Tucked into a corner of Summer Games Fest, Spine is definitely the kind of game meant to turn heads and grab attention. There is a decidedly late-’90s arcade style to the third-person action title that compels players to grab a controller and see what is going on for themselves. While it’s still early, in my hands-on demo with Spine, I can safely say that it’s absolutely something I’m excited to see evolve as it develops.
Aesthetically, Spine fits the cyberpunk-Blade Runner mold of an overcrowded dystopian city with profuse neon-yet-dark corners everywhere. The player assumes the role of a street artist named Redline who, in the demo, has been accused of a crime she did not commit and quickly finds herself surrounded by thugs at a bar. Redline fights off the enemies with deadly force and keeps going while punching and shooting everything that gets in her way.
Players familiar with Sifu will notice an immediate resemblance to that game in the form of the quick jabs, special attacks, and parry-driven finishing moves, but the developer shies away from that particular comparison. Instead, they insist it is a little bit more like Rocksteady’s Arkham series of Batman titles, with a heavy focus on reading tells more than predicting enemy movements.
Regardless of inspiration, the true carnival-game feel of Spine comes from the flashy and over-the-top finishers that are earned by parrying enemy attacks. Not for the squeamish or meek at heart, Redline will often force enemies to swallow a bullet with a gun shoved between their teeth or spin around them like John Wick with a well-placed shot to the back of the skull. The camera zooms, spins, and pans around the finishers to showcase the most dramatic and cinematic angles for her gunkata before Redline quickly moves on to the next goon coming her way.
Parrying also works at enemies throwing things or shooting at her as well, allowing her to spot-dodge the incoming projectile with a quick lean or turn that feels immensely satisfying, regardless of the ease to pull off.
Occasionally, Redline will pick up another weapon with limited ammo, such as a shotgun, and blow enemies away in one hit. These sections feel more like Hotline Miami than anything Batman has ever done, and sometimes even adopt that overhead camera angle to complete the allusion, intentional or otherwise.
There is some degree of Sega Genesis vibe going on with Spine that I cannot quite put my finger on, but it absolutely evokes an alternate reality where beat-‘em-ups became the biggest genre in the world in the ‘90s and iterated on that formula for decades. While there is a lot more to see before deciding where in that storied hierarchy Spine will land, I am more than interested in watching it get there.
