RoboCop Rogue City was the best shooter of 2023, and it's our GOTY

What could’ve easily been a totally forgettable licensed game in the traditional style turned out to be a charmingly old-school experience in all the right ways. The kind of game where the enemies are all the same three guys on a motorcycle and the textures pop in on every frame, but you couldn’t care less as you burn through everything it has to offer.

This is the product of a focused team making a game with an achievable scope that prioritises surprising and thoughtful interactions over a reasonable length of time, rather than stretching a couple of pedestrian mechanics ad infinitum. And within that framework, it manages to be the best and frankly only worthy follow-up to the original film that’s ever been produced (Yes, RoboCop 2 is bobbins, don’t write in). Jim and I collaborated on the video below which sets out why Rogue City is so successful as a licensed project:

It’s a crunchy, satisfying shooter, with a well-realised cyberpunk setting that carries on and extends the themes and satire of the source material in a way that actually understands what it’s supposed to be about.