It’s the year 2023 and for some reason developer Teyon and publisher Nacon decided to release a new Robocop game. I guess that in itself is not too surprising. It’s an iconic 80s IP after all, naturally they’d want to bring it back right about now. The bigger surprise is that so far in my playthrough, somehow, Robocop: Rogue City is a very good game. And it’s actually very easy to explain what is so good: Robocop: Rogue City really makes you FEEL like Robocop. I’m a few hours into Robocop: Rogue City, here are my thoughts so far.
You’re like a tank moving through the levels. There’s no hiding behind cover or much of any mobility, because why would you need either of them? You are Robocop. Half Man, Half Machine. You can take bullets like it’s nothing. It’s not uncommon in games to be one person taking on dozens of enemies without much of an issue, but I can’t think of many games that make you feel like an unstoppable one-man army as effectively as Robocop: Rogue City does.
And that’s not just because of how much damage you can take, but also how much damage you can deal. You eviscerate your enemies with every bullet shot in their direction, and if you happen to miss them and hit the environment, then you’ll annihilate that too. Big parts of the environment are destructible and seeing the particles of wood, stone, and dirt fly through the air around you as you walk from shootout to shootout is immensely satisfying. Add onto that the booming sound of your shots and you’ve got some fantastic gunplay where the impact of every bullet is deeply felt.
The way Robocop: Rogue City is structured is that every mission is set in its own medium-sized level. A TV station, a nightclub, a construction site. Visually, they look rather nice, and have a surprising amount of variance within them. Although structurally, they’re all essentially just tight hallways connecting rooms with plenty of cover. You might not be able to use that cover, but the enemies still can. Or at least they can try before you turn the stone pillar in front of them into dust.
There isn’t much interesting going on in the story so far. Some evil new guys have appeared in the city, and as a weapon of law enforcement you have to track them down and deal with them. And while you’re at it you might as well kill virtually every gang member in town. There are some hints for more, little moments where Robocop seems to have flashes from the past, but I haven’t seen enough yet to give my clear thoughts on that.
Despite an uninteresting story (as of now at least), Robocop: Rogue City has won me over with some extremely fun, if simple, gameplay. The only thing I’m really concerned about at this point is that I hope the game doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Nairon is playing Robocop: Rogue City on PC with a review key. Robocop: Rogue City is also available on Playstation 5, and Xbox Series S/X.
