PLATFORM: PC, PS4/5, XBOX ONE/SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Based on the works of Polish sci-fi / fantasy author Michal Gołkowski (whose debut novel in 2013 was based on the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series of games), SlavicPunk is a twin-stick shooter that follows a private investigator named Yanus – a man with a troubled past (haven’t they all?!) who finds himself trying to track down a stolen data carrier while fighting not only the inner-city gangs and an evil corporation hell-bent on controlling the city, but also his own inner turmoil…

The fictional urban Eastern European setting is suitably grimy and run down, with crumbling concrete illuminated by neon signs and lights and all manner of futuristic flying vehicles hovering around the place, and the slightly cartoonish art style gives the game a sort of top-down Borderlands vibe. The gameplay features a decent level of challenge, there are plenty of upgrades to work towards, and weapons feel and sound very satisfying to use.

However, Yanus will always face north, regardless of where your right stick is pointing, and turning him around to aim at enemies from multiple directions is incredibly slow, seemingly at odds with the usual twin-stick shooter mechanics. Elsewhere, text boxes pop up and disappear so quickly that you’re not given time to read them, the black-on green Gears of War-style active reload mechanic can be difficult to use in darker areas, there’s very little feedback when you take damage so it often seems like you’ve died out of nowhere, and other gameplay elements are barely explained at all, leaving you to figure out how things work. In its current form, there are also lots of technical problems like textures taking a long time to pop in and characters getting stuck on the scenery, and more serious issues like areas not properly loading, resulting in loss of progress when you’re forced to reboot the game. SlavicPunk does a lot of things right, but unfortunately stumbles in a few too many places for it to earn a solid recommendation.