There’s been a bit of a cyberpunk renaissance over the past few years. Titles such as CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 and The Ascent by Neon Giant, along with scores of smaller indie games, have brought the setting back to the forefront of games. SlavicPunk: Oldtimer by Red Square Games is one of the latest additions to the illustrious list of titles contributing to the setting.
SlavicPunk: Oldtimer nails the theme for the most part. It’s a unique meshing of futuristic tech and dark city life, a neon-bathed dystopia that really sells the Blade Runner-esque aesthetic that has come to characterise games within the space.
Outdoor areas are hazy, a thin layer of fog enshrouds distant objects, bright lights, neon signs, and small fires pierce the fog and illuminate the environment, and patches of snow cover the ground. Indoor areas are similarly lit. While not foggy, most areas feel like a crowd of chain smokers have wandered through just before the protagonist gets there. Rooms are simultaneously bright and dingy at the same time, it’s usually immediately clear what the layout is because of this, while still maintaining a sense of atmosphere,
Red Square Games really got it right when designing the lighting for SlavicPunk: Oldtimer. Every area, be it inside or outside, is thick with ground clutter, debris, and other small details, and really manages to sell the idea that this is a place that people inhabit.
The visuals are backed up by a fantastic soundtrack composed by Patryk Scelina. A fusion of electronic ambiance, Eastern European-themed melodies, and unexpected instrumentation, such as the inclusion of saxophones. Something I didn’t expect to hear on a score like this. There’s a hint of film noir theming, leaning on the tropes of classic detective movies which further helps to tie the audio to the game world and story.
Based on the work of author Michał Gołkowski, SlavicPunk: Oldtimer sees players assume the role of Yanus, a private investigator with a stereotypically dark and troubled past as he tries to solve the mystery of a data theft. It’s a relatively interesting story that engages for the most part, though in execution it does rely on a lot of the stereotypes of the genre – unruly gangs, a morally bankrupt corporation pulling the strings in the background, and all the twists and turns you’d expect in a dark and gritty detective story.
All of this sounds pretty good so far, and for the most part, it is. The world of SlavicPunk: Oldtimer and its presentation is fantastic. Where it started to fall down for me a little, however, was in the gameplay.
SlavicPunk: Oldtimer is an isometric, third-person shooter. More specifically it’s a twin-stick shooter. Everything is viewed from above at a slight angle, revealing some, but not all of what is in front of Yanus. Historically, games of this type have had cameras that are largely static, moving around and changing the zoom based on the player’s location and surroundings. Where SlavicPunk differs, is that the camera is entirely player-controlled with the right stick. This by itself doesn’t sound like a problem, pretty much every 3D game for the last 20 years has controlled like that, and, when not in combat, this works perfectly fine. The camera can be rotated around to get a perfect view of where you’re going and what you’re trying to see.
In combat, however, things start to become a little more awkward. Holding the left trigger raises Yanus’ gun with the right trigger firing. While his weapon is raised, the right stick rotates his aim around, with a laser handily showing the trajectory of the bullet. The problem (for me at least) is that the camera continues to rotate freely even while aiming. It swings around stiffly with each adjustment, and I found it quite nauseating even after short gameplay sessions. One of the reasons that shooters of this nature tend to have the camera mostly static relative to the player, is to allow the focus to be on aiming.
Having to try and wrangle the camera, while also aiming, and trying to keep track of enemies and the environment as a whole spoiled the experience somewhat. Thankfully, enemy encounters for the most part are relatively small. You’re not going to be fighting hordes of thugs and gang members at once. Much of the combat takes place in small, cramped apartment buildings and similarly sized complexes, so a huge number of enemies would make things even more unwieldy.
There’s a decent selection of weapons to use, standards such as a revolver, shotgun, and SMG as well as some more exotic offerings like a rail rifle. Each of these can be upgraded several times throughout the campaign, increasing magazine size and damage output as well as a host of other smaller and less meaningful upgrades.
The final string to SlavicPunk’s bow is the battle hacking system. During a firefight, enemies can be targeted and hit with a hack of some kind. While hacking, the game speed slows down, and the player has to hit a short combination of inputs on the screen to inflict a status effect or small amount of damage to the enemy.
This is primarily used to deal with the larger or more complicated enemies, for example, early on, a particularly nasty chap with a shield shows up. Using hacks allows the player to get behind and cause damage, as a frontal assault is almost entirely useless. It’s a system that is nice to have, it can be used to vary the gameplay somewhat, but it feels a little undercooked to me. Perhaps the hacking from other titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 has spoiled me a little, but this just isn’t particularly deep, and I got by using the stun mechanic for the most part, never really finding anything else all that useful long-term.
SlavicPunk: Oldtimer is an interesting game. It’s wonderfully presented, both from an audio and visual perspective. The voice acting is a little goofy at times, but it excels in almost every other area of presentation, so I can let it pass. I especially enjoyed the soundtrack, so much so that it’s found its way into a playlist next to The Ascent’s score and that of the modern Deus Ex games amongst others.
I found the combat clunky and frustrating thanks to the camera. If, however, that is something as a player you can deal with, then there’s a solid game here in SlavicPunk: Oldtimer. Performance was perfect as far as I could tell on an Xbox Series X, never once dropping below 60fps, which is always nice to see.
SlavicPunk: Oldtimer also benefits from being a budget release, at only £14.99 it’s definitely worth a shot at some point if you’re a fan of games set in a cyberpunk world.
SlavicPunk: Oldtimer Delivers a Gritty Cyberpunk Experience with a Slavic Twist – https://www.thexboxhub.com/slavicpunk-oldtimer-delivers-a-gritty-cyberpunk-experience-with-a-slavic-twist/
Buy SlavicPunk: Oldtimer on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/slavicpunk-oldtimer/9p100642lvm9
