GlitchPunk (PC)

Hands up who remembers that the Grand Theft Auto series didn’t actually start with 3?, Also that ChinaTown Wars or Advance weren’t the first “top down” titles? Developers Dark Lord do that’s for sure. 

GlitchPunk is currently very early in development and as such this should be considered a Preview.

GlitchPunk is a SciFi title that lends more than just a little inspiration from the lesser talked about gem that is Grand Theft Auto 2, while it takes a good few ideas and gameplay mechanics from the Ps1/Dreamcast/GBC (yeah that happened) title does it have enough weight to carry on its own cybernetic feet?.

Dark Lord have gone all in on my favourite setting with a dystopian future much akin to titles like Blade Runner and the criminally underused Mega City 40 from Judge Dredd game, currently there is only 1 urban jungle to rampage in which is New Baltia but in the coming weeks will see another city added with another 2 to join towards the full release outside of Early Access.

You’re cast into the role of an “illegal Android” who is told they can get a place in the current society if they take on the role of assassin and perform tasks for the various factions trying to rule the city, you can do this because of a rare glitch which allows you to go against your programming and be the mass murdering machine that you always wanted to be.

Visually GlitchPunk takes inspiration from the plethora of Cyberpunk materials available though with a focus on the darker more gritty side, much like the city streets in Blade Runner, as mentioned previously it’s a top down game much like GTA 2 and it has that same level of visual fidelity but with stronger effects I.E lighting.

On the gameplay side of the scale it’s currently rather basic in terms of scope, it’s a futuristic Grand Theft Auto, you steal cars, perform missions and use twin stick controls for combat and movement.

Fortunately GlitchPunk again leans into its Cyberpunk feel and allows you to equip performance enhancers which give you extra combat abilities and other fun ways to interact with the world, it’s still very early days for the title yet but it has a very solid foundation. 

Being the title is very early access it’s still quite young in itself and I feel the best is yet to come, it’s slightly glitchy at the moment and it took a good few plays to figure out you have to save it at the safehouse!.

All in all it does a good job of capturing the fun of GTA 2 including the faction system which at the time was mind blowing, I see good things in the future for GlitchPunk so long as things start to get a little more original and less homage, as it stands it’s a good tribute but too weak to stand on its own feet for long.

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Straight from the streets of SouthTown, all Dunks Powah'd and ready to Bust A Wolf. Catch me on Twitch/YouTube.

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