If there is one game that stuck with me that I want to see return, it is Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It offered a fantastic, segmented open-world, cyberpunk RPG experience with an exceptional style and possibilities. Its sequel didn’t do it any justice, but you know what game gives me those same vibes many years later? RoboCop: Rogue City.
I watched the RoboCop movies when I was a child so I don’t really remember much. However, RoboCop Rogue City made me care about this weird cyborg and human-hybrid police officer. The game essentially feels like an indie AA version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution for the modern age.
You get to explore various parts of Old Detroit in between the second and third movies in its own standalone storyline. This happens alongside the return of the original voice actor, Peter Weller. It features a first-person perspective where you control the clunky and enormous RoboCop throughout FPS-like RPG systems.
RoboCop himself feels somewhat slow and awkward, but this seems on brand for the character. Fortunately, this doesn’t make controlling him that annoying, as there are ways to sprint and speed up his actions. In fact, I had a lot of fun charging at enemies, bashing them with my metal fists, or picking them up and using their flailing bodies to whack at their teammates.
Even with the lumbering nature of RoboCop, the game does a solid job of capturing the look and feel of the cyborg hero without diminishing the fun factor. It has various weapons for you to use, including his signature pistol. The gun never fails to be impressive, though some of the other weapons like the assault rifle feel a bit lackluster. The aiming is also a bit slow and prodding in the game, but I was able to fix this with some sensitivity settings tweaks.
The combat feels surprisingly fast and fun as RoboCop. He is walking tank and it feels like you are essentially playing as one with his immense power and heft. I rarely felt threatened in any way, which makes for a nice superpowered simulator in a way. Since you have so many options to toy with your criminal targets, such as picking up a computer and launching it at them or blowing up a flammable objective, it never gets old.
Outside of combat, you can explore various semi-open areas, such as the police station or run-down blocks in Old Detroit. This places usually have smaller scope than you might see in other games and not too many collectibles or secrets, but I was fine with this. It still scratches that dense and focused dystopian cyberpunk-like exploration itch that Cyberpunk 2077 didn’t with its more grand vision.
In the open environments, there are plenty of side quests to do, each of which usually only take a few moments to complete. These are honestly pretty hilarious and you can tell the developers at Teyon had a lot of fun in its humor. There is so much comedic moments, such as an early side quest where you run the complaints counter. This one, in particular, has the player decide if they want to give a ticket to the guy who keeps calling for his dog named Fire and scaring his neighbors, or leave him with a warning.
Some of the other ridiculous side quests include using your strong metallic arms to bust open a locker for a coworker and so on. These use RoboCop’s nature and make hilarious sitcom-worthy moments out of it. This complements the more serious main story well. The core plot feels decent, but nothing too special, though I will say it has excellent presentation and acting.
The graphics look pretty solid for an indie game, showcasing some incredible lighting and textures. This is even the case on Steam Deck where I played the adventure. It took some messing around in the settings but I got it to play pretty well and look great at the same time. It also fit the portable nature of the Steam Deck quite well and lasted for a decent enough amount of time.
I will say the RPG mechanics of leveling up RoboCop and enhancing his various skills felt a bit like an afterthought. Some of them are quite necessary, such as providing more dialogue options, but others centered around his strength feel unnecessary due to his existing power. Regardless, this added a nice bit of depth and customization to this otherwise swift RPG experience that you can beat in under 20 hours.
RoboCop: Rogue City is available for the PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Become the legendary part man, part machine, all cop hero and deliver justice in Old Detroit. PC version reviewed.
RoboCop: Rogue City may not do anything extraordinary, but it doesn’t have to. It takes the RoboCop license, makes me care about it, and provides a solid Deus Ex-like RPG take on Detroit.
- RoboCop is the worst (best?) officer to run the complaints desk.
- You can grab bad guys and use them like a bat to bash other enemies with their body.
- You can also pick up bad guys and throw them out the window of a skyscraper.
