Techno Banter is a narrative adventure/bouncer simulator, that is a love letter to Berlin’s infamous nightlife with a specific focus on la egendary nightclub, the Berghain.  If you’re unsure what the Berghain is, it’s an exclusive nightclub that has been dubbed the “world capital of techno.” Many have lined up to enter and not many have made it through, but if you are lucky to pass the scrutiny of the bouncer, who is famous for being a ruthless rejecter, you’ll enter into an unknown techno wonderland which you will be unable to talk about or photograph.

This secrecy has shrouded the Berghain since it opened in the early 00s and has many people trying to work out the ‘formula’ to gain entry. There’s even a Berghain Simulator that accesses your camera and mic to see if not only what you say, but how you hold yourself may get you into the club. However, Techno Banter won’t make you prove that you belong dancing the club’s hallowed dance floor, instead putting you on the other side of that line: the bouncer in charge of who can party within the Green Door.

You play as Nil, a security guard who works on Rainbow Road, a party street littered with clubs and all sorts of colourful characters working and partying along it. The Green Door, fashioned after the Berghain, has employed you to make sure the ‘right’ people enter the club, based on the ‘party rating’ your boss is after. Gameplay is very similar to Papers, Please in that you are tasked with observing people and deciding whether they fit the criteria to enter. However, unlike Papers, Please, when you do reject someone, they will put you through two types of battles; verbal and physical.

The game uses the symbol of anthropomorphism, a device that sees people as animals, as Nil will see aggressive patrons and eccentric characters along Rainbow Road as apes, dogs, and so on; he even sees himself as a whippet. For his boss, Gunthy, Nil has picked a toddler-sized toad wearing a bad wig and a t-shirt to represent her total disregard for anything that doesn’t bring in money. She will give you a number of stars that she wants the night to achieve and you have to make sure you reach or exceed that number.

To do so you will first use your ‘observe’ skill in order to fully understand the person’s current state, mood and vibe. Some of these, such as a hulky ape that is arrogant straight away, are easy to know to reject, but others had me stumped, such as people with a lot of money (who Gunthy obviously favours) but who are extremely arrogant (which will bring the party vibe down.) It is only when you accept the patron that your ‘party stars’ will be displayed letting you know whether your decision has boosted the party star tally or whether it has gone down, sometimes into the negative numbers. I found that once you did earn a negative score it was extremely difficult to salvage the rest of the night.

If you choose to reject someone, they won’t go down without a fight. This is when the mini-games and physical attacks come into play, with specific gameplay associated with the character’s personality. For example, an arrogant artist wearing huge bug glasses will stare you down with a glare that you need to match, whereas an arsonist, who has just escaped from an asylum, will breathe fire for you to dodge. It shows the dedication of the devs that they have matched the battle style to the personality of your opponent. I did, however, have an issue with the game launching into these mini-games without any explanation of how to actually play. Each mini-game is unique and some of the visuals can be a bit hard to decipher when you are under time constraints. It would be nice to see the devs making the first time you encounter a mini-game a little slower so that players can get a handle on the unique gameplay elements of each bout.

When there is no one left to accept or reject, you can then go within the club and see the vibe you have created due to your choices. You can chat to patrons or fellow employees with a few side quests available, such as helping a colleague escape from the cult that has been sniffing around the Green Door, or a musician bartender who asks for your help piecing together lyrics to a melody she has created. You will also have a meeting with Gunthy where she will discuss how successful your manning of the club’s door was. If you produce a successful night, you will receive XP, money and an ability point that can go towards improving the inside of the club, such as the lights, adding a VIP section and improving the sound system. All these improvements will add to your party stars at the end of the night.

Before and after each shift you will walk through Rainbow Road and get to experience, especially at the start of your shift, the energy that pulsates throughout the street. Devs Dexai Arts are local Berliners and therefore had first-hand experience as to what vibe they needed to create in Techno Banter. The art style of 2D characters in a 3D world really sets the two apart, but in a way that you can appreciate both forms separately. What also adds to the vibes of the game is the music, which has been created by real DJs who perform around Berlin and you can see spinning tracks in the Green Room. All this combines to make Rainbow Road a grimy, weird location filled with an eclectic assortment of eccentrics, in the best possible way.