Turbo Overkill – A Flawless Cyberpunk Gorefest Through a Dystopian Future!

“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.” – Blade Runner

Pros

• Flawless gunplay paired with a fluid, responsive control system. Despite the blazing-fast pacing, accuracy is guaranteed.
• Superb balance, that not only makes every single gun viable and unique, but also delivers a challenge that may be very high, but always fair.
• Top-tier level design that has distinction, verticality, complexity and spectacle in all the right amounts; it’s a continuous crescendo.
• Challenging, multi-phase boss fights that evolve in meaningful, unpredictable ways and feel unique.
• Meaningful exploration, where collectibles unlock hidden gameplay modifiers and secret levels – plus, there’s a lot of cash and Easter eggs around, too.
• Native Steam Workshop integration for modding, confirmed co-op in a future free update.

Cons

• You’re still reading instead of getting the game already.

Bugs & Issues

• Some achievements are bugged and won’t trigger correctly.
• Rarely, you may get stuck in some places. Auto-fixes itself after a few seconds.

Machine Specs

• i5 11400H
• 16GB RAM DDR4
• 512 GB SSD
• RTX 3060 6GB
• 1080p

Content & Replay Value

It took me around 14 hours to complete Turbo Overkill on ‘Murder Machine’ (Very Hard) difficulty, taking extra time (for the most part) to get collectibles and secrets when possible. The content is linear: there’s no reason to replay once finished.

Is It Worth Buying?

Absolutely. The price of 16,79€ is more than fair for this amount of content, while the exceptional quality makes this an even better deal.

Verdict

The real deal of old-school FPS, merged with all the cutting-edge modern tech where it counts most. Almost perfect in every possible way.

Turbo Overkill – In-Depth Analysis

Writing & Worldbuilding

Turbo Overkill puts you in the cybernetic shoes of the titular Johnny Turbo, your not-so-everyday space merc that gets tangled into a struggle for controlling a powerful AI called SYN. Things do get out of hand really fast, and Johnny, willing or otherwise, will have to save the planet (and perhaps the galaxy as a whole) to ensure his own survival.

It’s a story centered around the topics of greed, lust for power and all the other wonderful traits oh-so-common in us fellow humans. It’s not deep, nor complex, but it’s alright considering the genre at hand – if anything there’s an amount of lore and info superior to what could be expected from an old-school shooter to begin with. The quality of it is more than passable, with some highlights descending (ascending?) into the macabre and bizarre, of course peppered with coarse speech befitting lowlives, mercs and other scum inhabiting the neon-lit dystopia of Paradise.

Tremendous care was put in building levels, not only from a functional design standpoint, but visually, too. The retro aesthetics, featuring purposefully washed-out palettes and low-res models, blend superbly with all the modern tech goodies such as real-time lighting, physics and advanced effects. More than a few times, stages will have dynamic, evolving backgrounds where battles play out, destruction happens, and mayhem usually ensues. Despite its fast pacing, Turbo Overkill lets its art direction be appreciated and enhanced in smart ways.

Exploration & Secrets

In general, levels have a linear but wide structure that develops throughout multiple height levels (exceptions apply), and can even become quite complex. Most environments feel spacious enough to take full advantage of the diverse mobility options at Johnny’s disposal – options you will have to use, if you want to get all the various secrets and Easter eggs scattered in the most unthinkable recesses of this crumbling colony.

Other than achievements for the serial pain seekers, secrets unlock interesting gameplay modifiers and secret levels for each chapter, so they’re definitely worth your time. For the rest, levels play out in the classic old–school fashion, which features color-coded keys, switches and at times objectives to clear, arenas to conquer before being able to proceed.

Combat System & Bosses

The crown jewel of TO, combat is extremely fast-paced, high-stakes and surprisingly deep. Only a few hits from stronger enemies will be enough to demolish you on the higher difficulties, but there are ways to counter that: a fluid, intuitive movement system comprised of sliding, dashing and jumping allows you to combine these features into acrobatic evasion, often granting you temporary i-frames that negate damage – even more so with specific upgrades.

Your arsenal features weapons with multiple fire modes, each suited to specific situations and moddable with upgrades which alter, even significantly, their functioning. The bread-and-butter of combat is, however, Johnny’s signature chainsaw leg, a lethal slide-based melee weapon that will be critical to staying alive, as it’s one of the few ways to generate healing/armor from foes with the right upgrades – and since on higher difficulties medkits are only dropped from kills, you’ll need that a whole lot.

A selection of gadgets, both offensive and defensive, will also be unlocked, like the micro-missile implant raining destruction on your foes, or the Turbo Time, slowing everything (including you) down and dropping extra goodies from each kill. Temporary upgrades boosting damage or even granting invincibility can be sparingly found in the more difficult arenas and sometimes bosses; you should save them for when the crap really hits the fan. The arenas are challenging but fair, and feature multiple waves of enemies as customary. The checkpoint system is fair and respects your time while not being excessively forgiving: it strikes a great balance, and there’s also manual saving, although not at the higher difficulties.

Boss fights evolve as HP goes down, and usually feature additional mobs in-between phases (and sometimes alongside the boss itself) – normally, a boss fight relying on “adds spam” would be a sign of bad design – however, in this case, Turbo overkill uses such enemies to give you a chance for recuperating HP and Armor, so it’s actually something to look forward to.

Progression System

Killing enemies will always drop coins, in turn used to buy Augments for both your cybernetic body and weapons. You’ll be able to decide your own “build”, and assign the augments you prefer to focus on offense, defense, utility or a mix of all these combined, based on each augment’s passive trait. Some of them can’t be bought, but are instead found in TeraTek crates, opened only with a secret key well hidden in each level. Weapons are instead upgraded in a “straight” manner, gaining new functions and always being better versions compared to the previous one. It’s a compelling system that makes it worth it to get 100% kills in all levels, as well as secret-hunting for keys or money stacks, because you’ll definitely need all the cash to buy augments as soon as possible, on higher difficulties.

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