Circuit's Edge

About

Circuit's Edge is an adventure RPG that mixes text-based choices with visual exploration. Set in the Budayeen, a gritty quarter modeled after New Orleans in an unnamed Middle Eastern city, you play Marîd Audran, a private investigator tangled in a conspiracy after being framed for a murder. The game splits the screen between text for dialogue and narration, small graphics of environments, and overlays for stats and inventory. You navigate a web of crime, political intrigue, and moral ambiguity by talking to NPCs, solving puzzles, and managing your character’s attributes to influence outcomes. Inspired by George Alec Effinger’s 1987 novel, the game stands out for its noir-inspired setting and mature themes, which were unusual for early 1990s RPGs. Westwood Associates’ first title showcases a design that feels experimental yet cohesive, balancing prose-driven storytelling with rudimentary visuals. While its DOS interface and text-heavy approach may feel dated, it holds historical interest as a bridge between Infocom’s classic adventure games and Westwood’s later graphical strategy titles. Players who appreciate narrative depth over flashy mechanics might still find the murder mystery and cultural specificity of the Budayeen compelling, even if the execution requires some patience.

Storyline

The player assumes the role of Marîd Audran, a private detective. The game is set in "The Budayeen", an entertainment/criminal quarter in an unnamed city somewhere in the Middle East that is based on New Orleans. While running a series of errands/"business deals" for "Saied the Half-Hajj", a friend of Marîd's, Marîd is framed for the murder of a man named Kenji Carter. Although Marîd's influential patron Friedlander Bey clears him with the local police, Bey asks him to look into Carter's death. Doing so leads Marîd deep into the criminal underworld of the Budayeen.