Marid Audran is a private investigator who has been out of luck (and money) for quite a while, being forced to do petty delivery jobs to earn his living. During one of these errands, Marid finds his client dead. The authorities assume that he is the murderer; however, a powerful mafia boss pulls some strings and gets Marid off the hook. In exchange for this favor, Marid has to find out who really killed that man, who turned out to be the mafia ruler’s assistant and whose death may be but a part of a larger scheme.
Circuit’s Edge is based on George Alec Effinger’s When Gravity Fails novel. It is set in a dark version of the future, in which the Islamic world has become the sole dominant power on the planet. The events of the game take place in the Budayeen, the criminal and entertainment district of an unspecified city in the Middle East. Mature themes such as violence, drug usage and sex are liberally used to paint the game’s grim setting.
Though it contains a few adventure game elements, the game is primarily an RPG. The player navigates Marid through the maze-like city, which resembles a pseudo-3D first-person dungeon area. Marid has to eat and rest from time to time in order to stay alive. Cybernetic modifications can be purchased to increase the protagonist’s combat and hacking abilities. Money is gained by defeating enemies on the streets in simple turn-based battles, or by gambling. The game’s interface is somewhat similar to that of Mars Saga.
