Kiborg is a relentless beat ’em-up game that is unapologetically amusing while combining rogue-like and Souls-like elements. I thoroughly enjoyed my jaunt through this hellscape of a prison, but I recognize that the game needs a bit more work to succeed. The gameplay loop is addictive but some of the mechanics need to be more refined such as quirky movement and more diversity in the environments could be added.
A satisfying loop that could use more diversity
The basis of Kiborg is that you are trying to escape from a deadly prison utilizing force. You are tasked with killing thugs nonstop until you finally break free. Kirborg’s combat feels like an old-school beat ‘em up game mixed with Souls-like dodges and powerful arcade fighter attacks. As you progress, your character, Morgan, is slowly turned into a cyborg as each of his limbs and body gets replaced making him more powerful.
I found this gameplay loop to be fairly addictive and despite dying over and over and over again, I would consistently find myself thinking one more, one more. The mix of abilities obtained by your cyborg enhancements feels neverending as I periodically unlocked more and more as I got better at the game. As a bonus, these enhancements come in variants that can attach to your different body parts, applying various effects depending on which body part is selected.
Unfortunately, the gameplay loop could use more diverse landscapes. As I went through the prison, I found myself seeing the same exact rooms. You can only see the same three opening locations before they start to feel stale. It would have been nice to see objects get moved or even the layout of the rooms change.
Powerful punches, tons of gore, and poor reality TV
One of the things I like most about beat ‘em up titles such as Slaughterhouse or Streets of Rage is that you always feel powerful and the same can be said about Kiborg. Throughout the demo, I felt powerful in a way where I thought I could take on the world even though I was just a prisoner in a reality-show-esque loop. You can feel the weight of every punch, kick, or axe being thrown as enemies get launched around the environment. This satisfying gameplay is what led me to consistently go back up the elevator and into the prison where I would inevitably die.
As stated before, these punches are enhanced by cybernetic abilities that change the gameplay, giving it a Souls-like feel in some instances or a more classic run-and-gun style game in others. After each room, you are given a choice as to what path you want to take. Some of these lead to weapons such as shotguns, assault rifles, and pistols that you can use to inflict more mayhem, and others give you bonuses that increase your dodge, give you melee weapons, or make your punches throw enemies farther.
While each of these enhancements offered changes to the standard gameplay and bettered the experience, there is a lot of jankiness to the combat that needs ironing out. My character would often freeze, get stuck on objects, or make weird twitches that threw me out of the bloody rampage I was on. I found myself getting annoyed, not because of the repetitive loop of dying, but because I would try to perform an action that ultimately failed due to some unknown reason. On top of this, the announcer could drive anyone up a wall with his annoying voice. Perhaps that is the point, to make you want to get out of prison even faster, but hearing Eric Cartman’s twin brother constantly saying, “That’s a lot of holes where they shouldn’t be,” made me mute the game by my fourth run.
The verdict
Overall, the Kiborg demo is a strong start to what could be an extremely fun beat-em-up title. The gameplay loop has great aspects, such as diverse power ups, strong combat, and powerful weapons, which make the game rather addictive. Unfortunately, this is coupled with janky controls, repetitive environments, and an annoying announcer that ultimately took me out of the experience after a while. Despite this, I recommend giving the Kiborg demo a try if you are a fan of beat ‘em up-style games as the gameplay loop does offer a good degree of enjoyment.
