​7th Sector Review

By Kevin Mitchell  |  Posted: February 5, 2020

The dark cyberpunk metropolis in 7th Sector is full of mystery, offering an intriguing and immersive puzzle-platformer experience. From overloading circuit breakers to avoiding detection by gun-toting beast-like robots, the game provides plenty of tense platforming moments interwoven with a wide variety of perplexing puzzles.

7th Sector defies simple description - even after reaching one of its four different endings, the narrative remains deliberately ambiguous. Instead, you piece together the story by exploring its atmospheric world and discovering data points accessible through the game's menu system. The game begins with minimal tutorial guidance, introducing an unknown entity trapped inside a computer monitor. By holding down a face button, you transfer your essence into an electrical spark capable of traveling through the vast network of cables encompassing this neon-lit dystopian society. Beyond the cables, you'll inhabit various objects including circuit breakers, chunky monitors, machinery, spherical droids, and even a remote-controlled (RC) toy car.

The game world serves as more than mere window dressing, as subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) details paint a tense narrative about how humans and robots coexist. Clues scattered throughout suggest an oppressive regime's control over the human inhabitants. Without spoiling too much, keeping your eyes open and studying collected data becomes crucial to unraveling the mystery.

The puzzles in 7th Sector are undoubtedly the highlight, though some will test your patience. With minimal explanation, you must decipher how to progress on your own. Sometimes this involves manipulating or scanning seemingly insignificant background objects. Overloading circuit breakers represents one of the more accessible concepts, requiring you to toggle numbers to match a displayed 220 voltage target. This puzzle type evolves throughout the game, preventing complacency. Later variants might hide the current-voltage total, requiring mental arithmetic, or omit the numbers assigned to each activated dot, demanding complete calculations in your head. This represents just one puzzle type among many, with others testing reaction timing or button-mashing skills.

One particular puzzle became the bane of my existence, forcing me to break my usual no-walkthrough rule for reviews. Even after watching someone bypass the section with relative ease, I struggled to comprehend the solution. This challenging segment combines a flashing monitor displaying various shapes and colors with an aggravating buzzer that nearly induced an eye twitch after 30+ minutes of attempts. Worth noting: solutions may vary across playthroughs, so simply looking up answers won't guarantee an easy path forward.

Beyond that one puzzle, the game's greatest challenge lies in understanding objectives rather than executing solutions. Through trial-and-error, you'll often experience eureka moments discovering previously unknown gameplay mechanics. For example, after flowing through an electrical wire into a little girl's room, you reach an apparent dead end. The solution involves transferring your consciousness into a remote-controlled car, suddenly granting full 3D movement in what had primarily been a 2D side-scrolling experience.

Simply Put

7th Sector's atmospheric and immersive puzzle elements add a unique spin to the puzzle-platformer genre. While occasionally too obtuse in its pursuit of mental challenge, the diverse puzzle types maintain freshness throughout. The timing-based challenges feel less inspired, and the lack of explanation often leads to repeated restarts before understanding objectives. Still, controlling various contraptions adds welcome variety to level progression. The immersive musical score perfectly complements the visually stunning, dark cyberpunk dystopian world.