If you’re in the market for a procedurally generated, roguelike multiplayer cyberpunk hack n slash game then you’re in luck. Kill To Collect is exactly that. Demoing a near-final version at GDC 2016, Pieces Interactive’s Kill To Collect combines all of those buzzwordy things into a pretty tight package.
“The core gameplay is very timing and placement based,” said Robert Lazic, creative director at Pieces Interactive. “You need to be aware of your enemies.”
This is true. During my GDC 2016 demo Robert and I went through about three levels of enemies on one of the procedurally generated maps, and the roguelike difficulty shined through. The control scheme is a standard melee format, quick attack, special attack and dodge with a few item based abilities scattered in, but a button masher this is not. A limited amount of life meant you had to give way more damage than you take, and with a dodge cooldown you couldn’t just tumble around the map.
Accompanying the flashy cyberpunk aesthetic is a pulsing synthwave soundtrack. The cyberpunk vibe is strong here, and the soundtrack goes a long way towards achieving that.
“We licensed all the songs. Ten different artists we liked are on the soundtrack,” said Lazic.
Although the soundtrack helps Kill To Collect stand out, Lazic believes that what really separates the game from the dozens of other cyberpunk titles out there is it's unique art style
“Theres a lot of cyberpunk games but I think this has it's own flavor. Our art is very influenced by japanese manga style, like Ghost in the Shell ,” said Lazic.
Kill to Collect looks good and sounds good, but it’s hard for me to gauge from my limited demo how much replayability the title has. It’s clear from the official website that the goal of the procedural generation is to provide incentive for players to team up and do run after run after run. My only major critique is speed. The game didn’t feel as fast as I wanted it to, and it seemed like it took my character longer than it should to cross a room or head into new territory.
Pieces interactive plans to release Kill To Collect on Steam next month for $19.99, and like most small PC titles Lazic and the team are hoping to be able to get the support to make a jump to consoles. In the meantime, anyone itching to play a procedurally generated, roguelike multiplayer cyberpunk hack n slash game won’t find a better fit than Kill To Collect .
