Since discovering The Darkest Files last year on Steam, Paintbucket Games earned themselves a spot on my personal list of favorite development teams. It’s dark. Gritty. A fictional story rooted in historical facts that more people need to play, especially if you’re a fan of the detective genre (not just games), and ESPECIALLY if you enjoy history. (In fact, if you’re into alternate or speculative fiction like The Man in the High Castle, I think you’ll enjoy it too.)
But The Darkest Files is a subject for another blog, perhaps. Paintbucket recently released A Night at Moka Efti: A Babylon Berlin Story on Steam. I honestly wasn’t sure what Babylon Berlin was. (I soon learned it’s a show on German TV that you can watch dubbed on Pluto TV, among other things. Moka Efti is a setting in the show, and this game was meant to serve as a tie-in with the newly premiered season 5.)
You are Gabriele Miersch. The young journalist follows her leads on a mysterious story to the famous Moka Efti. This nightclub is known for its wild parties and rousing dance music. But behind the façade lie many secrets. Can you remember them?
Some may call it a Disco-like, in homage to Disco Elysium. Visually, they share an isometric view, and the sidebar UI are similar. Moka Efti has no stats or dice rolls to fret about, which let me soak in the atmosphere and details so well. Everything immersed me in the time period, and the German voice acting was impeccable. (You can 100% play this without knowing German. I sure as heck don’t.)
In the beginning, you choose one of three paths to shape your story and discover different endings. I’ve only finished one ending so far, and I’m chomping at the bit to go back and finish the others. The story seemingly jumps back and forth, which makes sense given the context you’re also given at the start of the game. (GUYS, I REALLY DON’T WANT TO SPOIL THIS. JUST TRUST ME.) It’s all about getting your memories back together and exposing what’s really happening at Moka Efti.
Thanks for reading! If you’d like to help out around the Cafe, I’ve started a Ko-Fi that I’ve been reasonably ‘okay’ with updating. It’s simple. You can donate however much you feel once, or monthly. Head over to https://ko-fi.com/theindiegamecafe to check it out! (And hey, I’m always open to ideas of different ways to make it better -Amanda