The Legend of Cyber Cowboy | PS5 Review

Eastasiasoft, and their onboard developer aim to wow Westerners this New Year with their own take on "The Binding of Isaac"! This inspired indie is about as straightforward as they get though. Missing the mark completely with a lack of additional features, a plot, and fair gameplay mechanics. You are simply a cyber cowboy in a cyber version of the Wild West taking out baddies room by room as you loot them for coin that can be spent on limited use gun upgrades. 

Additionally at your disposal is your gun of choice, your health, a stamina meter, and the ability to dash out of harm's way tied to the limited stamina. With these tools you must not only go room to room cleaning house but must face giant bullet hell bosses who are brutally unforgiving, and damn near undefeatable.

Going into this game I had high hopes. The graphic design looked a step up from what Eastasiasoft usually provides, and appeared to be near AA in quality. Sadly that's where I was mistaken. With a main menu that was mostly barebones with only a speed run timer, a language & sound options menu, and a start button it simply served to drop unsuspecting players into an experience they couldn't have seen coming a mile away. There is no tutorial, and there is no way to figure out the mechanics other than by trial and error. 

The added fact that mechanics are so limited in function, and only offer the bare minimum in offense and defense does little to stave off the threat of rapid fire bullet hell patterns that you cannot dash over or avoid, particularly in the boss battles. It is this basic approach, and limited gameplay experience that has the game failing right up to the first boss.

The goal for those who are curious, is to explore each sectioned off room taking out any baddies there. Ultimately using the earned coins dropped from them in rooms where the weapon vendor resides. Apart from this currency farming and spending you'll eventually make your way to a boss room marked by a red skull and it's corresponding boss fight. Unfortunately the weapon upgrades in the game are temporary if depleted, and are limited by ammo making them useless against the bosses they were intended for. Not only that, but there's nothing else to stack in the way of gameplay modifiers, or perks. Leaving you only with a basic pistol and your basic mechanics. In hindsight "The Legend of Cyber Cowboy" is basically a bargain bin budget priced version of "The Binding of Isaac", and it shows. 

The Verdict ...

The developer has missed a huge opportunity by dumbing down the genre formula, and not fully committing to the staple features set by other developers. The fact that it is brutally unfair, and that the given mechanics do not offer enough to make for a fighting chance ruins the intended experience almost immediately. I could not beat the first boss, because of the bullet hell. It was not designed in a way that it could be dodged. The added fact that even a more powerful gun barely touched the boss's health bar only served to worsen the issue. It is, because of these things that I cannot recommend buying it. It's just not worth it.