This is a transcript excerpt covering the review of Kiborg on the So Videogames podcast, Episode 438.
BRAD: The last game of the show here is a very unusual one. It’s called Kiborg. K I B O R G. Have you heard of this one?
CARLOS: I have, and actually, I saw you playing it.
B: You did?
C: I saw you on a console, and we don’t really check in much on that. But I did see it was like Brad is playing Kaiborg and I’m like, I was gonna play that.
B: Oh, dude. Okay.
C: It’s multiplayer right?
B: No, I don’t think so. There’s no multiplayer on it. It’s just a one player.
C: Oh, no. This is the roguelike game. Yes, yes, yes, which I also was thinking about buying. Yes, I know that, yes. Okay.
B: So Kiborg comes from developer. Would you mind looking up who the developer is? I forgot I meant to look it up, I forgot, but I have played a couple of the games. They did Redeemer, which I didn’t play, but I bought and I heard people say that it was pretty good. And then they did.
C: Oh, they did Redeemer, which I liked.
B: Yeah. And they did one before that, which was um. Oh gosh. It was like about these mech suits that were like killing zombies or something. I don’t know. It’s another game or something. I’m doing it. Okay, so back to studio.
C: Sobaka Studio and the games Redeemer and Remedium.
B: Yes, yes, yes. Remedium. I didn’t play Remedium proper, but they did one that was like a side story and it was like Remedium Knights or something. I can’t remember what it was, but it was like basically steampunk mechs killing zombies in this world. And I was like, dude, this game is dope. Like, it’s it’s low, low budget for sure. Small team, janky AF. But like, it was actually really fucking fun. And I finished it and I’m like, this is really cool. I hope that they keep doing games. And lo and behold, I picked up this game.
Uh, well, PR sent me a code and I didn’t realize it was the same developers. And as soon as I started playing this, I’m like, God, this is janky and low budget, but this is fun as fuck. And I look it up, I’m like, oh shit, it’s the same people. It’s Sobaka studio. Okay, cool. Like, I’m in, I’m in, I’m man. I love that.
So what this game is, it’s like, uh, nihilistic, fatal game show in the future where you. You’re the survivor. They throw you into this gross environment very much like the running man from Arnold Schwarzenegger or something like that. You know, like, it’s like that kind of like fatal game show kind of a thing. And you play as this one specific guy, and, uh, you don’t really know much about it, but you, you start the game and you go into these, uh, roguelike generated levels.
Each level is is basically the same. You kind of do the same, run through the level every single time. So environment is not really the thing that you’re here for. What you’re here for is real time, third person, like brawling, beat em up combat, you know, lots of combos. You have a heavy punch, a light punch, you’ve got a spin attack, you’ve got a dodge, and then you’ve got a couple other minor things. Um, you go on these runs where each room is just filled with, like, mutants and freaks and zombies and what have you, and you beat them up with, like, various combos and stuff like that. All pretty straightforward. Excuse me. Um, but the hook to this game and the thing that makes it really good is that the roguelike system of power ups is just fucking cool as shit. It’s really fun. So from a visual perspective, it’s awesome. Like, you’ll go into a room, you’ll get a power up, it’ll be like you’ll have three choices. It’ll be like right arm, left arm or spine or something like that. There’s also like legs. There’s also heart. There’s also head. I think those are like all the different parts. Um, and so like there’s all these different suits in the game.
So like one suit is all about defense and you can have like the left arm of that suit will give you like a plus whatever defense. And it’ll put up a shield. Or you can do like the head of the electric suit and it generates like static electricity that’ll like chain lightning through your guys. Or you can do the right arm of the Guardian suit, and it makes bombs whenever you punch a guy or something like that. So you can not only does your body, like, transform, like it looks like the suit that you change so you can have this really patchwork mixed up body, which I think actually looks pretty cool. You can have like a weird metal chest and a fleshy arm, and your head is like normal human head. You got these backwards feed and all that. Like, you look like a fucked up dude, but it’s cool, like, in a good way. And each limb does something different. So like every time you’re going through the game, you’ve always got like these new parameters of like what you’re doing. Like in one game I had like one of the suits where you do where every time you kill a guy, it creates bombs. And so like, I would have to like, run in and like, I want to kill guys, like, as soon as possible.
I look for like, the smallest, like little peewee guy, punch him out, and then bombs would come out of his body and they would attach to the bigger guys. And I was like, running away from. Right. So that was like my big, uh, thing for one run and then another run. I got like the electric suit. And so it was like, every time I shot a gun, the bullet exploded and like, this electric shot. And then I got this thing, that chain lightning, that thing out. And so, like, I became like, like, really, really gun focused in that run. And so, like, you look different. And then also every single time you’re doing something, it feels very different. Like your strategies, even though the core of it is like beat em up, like punching and combos, you’re always doing something slightly different. Like sometimes, uh, one of your particular combos will get like a new a new move. Like if you’ve got, like, this one, Uh, right arm or something. If you end a combo with a heavy punch, he does, like three extra, like lightning punches at the end of it. And so you might as you might not have been using that combo beforehand, but then once you got this arm, you’re like, oh, I really want to lean into this combo now because it’s like way stronger.
C: Interesting. I had no idea. By the way, that was a mechanic. From going back to the PR thing. Like, I feel like I just got the vibe of like, it’s a beat em up and that’s it. Yeah, but all the things you’re telling me is more interesting too, though.
B: Oh, dude, I started this game and like before, I had a lot of stuff unlocked. I’m like, okay, this is fine. Like, it’s actually. But then I unlock some stuff, I’m like, oh, wait, wait wait wait. It’s actually pretty cool. Like there’s all this other shit. Every run feels like super different. And I’m always like in my head. I’m constantly thinking about, okay, new mechanic this run, what am I going to do? Like this time I’m getting close. Next run. Oh, I gotta stay far away. I gotta shoot this guy from far away. Don’t get close. Sometimes there’s this other suit that lets you create friends. And so you’ll have, like, like three other buddies in the room that’ll be like your minions. And they’ll be taking all the aggro for you. Totally changes your strategy. You’re taking them out from a distance. This other, uh, in another one you have like a shield. And so you want to get hit because it’s building up, uh, like like reflective energy and stuff. And so like, rather than avoiding the hits, you’re like wading into the hits. And so like, every time you do something different, like, it totally changes the way you feel. And so it takes this very straightforward, simple game and makes it like these moment to moment decisions based on your build. It feels like a different run every time, which I think is like super, super interesting.
I really like it a lot. I think that part is really good. I love that they leaned into the aesthetics of it too, because just seeing your arms and body and head and stuff, change is really great. And the thing that really sells the whole experience is that there is an upgrade tree. It’s huge. Like it’s massive upgrade tree. It’s so big that you have you can like zoom in and zoom out of it because there’s so many branches to it. And every time you do run, you get money just from like, you know, beating up guys and beating bosses or whatever. So every time you come back to the main game, you can probably buy something like, I feel like the economy is pretty good to where you’re always getting at least 1 or 2 new power ups, like 10% more health or like punches do 15 more percent or oh, you unlock the brand new special move, or you unlocked a brand new combo or something. Uh, like, you can unlock all sorts of, like, little perks. And I definitely notice a difference, right? Like, I wasn’t getting very far in the beginning. And after playing for like 1 or 2 days, I’ve unlocked, like, you know, a bunch of stuff. I’m like, okay, I am consistently making it like much further bosses.
That felt impossible to me. I am now regularly beating with no problem, you know? I mean, you still have to be pretty good, but like, you know, you feel like even though it’s tough, you’ve got a chance. Like you can still kind of like see what you can do. And it’s the kind of roguelike to where, you know, right off the bat, whether you’ve got a kind of a good run going or not. And so sometimes you’re like, okay, I don’t feel like this builds come together. I’m going to focus on earning money this run, and I’ll just get money and go back to the skill tree, buy a bunch of stuff, and then sometimes you’re like, oh shit, I got like, all the electric stuff and it’s going, it’s all popping and I’m going to just keep going. You like, steamroll through a couple bosses. You’re like, oh shit, this might happen. So I think it’s like a really, really, really well put together, um, roguelike. I think I haven’t played one like this in quite some time. Reminds me a lot of, uh, this is going to be a mega deep cut. And if anybody knows this game, you’re my new hero. But it reminds me a lot of, like, Rengoku on PSP from like a million years ago. Oh, yeah. There’s no way you know of that one, right?
C: I do, I do.
B: Do you! okay.
C: Yeah, yeah. I remember I had a PSP, I think I played it.
B: Yeah. It’s like the same kind of thing in Rengoku back in the day. You’re an android in this, and every time you fought another android, you could choose which piece of them you wanted. And then you added it to your body. So, like, you would have, like, a blade arm on your left arm, you’d have a grenade launcher on your right arm, you’d have like, a pistol for your fucking head and you’d have, like, all this stuff, and you look like this weird patchwork monstrosity, but you could get, like, some really crazy builds going in that game. Rengoku was like, amazing, like way ahead of his time. I would love for people to bring it back, and this is kind of channeling that same energy where you kind of like have these different builds and like I gotta say, like, I have not really been bored of it yet.
I think about it when I’m not playing it, which is a sign of a great game — I really want to get back to it and try this build or try that thing. Or if I can earn 500 more dollars, I can unlock this other option, and that will change how I play. And I’m just still like exploring the combos and exploring the the passive abilities and stuff. So it comes off like kind of a low budget, kind of like small project. And I think it’s only 25 bucks or something like that.
Once you unlock a few things and understand how it’s working and what it’s doing, it’s clear to see that the developers get it. They fully understand what the fun part of this formula is and they’ve dialed in on that fun. Even though it’s not pushing the most pixels and it’s not the deepest thing around, what they’ve made here absolutely works and it’s fun as hell. Dude, I think this game is so good.
C: Cool. Yeah, I will check it out. And also, um, my only thing is like, if there’s not enough persistence, you know, to keep me going, but this sounds like it does because it sounds like every single time you’re doing something.
B: Yeah. I mean, you unlock new weapons. Yeah, exactly. You cannot like when you start, you have nothing. And then after you’ve been playing it for a day, you’ll have, like double your health bar. You’ll be able to start with like one of the mutation mutation powers. You’ll start with a gun and a weapon where you didn’t have anything before. And so like you just like you’ll build up over time. It may not be huge leaps, but I will say that the thing that this game understands better than most is that the things that you do unlock and the things you do change, they feel significant, like it feels like you’ve done something different. Yeah, you can see the improvement. You can feel the step. It’s not just like a 0.012% increase on flame damage or something. It’s like your your combo like stuns guys where it didn’t used to stun them or like you’ve got this bullet reflective shield that you didn’t have before, or you have a whole new head that you didn’t have before. Like they really do feel like significant steps, which I think is really the key to keeping an experience like this, feeling fresh. So I think this one is I mean, honestly, like, I feel like this is like one of my favorite games of the year. I was having like a total blast with it.
C: Surprised. Okay, cool.
B: Yeah, it’s good stuff. Kiborg check it out. It’s 25 bucks, I think everywhere, which is a steal for a game like this. Just give it a chance to blossom once you jump in. This is a lock for one of my top ten this year, for certain.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Disclosures: This game is developed published by Sobaka Studio. It is currently available on PC, PS and XB. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS5. Approximately 10 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed multiple times, both campaign and the (endless?) arena mode. There are no multiplayer modes.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, and Language.
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: Subtitles are available for almost all dialogue (I noticed a few lines during play that weren’t subbed, but they were flavor, nothing relaying important information.) Text cannot be resized or altered.
Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable but there are a couple of presets that players can choose from. Left stick moves the character, the face buttons handle various attacks, and the shoulder buttons are used as modifiers to activate various bonus attacks or abilities.
Transformers fan. MOTU stan. Black Lives Matter, pro-LGBTQIA. Anti-fascist.
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