When you think of the 80s what do you think of? If you were alive during those decades, you will probably remember some of history’s biggest moments. If you weren’t alive then you would probably have heard of some of these key moments.

Ronald Reagan was President of the United States. The eruption of Mount St. Helens. The release of the first Nintendo Entertainment System. You’ll probably think of Back to the Future, Arcades, Michael Jackson, MTV, and Miami Vice.

If you are a millennial, just think of Grand Theft Auto Vice City and let your imagination run wild. With these in mind, we were excited to jump into Gamma Minus UG’s new game, Rough Justice: ’84.

Now before we dive into our Rough Justice: ’84 PAX East preview, we will state the game was recently released for PC on Steam for $19.99.

Gameplay

After watching the introduction trailer, we dove into the basics of Rough Justice: ’84. The game is a management sim that has players dictate where resources are used. Assigned agents with their own unique talents to different missions.

Once on the mission, players must complete different puzzles in order to pass the mission. Each mission has its own difficulty that determines if a player can pass or fail a mission. Sometimes the RNG gods can be against you.

As players complete missions successfully they gain new resources, these resources allow players to build up their detective agency. Kowalski will provide you with all your agency needs. Uncover the dark history behind a cover-up that ruined your partner’s life while growing your detective agency.

The game is only available on PC and it takes a second to get used to the keyboard controls. Once you do get used to the controls, they are fairly simple. The gameplay puzzle mechanics are thought-provoking but increase in difficulty as you progress through the story.

Rough Justice: 84 Interview

After playing the Rough Justice ’84 demo, we had the opportunity to speak with Diana from Gamma Minus UG. Diana works on production and game design.

Matt: As a security head, what complications might you face when completing contracts?

Diana: Well, if you fail you don’t get the money or the rewards. That might throw you a little bit back making you unable to hire new agents and staggering your progress.

Matt: Are there any subtle easter eggs or references to popular 80s-themed shows or movies? Is there a favorite one you have in particular?

Diana: All over the place. We are actually hoping for people to find them and tell us. So yes, please tell us. I put some in some of the characters that I am waiting for people to discover.

There’s one special character and it’s not always 80s references but pop culture in general and nerd stuff.

Matt: Will there be varying difficulties beyond the base game and will hints be removed?

Diana: There are different tiers of contracts, so they get harder. Also for the operations, you can’t just walk in there with nothing. You have to prepare your agents and yourself for it.

And of course, for the mini-games, there are different tiers from rookie to higher difficulties. There is ranking too. The tutorial is only available when something new gets introduced in the game.

Matt: Will the choices you make early on have impact/compounding results?

Diana: We thought about putting something in like a system where the case workers like or hate you, but the initial dialog doesn’t really have a huge impact on that.

Matt: For those who have never heard of Rough Justice ’84, how would you sell them on it?

Diana: It is a management game set in the 80s so there’s a lot of 80s coming at you through visual and audio.

Through the management part and micromanagement, you go through a very very big story that is unveiling.

Matt: Now with you referencing the 80s part, is the music just synth music or do you have popular 80s songs? I spotted a few references.

Diana: There are references in the game but we did not use them. We have a cool composer who made the best synth wave soundtrack that’s ever been used for a video game. That is available separately.

Matt: Is the game’s name a reference to the Rolling Stones song?

Diana: I had never heard of that but I will have to ask the team.

Matt: What platforms is the game on or coming to?

Diana: Right now it is out for PC. It will be getting ported to PS4, Xbox, and the Nintendo Switch.

Rough Justice: ’84 has been available for Windows PC (via Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store).