One man (or woman) ascends a techno dystopian skyscraper. This megacorp is doing something evil with children and it…ends…here. The soundtrack blasts synthwave as you begin the battle, the synthesizer bleeps and thumps mixing with the groans of pain as you beat your enemies to a bloody pulp. Is it an 80s movie on VHS? Well, you’re probably a child and don’t even know what VHS is. Let me try this a different way: Hey kid, you like synthwave? THERE WE GO.
Welcome to Nitro Kid.
Nitro Kid
Developer: Wildboy Studios
Price: $19.99
Platform: PC
MonsterVine was supplied with a PC code for review
You may have slain that dang old spire and ridden that train full of monsters, but have you ever kicked a robot in the face? If so, good, robots deserve it. If not, consider Nitro Kid, a roguelike deckbuilder dripping with faux-80s neon, style, and a soundtrack so good I kept leaving the game on and going “damn, who is that? What did I put on? Oh, it’s the game.”
You are…look it’s basically Bruce Lee, followed by Basically Mike Tyson and Basically Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider and Salt…and you are on a mission. An evil megacorporation is doing something nefarious and only you can stop with your fists (Basically Mike Tyson), feet (Basically Bruce Lee), and high-powered assault weapons (Basically Angelina Jolie). Each run is randomly generated (hence the roguelike) and each time through, you pull cards to build out your deck of moves that give you new attacks, defenses, and buffs (hence the roguelike deckbuilder).
Combat is turn-based and takes place on a grid with various obstacles, some of which can explode. A good chunk of the game is managing your movement: ducking into a crowd to beat the hell out of some goons…or robots…or a chick with axes for arms…or a brain floating in a tank…and then defend yourself or dodge out of the way before you get hit with a shotgun or blast of fire or aforementioned axe arms or a variety of other interesting hazards. It is undeniably satisfying to duck into a group, knock down a couple of mooks, then dodge out, leaving two mooks to blast each other with shotguns with fatal results.
Enemies have different powers and abilities, ranging from aforementioned shotguns to assault rifles to punching back to robot zaps, so managing both where you are and where you are planning to be and how that relates to where they might move and attack in response is also a huge part of the game. This also relates to the character you’re playing and the cards you’re holding. Basically Mike Tyson counters when he gets hit and builds up combos when he gets to inflict lots of hits, so it can be worth soaking a little damage to lay out a lot of pain. Basically Angelina Jolie in Salt and Tomb Raider is a little more fragile, but she can leap and dive dramatically out of the way and has much better ranged attacks. T H E G A M E H A S C H A N G E D.
If you lose…that’s okay! In fact, you are going to lose a lot, but losing is good. It unlocks more cards for your initial build and you get a better grip on the combat. This is a whole genre where losing is fun and a chance to try out different builds and tactics and get a little better each time. In fact, if there’s one gripe I have, it’s that the experience curve is a bit rough in the early going. It takes a few runs to really start unlocking things that let you shake up the combat or playstyle.
Nitro Kid probably isn’t going to win any new converts to the genre, but if you’re curious and looking for something with a little…A E S T H E T I C…it’s pretty simple to get a grasp on and not overly punishing out of the gate. And seriously, that soundtrack is a banger.
The Final Word
If you like roguelike deckbuilders, 80s action movies, and synthwave, Nitro Kid is a banger.
– MonsterVine Rating: 4.5 out of 5 – Great
