Kiborg | Xbox Review

As a longtime fan of beat-’em-ups, I was interested in checking out KIBORG. With its cyberpunk aesthetic, brutal melee combat, and prison-colony setting, it looked like the kind of stylish, gritty action game I could sink my teeth into. What made this experience especially interesting for me is that KIBORG also marks my first real dive into the roguelite genre—one I’ve long been hesitant to embrace. I hoped the fluid action and strong atmosphere would help ease me into it. Developed and published by Sobaka Studio, KIBORG delivers on much of its beat-’em-up promise. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that the roguelite structure holds it back from something greater.

Cable-Star Galactica

KIBORG is the full release of the game previously teased in KIBORG: Arena, a free prologue we covered earlier. While Arena offered a short-form taste of the gameplay loop, KIBORG expands on that foundation with more content, bosses, narrative framing, and persistent progression.

You play as Morgan Lee, a convict framed for a crime he didn’t commit, now trapped on the galaxy’s most dangerous prison planet. His only shot at freedom is to survive The Last Ticket, a violent, televised game show broadcast across intergalactic cable—hosted by Volkov, a grotesque alien blob who could pass for Jabba the Hutt’s uglier cousin.

The story wears its influences proudly—perhaps a little too proudly. KIBORG is practically a cyberpunk echo of The Running Man, the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger classic also featuring a wrongly accused man forced to survive a deadly game show for the public’s entertainment. From the convict-turned-contestant premise to the grotesque host and televised violence, the parallels are unmistakable. While it doesn’t break new narrative ground, the familiar setup works well enough to keep the game moving forward.

Streets of Cyber-Rage

What really hooked me in KIBORG is the combat, it nails the beat em’ up fundamentals. Every punch lands with impact, every dash and counter flows smoothly, and the game gives you plenty of room to mix things up with combos, finishers, and stylish moves. It’s the kind of beat ’em up that feels tight and deliberate, not just button-mashy chaos. And the sci-fi touches—robotic enemies, cybernetic enhancements, energy and melee weapons—only make it more fun to tear through waves of foes.

As you play more, you unlock cybernetic enhancements that let you get creative, adding variety which opens up new strategies. These powers get better over time thanks to the game’s progression system, so even when a run ends in failure, you still feel like you’re building something. That part of the roguelite loop actually works pretty well—it gives you a reason to keep pushing forward.

But here’s where I hit a wall: I just don’t think KIBORG needed to be a roguelite. The combat is so strong, I kept wishing the game was just a straightforward, linear brawler. Having to replay early levels, especially redoing boss fights I’d already beaten, started to feel like busywork. The procedural layouts and random upgrades sometimes get in the way of the game’s momentum instead of adding to it. This was my first real dive into a roguelite, and while I hoped the slick action and cyberpunk aesthetic would win me over, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the structure was holding the game back more than helping it.

Blood Runner 2049

Anyone who knows me knows I’ve got a soft spot for all things cyberpunk sci-fi—just check out my forgiving at-launch review of Cyberpunk 2077 if you need proof. KIBORG definitely scratches that itch. The visual style leans hard into neon-soaked environments, gritty industrial zones, and holographic interfaces. It’s not trying to reinvent the genre’s aesthetic, but it nails the vibe: dark, dangerous, and stylish in that “chrome and blood” kind of way.

The action gets surprisingly brutal, too. While it doesn’t lean into over-the-top finishers like Mortal Kombat, the bone-crunching punches, explosive takedowns, and dismemberment effects give fights a real edge. It’s gritty without being cartoonish, and it complements the game’s grim sci-fi world. Sound design is solid across the board. Hits land with satisfying thuds and cracks, and the synth soundtrack keeps things moving with that pulsing, futuristic energy you’d expect.

Brawl to the Future

KIBORG is a game that hits hard—visually, audibly, and in its combat mechanics. The cyberpunk world it builds is as gritty and neon-soaked as you’d expect, and the brutal, fast-paced brawls are as satisfying as they are intense. The cybernetic upgrades add a nice touch of progression, and the narrative framing, with its gladiatorial game show structure, provides a backdrop that feels both familiar and fresh, drawing clear inspiration from The Running Man.

But for all its strengths, the game’s rogue-lite structure holds it back. As much as I enjoyed the core gameplay and its brutal combat, the constant need to restart after each death—especially having to replay boss battles—makes it feel more like a chore than the thrilling experience it could have been with a more linear progression. The rogue-lite mechanics were definitely a turn-off for me, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that the game would’ve benefited from a more traditional, story-driven format. That said, if you enjoy the rogue-lite genre, KIBORG will likely satisfy with its tight beat-em-up controls and solid progression system.

To hear me talk more about Kiborg, be sure to listen to the May 1st, 2025 episode of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 1:28:58 time stamp.

This review is based on an Xbox Series S/X copy of Kiborg provided by Stride PR for coverage purposes. It is also available on PlayStation and PC.