Night Game: Cyberpunk City Survival

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

In the city of Miyatama, Skye Devereaux finds himself pursued by violent loan sharks after investing in his meagre home, determined to give his younger sister a proper childhood. But when a man-eating monster appears outside during a night shift at a bakery, his daily life is quickly twisted into a bizarre struggle between life and death.

Also in the AUU-16 universe:

Soulless (Apparently)–The Departure–Night Game–Ystets Lake

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2020
Author: Illhark

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 182
Views: 36,984

Chapters(27 total)

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(7)

M.D. DhalgrenRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Night Game hits the ground running in Miyatama, a hive of adject poverty, addiction, and gun-violence.
Our protagonist, Skye Devereaux, is a fringe hobbyist reaching out to the mysterious AUU-16 entity Madeakelor and narrowly making ends meet to raise his sister, Cassandra. Things take a turn for the worse as his pursuit by loansharks escalates to pursuit by Zev - an escaped predatory and amorphous alien entity known as a Volon.
Who is Redmond?
Who is Madeakelor?
Can Skye and Cassandra escape Miyatama's undertow?
Can a non-binary introvert love a turncoat Volon threat?
These are questions at the center of Night Game as it stands, and if you want see the resolved, you'll just have to pick up the strings and start following the clues like the rest of us and immerse yourself in the AUU-verse's world of Remites, Robotics, and Extraterrestrials.
Night Game is, at its heart, a dystopian piece of stalkerly horror that relies upon an understanding of its roster of characters to paint a world of anxious survival, questionable connections, and predatory violence. It benefits greatly from its sister-piece "The Departure" which gives much context for its characters, Janice and Zev, and as such, I would recommend reading it first, though the recursive nature of the story allows it to work as a stand-alone piece.
InkEscapeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I didn't know what to expect when I started reading this story but it completely exceeded all hopes I had. The world is incredibly interesting with characters that have personality and feel organic. I'm so happy I started it, and the story kept me engaged. It has a perfect mixture of escapism and relatability. With each chapter I want more of this world, even if it is dangerous. 10/10 recommend for those who like cyberpunk vibes.
Kagan M FallfieldRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Night Game takes place in Miyatama, a dark, futuristic dystopia where humans and robots live amongst each other. The author describes the city in vivid, atmospheric detail that had me immersed from the first chapter.
The story mainly follows Skye, a likable young man who just wants to make sure his little sister has a good life, but unfortunately gets caught up in some bad business in the process. It also follows a couple of Skye's friends, who may be robots but have very human-like personalities. Each character is unique and very well-written, with a few even having some very unique appearances (won't spoil it for new readers).
At chapter 6, the plot is really just getting started, but where it's going looks very exciting and can't wait to find out where it goes. Would definitely recommend giving this one a read!
CashewRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Night Game is an impressive feat of world building and character creation! It's deeply immersive and well written.
Style: There are not a lot of stylistic flourishes that you see sometimes with all caps and bold letter or blue boxes - and I'm glad it's not the case here. This story takes itself and it's content seriously and the stylistic choices can be found it's great prose and dialogue!
Story: admittedly, this story takes a while to get moving, instead early chapters are focused on introducing us to the characters, their personalities, relationships, and the incredible cyberpunk world the author has created. However, each chapter does advance the plot which snowballs overtime and then starts ramping up quickly. There are multiple characters and POVs, all which serve the story. I didn't feel like any character was wasted or used just to advance an aspect of the plot.
Grammar: there are a few mistakes with punctuation. Perhaps some editing could still be done but it is minimal. The prose is great, descriptive, and fun to read. Never once did I get stopped by a glaring error. It's extremely well written.
Character: Ultimately, this is where the story shines the brightest for me. Each character, even if they aren't a main POV character, is unique and fleshed out. Some personalities, like Ray's, seem simple at first until you keep reading and the character becomes complex, funny, annoying, and likeable all at the same time. The cast is diverse, interesting, and their interactions and dialogue are always fun to read!
If you like cyberpunk, you can't skip this one. It's truly unique and the world feels alive. Oh, and did I mention there are aliens??????
srwoodsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
It starts a bit slow but once the action started it didn't quit until the very end. The characters are well written and their interactions feel real, even the non-human ones are relatable which isn’t the easiest thing to do so props to the author for that. I’d recommend it if your looking for a good read and want something that isn’t the usual litRPG fare on this site.
Sydney667Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Night Game is a gorgeous story, and wonderfully frightening read. Very honored to have helped with the artwork, manifesting Zev in a visual form has been the pinacle of my artistic career. I guarantee he will be arriving in my room late at night to kill me in my sleep. Volons know your deepest, darkest fears.
Sketch SanchezRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
First, I'll get grammer out of the way because my own is atrocious, so I don't feel qualified to judge XD, but on a serious note, nothing stood out to me aside from the occasional typo and the use of passive voice. Otherwise, it flowed well and had neat descriptions. I had no issues with style either; aside from one exceptionally long chapter, the prose was easy to digest and fun to read,
Story wise I felt this took a lot to get going until the introduction of Zev, and my one quibble with how the story is built is that many chapters often just ended somewhat awkwardly where it felt like the author decided, well, thats the end rather than feeling like each chapter is building toward something. This stopped being the case eventually, but it was something I had in the back of my mind.
Another quibble is that at the point I'm stopping to review (the most current chapter), it feels like the story has reached its climax perfectly with the defeat of someone, and I'm surprised to see there is more story to come.
All that being said, I'm not complaining because the best part of the story is A. the world and B. the characters. Skye is a great protagonist; you can feel his struggles, and his love for his sister is adorable and very relatable. I LOVE Wrench and Ray tons, Wrench especially. Janice was a nice addition midway through the book that I wish got fleshed out more, BUT I realize this is book 2 in a series, so I'm guessing she's more rounded out there. Still, despite that, I pumped my fist at her little badass moment.
Zev is frightening and weird and has all the good things you'd want from an antagonist. I wish he had loomed larger for longer in the story, but, again, this story is one small part of a whole. He's wonderfully described, and I could picture him easily every time he appeared.
The world-building in this story is excellent, and I want to know more. All and all, you can't go wrong with Night Game.