Cyber Saber review - "Cut cyberpunk down to size!"

• It's the cyberpunk future where robot samurai stands its ground
• Right through different scenes while fighting off hordes of angry robots
• Your sword is strong, but your body is not... one hit is all you get

The weird thing about cyberpunk is that it never really has a high or low point. From the moment it became a genre, whenever a cyberpunk-themed thing pops up, a crowd forms around it, either in awe or in dread of such a futuristic environment. One reason is how machines are portrayed in these worlds.

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They can range from utility devices with personality to near-indistinguishable from human murderous robots. But Hat Cat Games hopes that you don't think too much about that in Cyber Saber. You're a cyberpunk citizen fighting against the dangers of cyberpunk, so let's get loaded… downloaded, that is.

What is Cyber Saber?

Cyberpunk can be quite infamous for how complex its stories and worldbuilding can be, but Cyber Saber tries to keep things simple. Of course, there are likely tons of subtext and symbolism to be unearthed, but that's for a different discussion. You are a humanoid robot (or maybe cyborg?) who has decided to follow the way of the samurai, and you're already doing a pretty good job. You've got a wide-brimmed hat and a cool digital sword, so things are going well. Unfortunately, every other non-samurai robot is enraged by your successful dream chasing and has decided to team up and destroy you. It's time to put all those implied sword-fighting skills to the test.

Sharpened Cyber Saber

With all the complex cyberpunk games out there, sometimes we just want something straightforward and flashy. Cyber Saber may be what some of us have been asking for in passing. The premise is simple: A platform will carry the samurai as it wields its sword against the different robots that teleport in to attack. They can use physical or ranged attacks, and you've got a sword that can cut them down or reflect bullets, lightsaber style (gasp, saber!). It's fast and tight to swipe and deflect with the only aiming that you need being your finger.

As time goes on, you realise that your robot body is not as rigid as it seems. Your sword may be able to cut through anything, but your body appears to be made of everything. If any one source of damage makes direct contact, then that's it. There's a slow build-up that helps to develop your confidence in the controls and timing, so you've got everything you need to master the ways of the cyber saber. Robot after robot will start teleporting in larger numbers, attempting to swarm you to get that OHKO. The longer you survive, the longer you think you can survive until your endless platform ride ends.

Knicks in the Cyber Saber

How does one sharpen a cybernetic blade? As we consider the processes involved, let's think about how Cyber Saber can be sharpened. A significant way to do so would be to give us more to saber in this cyber world. You do have a selection of sceneries and platform ships, but it's a change of scenery that needs to be unlocked with earned or bought currency. That goes for the samurai's swords, which can range from colours to entirely different weapons that may not be as practical, but they're still cool. It'd be nice to see some of these new elements bring something new to the gameplay.

On top of that, the visuals could use polishing. There's a rough and gritty element to the pixel art, which works in favour of selling a dystopian world ruled by machines, but it can't be too rough. It's possible to step up the graphic quality while keeping its edge and adding greater contrast between the main robot and every single other robot that's trying to destroy it.

Draw your Cyber Saber

Cyber Saber is a 2D hack-and-slash pixel art cyberpunk game about a robot standing its ground against any other robot that would dare approach it. It takes a small piece of the cyberpunk genre to create a simple, cool, and snappy experience where you slice robots and reflect laser bullets at them. There's so much room to add more or expand on the elements already in there, because everything is solid and works well. But this is cyberpunk after all, and just like computers now and likely in the future, things can go wrong, and not even the programmers know what's wrong. So, cyber saber up and make it right.