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nobody. nothing. nowhere; broken souls drifting like ronin in a blood-red neon hell of capitalist dystopia. the only meaning to be found is in the adrenaline rush of pulling a trigger against nameless bodies, or the swing of a blade against human flesh; if you can even call the bucket of bolts wired together with skin, human.

wake up puppy, we have a city to burn.

not exactly groundbreaking or all that thematical engrossing; one can't help but feel the cyberpunk genre is used here as a sort of pastiche for cool design and setting, however, that design and setting is undeniably cool and well crafted. the hub world of rengkok south is filled with interesting detail down to every little neon LED that lights up the back alleys; plenty of neo-punk styled characters to interact with as well that make for a bit of fun. the strongest aspect of this game is its ability of immersion and atmosphere. side note: the soundtrack goes so hard, like holy shit, sidewalks and skeletons are awesome! plus some great head-bangers by zamilska

in my opinion, the gameplay feels mean and overly brutal, which is totally the point and 100% a compliment. not as satisfying as others in the top-down action shooter genre but definably more hard-hitting; some enemies take more hits than one which exemplifies the visceral intensity of the action and adds difficulty. also, a really neat skill-tree that allows the player to build upon and easily switch between different playstyles on the go. the last hour or two of this is probably the best part as it constantly adds new elements to the fights, switches environments, and combines many different bosses/enemy types to result in a blistering finale of gladiatorial-like combat. i will admit that it can get a little tedious in the middle, especially in the boss department; there's like three different boss fights that you repeat multiple times; the mother machines, a bunch of like high-ranking guards, and a tank-like enemy.

if you can swallow a bit of tedium and some awkward mechanical controls, you'll be rewarded with an immersive and enjoyably bloody affair of cyberpunk ethics. take this review with a grain of salt because im a cyberpunk junky and will overlook A LOT in order to plug my soul into the net, altar my body with pervasive tech, and bask under the spellbinding lights of a futuristic city.

an incredibly stylish and fascinating game that puts its worst foot forward with an absolute exhausting beginning. im convinced backloggd users who slap this five stars with some sort of quirky one-liner or the word ‘kino’ have never experienced media outside the mainstream or are straight lying to themselves for their ‘eccentric tastes' image; i loved this a lot, but there’s no denying it has some considerable flaws and chalking those up to “but it’s a metaphor!” seems like denial; the bosses are horrible (not you ulmeyda and curtis), the puzzles are built for five-year-olds, the map sucks ass at all times, angel and sunset have pretty bland and forgettable environments, and the farcical sociopolitical commentary is really insipid and overbearing sometimes.

now let’s get to the goods…

the smiths are one of the best casts of characters in gaming; each one designed for a specific gameplay style and containing their own unique sense of individuality whilst still remaining a collective unit. one of my favorite things to do in this game was to go into a saferoom and listen to each of their TV intros. “don’t make me say it again. im a cleaner.” and the dialogue that ensues every time you hit a critical point too. “YOU’RE F'CKED!" loved spamming that one, the voice acting for each character is just so... satisfying?

and while the core gameplay is a bit disorientating at first, it’s pretty fun and satisfying once you get the hang of it. nothing quite like blasting a bunch of heaven smiles with one shot while simultaneously switching between smiths for maximum efficiency against their weaknesses. additionally, this game will always look fantastic; the combination of gradient coloring and chiaroscuro lighting creates a great aesthetic. also helps that the soundtrack is god-tier and perfectly complements each area's atmosphere.

as i stated earlier, i didn’t really care for the political commentary of this, but the overall themes and character stuff was highly interesting. the peak of this is probably the cloudman mission; the idea of some megacorp that doesn’t exist and only runs commercials is just too good, additionally the whole ‘driving a car to death’ thing. the entire cutscene at the end of the chapter is just as terrifying as it is entertaining. and cloudman being such a peak shouldn’t steer you away from the brilliance of the following chapters either. it’s hard for me to exactly pinpoint what makes each chapter so good because they’re all each one big canvas splattered with different themes and character moments that never really care to explain themselves too much; this game is constantly moving from idea to idea in such a unique and interesting way, giving you just enough time to appreciate the significance of super sentai power ranger assassins before one of the smiths old serial-killing mentor comes back to haunt without losing any depth or energy.

so yeah, i finally played backloggd aficionados' favorite game.

suffice to say, it’s pretty good.