia is just one of the most me-coded games I've ever seen. It's weird and surreal and dark and paranoid and political and full of weird design decisions... Basically, it's what barely any games dare to be anymore. There are some very clear influences, for sure, Deus Ex, S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Thief... but there's nothing remotely like it. Now, make no mistake, this is not a finished game. It's missing most of its back half, it's buggy, it's missing plenty of gameplay refinements and quality of life features but it's already one of the most interesting games of the year. It's likely going to be a while till it's properly finished, I think the plan is early 2026 but I don't regret supporting this at all. This is shaping up to be a very special game.
