The people and robots you meet are quirky, looking like they’ve just stepped out of an animated children’s show. Visually the world is very pretty with a lovely animated design. Thankfully, aside from that, ENCODYA is still an enjoyable ride. Granted, these are small niggles, but they need pointing out. And further to that, travelling between locations can get messy as the arrow you click on gets lost or decides it doesn’t want to be as responsive as it should. It’s very easy to miss items, even if you know they are there some kind of decent highlighting of interactable elements would have been preferred. It’s also tricky to find items in the areas, mostly as the visual palette sees them merge into the ground. However, there have been times when I’ve found certain puzzle solutions to be quite obtuse, and without the power of the internet, would have found some of the solutions to verge on the near impossible.
Handily, a checklist of want you need to is always at hand with some clues – at least if you pick the easy mode – to help you out should you get stuck. From there, it’s all about heading to one location after the next, talking to people and gathering up missions. It’s the conversations you have with different robots and characters around town which will help guide you to where you need to be, and pretty much what you need to do next. You have a map which builds out as new places in the city are added, all as you move forward with the story to explore. You interact with objects and characters through the world, travelling across the city and different locations. Gameplay-wise and ENCODYA works as a point-and-click narrative adventure, set in 2.5D world.