CyberCorp – Early Access

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• DEVELOPER: Megame LLC
• PUBLISHER: Megame LLC
• PLATFORMS: PC
• GENRE: Looter / Shooter
• RELEASE DATE: August 20, 2024
• INITIAL PRICE: 14.79€
• REVIEWED VERSION: PC

CyberCorp is a top-down looter shooter game that combines a cyberpunk aesthetic and fast-paced isometric gameplay with cooperative features. It has some good ideas, but it also has issues that hold it back. You play as the Agent, a former employee of the shady CyberCorp, who is now trying to expose its misconduct. Using a robotic body called the Synth, you complete missions remotely, fighting enemies, collecting items, and upgrading your gear.

The Synth is highly customizable. You can swap out its body parts like the head, torso, and legs, as well as its weapons like pistols and swords. Instead of unlocking new abilities by leveling up, you find them as you play. You can gain skills like teleportation, healing, creating shield zones, or even having a turret to assist you. However, just having these skills isn’t enough to fight. You also need to monitor your health, shields, and stamina to get through the tougher missions.

Familiar Mechanics with a Few Bright Spots

The core gameplay of CyberCorp is easy to grasp but doesn’t shine in every aspect. Melee combat, for example, leaves a lot of room for improvement. Instead of swords and other close-range weapons playing an important tactical role, they are mostly relegated to breaking containers or other environmental objects. This feels like a missed opportunity to introduce a deeper strategic dimension to combat. Even when a melee weapon is powerful, its biggest appeal lies in the finish-move animations, which not only look impressive but also temporarily make the player invincible, with occasional bonuses like health regeneration depending on the weapon’s special effects.

On the other hand, the shooting mechanics are significantly more successful. The game allows for a choice between various types of firearms, from small pistols to rocket launchers, and you can carry two weapons during missions. This offers solid flexibility, as different situations require different approaches—you might need a powerful weapon to break shields or something to quickly neutralize a larger group of enemies.

An additional layer of strategy is introduced by the quick-time reload mechanic, which rewards precision and concentration but also punishes mistakes. While this adds dynamism to combat, the overall combat loop can become repetitive. Despite the variety of weapons and their unique attributes, the basic structure of the game remains quite static, with little room for the evolution of strategy as you progress. CyberCorp relies on proven mechanics, sometimes seeming to stick too closely to safe ground instead of taking risks with more innovative ideas that would enhance the gameplay.

Reliance on RNG Harms Progression

The progression system in CyberCorp can feel slow and unsatisfying, as rewards and credits often don’t align with the difficulty of the missions. Your character’s stats depend entirely on loot, which is standard for the looter-shooter genre, but the absence of other progression systems creates certain problems. To upgrade your gear or create your desired build, you rely on random loot boxes, meaning you’ll have to spend a lot of time grinding for currency.

While missions generously reward you with white and green items, the rare red gear quickly loses its value. As you progress through the game, upgrading older, rare equipment becomes increasingly demanding, and its stats are often overshadowed by randomly generated white and green items from subsequent missions. Additionally, white, green, and blue items can be customized through card inserts, adding extra bonuses, while red items are fixed and do not allow any modifications.

CyberCorp uses two types of in-game currency for purchasing items and customizing gear with cards. However, although you can accumulate a significant amount of currency, the in-game store often offers only white and green items whose stats don’t differ significantly from those obtained in missions. While the enjoyment of testing different skills and upgrading them is present, the enhancement system feels unfinished. While collecting the second currency is relatively easy, options for quality upgrades are scarce, which limits creativity and variety in character building.

Final Thoughts

Exploration plays a key role in acquiring better weapons and armor, as the game rewards players who dare to go off the main path to discover hidden loot and currency. The missions are varied, including “run-and-gun” action tasks and those focused on stealth, and everything runs smoothly. Still, the story feels underdeveloped, as the textual conversations between the Agent and the Operator lack voice acting, which could enhance the narrative by adding personality and emotional depth to the interactions.

The game’s HD-2D art style fits the cyberpunk theme perfectly, providing clear and engaging environments. The character and enemy designs are creative, which further contributes to the game’s atmosphere. The music also matches the cyberpunk aesthetic, expertly balancing exciting and calmer moments that enhance the experience. Unfortunately, the story is easily overlooked and struggles to evoke a deeper emotional connection.

Despite its flaws, if you enjoy looter shooters with a cyberpunk theme and don’t mind a bit of grind, CyberCorp is worth a try. While it won’t revolutionize the genre, it provides a fun experience and a solid foundation for future games from Megame. The game also offers multiplayer co-op, so you can team up with friends for missions. Although the grind might not appeal to everyone, the game is great for short gaming sessions, and you’ll likely return to it occasionally. All in all, it is a solid game that doesn’t take many risks, so don’t expect anything truly unique.

Review copy provided by the publisher