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When placed in an AI-run utopia filled with Troids serving humans and tasked with aiding in making people happy, what’s the best way to do so? Is it to follow the original protocol? Do you stick to the rules? Or do you consider the individual, look into different situations, and maybe even choose options that could prove untrustworthy or dangerous? D-Topia is an adventure with light puzzles and relationship development that lets players shape a futuristic paradise, and it’s captivating.
Shiro is now number 046, the latest resident in the D-Topia utopia experiment. He’s been transferred in to serve as its newest Facilitator. His goal is to talk with the individuals living there to ensure they remain happy and to keep an eye out for anomalies that might need fixing. In the case of the former, that means spending each day after his assigned work hours at The Factory visiting areas and interacting with specific folks. With the latter, it means keeping an eye out for things that seem awry, then going to a terminal to enter the “block side” of the project in order to deal with things the visualizer might be hiding. Each day presents a new challenge, at which point you think things through to determine the proper course forward.
Basically, D-Topia is a blend of logic puzzle and visual novel elements. Your day starts with a light maze that involves choosing the proper paths and gates to go through to ensure you don’t tread over the same path more than once to show you’re mentally and physically “fit” to start the day. The daily work at the factory involves going through a handful of logic puzzles that will apply to the challenges you’ll face when solving the resident crisis of the day. This might mean moving designated blocks to the correct space, finding hidden “bugs” in a Minesweeper sort of situation, or choosing the right path to go through a space in order to hit certain numbered gates at the correct time. All of these are great, and I frankly wish there were more of them. It almost felt like the developer Marumittu Games realized folks might like them too, as during the Factory work hours each day you can opt to complete a few more puzzles for extra spending money you can use on lunch, snacks, and decorations for your apartment.
With the daily assignment done there, the actual Facilitator work picks up in D-Topia. Days focus on certain situations happening around the residential area and issues specific people might face. For example, one early one involves meeting characters named Tot and Mari. We meet Tot when in a store and realizing one of the Troids there ended up broken, then fix it so the resident can make purchases again. We solve the same sort of puzzle as we saw in the Factory that day to fix the machine and ensure everything is working for everyone as expected again. However, after talking to Mari, we learn more about how the Troid was damaged. This then leads to our Facilitator working through statements stating facts and things they (and we) might believe in order to make a decision that determines how a situation resolves. Which can, in turn, lead to some serious consequences.
While that first situation is a moral one, these decisions vary and aren’t always clear cut issues. They also get into an array of personal problems, many of which could result in people you’ve gotten to know being removed from D-Topia for an array of reasons. In some situations, it could have drastic, negative results. The fact that we can also meet with some people at the end of the day in a virtual space and get to know them even better can make those choices harder. What you believe and prioritize shapes things. Do we follow the “mission” of D-Topia and prioritize happiness of the majority? Do we focus on the individual? Even if that could mean the majority is inconvenienced or put at risk? It’s a lot of weight to carry, and I will say I was very glad I made one certain choice on one day since it affected one that happened later on. However, I will say that while there’s the suggestion of trolley problem-like moments here, I felt pretty confident my decision was the “right” one each time I made one.
I will say that I was a bit disappointed that some of the residents don’t really get their own “episodes” each day. They get attention and are featured at certain points! They also show up in D-Topia each day after we meet them for the first time, giving us chances to get to know them better and build up enough of a relationship to meet them in the tea room. But i would have loved if the adventure was another two or three days long to give them their own full “days.”
What’s I did appreciate is how there are elements in D-Topia designed to help people get through roadblocks or see different outcomes without expending a massive amount of time. When going through puzzles, it’s possible to bring up the help section, retry, or quit at any time. When you get through a chapter, it’s possible to hop to it from the main menu. Not that these logic puzzles are too terribly difficult. But if someone does get stumped or wants to explore other outcomes, it’s helpful. Even one snack makes you move faster than usual, which is handy. And money is never an issue, so there’s always enough to complete certain tasks or get some decorations.
D-Topia tasks us with helping people find happiness in a possible utopia, sending us off to solve light puzzles and build relationships along the way. While some of the scenarios have the potential to be stressful, it’s more relaxed than I expected. It also presents us with options to further engage with some people we meet or hop into past chapters to explore other outcomes. It’s an interesting peek at a possible future, and I appreciate Marumittu Games’ approach.
D-Topia can be found on the Switch, Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.
