Kiborg Descent DLC Review

I quite liked Kiborg, a game released on Xbox last year. For more details on the main game you can find my review here.

For those who want a quick refresher, it is a third-person brawler/roguelite in which the protagonist will use their fists, melee weapons and guns to smash their way up a tower.

As much as I had fun, this section of my review most accurately summarised my feelings on the game at the time:

“The combat can be incredibly fluid with the array of standard and heavy attacks, spin attacks (for crowd control), as well as blocking and parries. There is a key feature too – a leap – which sends Morgan hurtling across large distances towards the nearest enemy. It is a good mechanic to keep the combat going, I felt like a killing machine when it worked but then a soggy paper bag when it didn’t. Those times when I was ineffectual were too frequent, especially during some of the frantic later fights.”

Descent is a 5 Euro DLC meant as an added challenge after the player has completed a run on every difficulty in the base game and gone through the elaborate web of upgrades (unlocked using meta-currency from playing the game). Not, as I realised, after only having beaten the game once.

Not one to back down from a challenge I cracked my knuckles and started playing the base game again. I am happy to say that this was not a chore. The reason being that the developers didn’t just work on some DLC that slaps a series of new levels but they also appear to have spent time polishing the original game.

The controls are more responsive, parries are easier to pull off due to better camera control and better signalling from enemies. The leap that had the tendency to target the completely wrong thing now does this less often and feels less punishing when it goes wrong. The upgrade paths have better localisation (I think) because during this playthrough I never found myself sratching my head as to what upgrades did. It made me more adventurous with my per-run upgrade paths and I had even more fun retrying with different augments and weapons.

In the last 12 months this game has gone from a ‘fun, often engaging idea that needed more love’ to a ‘addictive romp that had me up late on more than one night’

On top of these changes is now the Play Anywhere feature, which let me try out the game on my ROG Ally. This feature is a little less successful, I had to turn off shadows and a couple of other items to get the parry timings and combos more responsive but given that last year I found the game to be really under-optimised, this level of performance on my plucky handheld was a welcome surprise.

Then there is a the new DLC – in a twist on the original formula you now go down instead of up – with me having now put in the hours I can say this is a great way to extend the experience. Everything hits harder, and upgrades like being immune to status effects become vital. What was impossible while I was still a neophyte, offered a solid challenge once I was geared up.

My big complaint? It would have been nice to see an achievement update for this DLC, anything to give me a few more things to shoot for, but otherwise there has never been a better time to jump into Kiborg.

Conclusion

The Descent DLC comes at the right time to bring Kiborg back. A lot of work has gone into the base game to make it a superior experience, much improved combat, better translation and overall a smoother experience. Whether it is returning players wanting to get more out of the game, or new players trying it for the first time, this is the definitive version of the game.