Defunct (video game)

Defunct is an indie adventure video game developed by the Swedish indie video game development studio Freshly Squeezed from Visby. Defunct received several nominations at the 2014 Swedish Game Awards[1] including Game of the Year, which it went on to win.[2] The game was also nominated for Best Student Project at the 2014 Unity Awards.[3]

Defunct
Developer(s)Freshly Squeezed
Publisher(s)Soedesco
Designer(s)Robert Graff
Jonatan Keil
Programmer(s)David Forssell
Petter Vernersson
Artist(s)Anders Hedström
Mikael Karlsson
Simon Öqvist
Composer(s)Joel Forssell
EngineUnity
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Release
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

In March 2015, it was announced that Freshly Squeezed had signed a publishing deal with the Dutch video game publisher SOEDESCO.[4] The release date was originally expected to be in Q3, 2015, for PC.[5] However, the release date was pushed back and released on Steam on January 29, 2016.[6]

In December 2017, the game was released for PS4 and Xbox One. In January 2018 it was added to the Windows Store. These ports were done by Soedesco Studios, the in-house porting studio of SOEDESCO.

On September 13, 2018, a port for the Nintendo Switch was released.[7] It is scheduled for release in Japan on May 14, 2020.[8]

Gameplay

The game is set on a post-human Earth, where the player plays as an old, broken racing robot. Players are barely able to move by themselves and are therefore required to use the environment for propulsion by utilizing the "Gravitize" ability to increase their gravitational pull. By turning this ability on when going downhill, the player will go faster; turning it off when going uphill will result in less of a decrease in speed.

There are speed boosts throughout the levels, either in the shape of little orbs which give the player a short burst of speed or as bottles or pools of "Enerjuice" which fill up a blue meter and can be used whenever the player chooses.

The player also has the ability to "Magnetize" which allows the player to stick to surfaces when going upside down or vertically.

Reception

On Metacritic, the Nintendo Switch version of Defunct received a score of 57 out of 100, based on reviews from 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[9] PlayStation Country gave the game 4 out of 10 points.[10]

Awards
YearEventAwardResultNotes
2014Gotland Game ConferenceBest 2nd Year Game[11]Won
2014Swedish Game AwardsBest Execution in ArtNominated
2014Swedish Game AwardsBest Execution in AudioNominated
2014Swedish Game AwardsBest Execution in DesignNominated
2014Swedish Game AwardsBest Technical ExecutionNominated
2014Swedish Game AwardsGame of the YearWon
2014Unity AwardsBest Student ProjectNominatedFinalist

References
  1. "The nominees for the Swedish Game Awards 2014". Swedish Game Awards 2014. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  2. "The winners of the Swedish Game Awards 2014". Swedish Game Awards 2014. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  3. "2014 Unity Awards Winners". Unity - Game Engine. Archived from the original on 23 December 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  4. "SOEDESCO signs award winning game Defunct from independent studio Freshly Squeezed". SOEDESCO. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  5. "New Defunct screenshots dropped in from Orbit!". SOEDESCO. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  6. "Defunct on Steam". Steam. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  7. "Defunct for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Game Details". www.nintendo.com. Retrieved 2020-01-18.
  8. "Defunct". Nintendo Japan. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  9. "Defunct". Metacritic. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  10. Grizz (2018-01-24). "Defunct - PS4 Review". PlayStation Country. Retrieved 2020-01-18.
  11. "Gotland Game Conference 2014". GAME - The department of Game Design at Uppsala University, Campus Gotland. 9 June 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
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