As we reported last November, Retro Sumus, the Spanish game studio responsible for the Dreamcast title Xenocider, is working on a new game called Sovietborgs for both Sega Genesis and Dreamcast. The title blends action with discovery and borrows visuals from games like VectorMan, using 3D-rendered visuals that work on 16-bit hardware. The early glimpse at the Genesis alpha build we had for our teaser revealed a promising title in the early stages of development. Now, the game is far enough along in development that Retro Sumus has launched an Indiegogo campaign to fund a targeted December 2026 release, and they’ve kindly provided us with a more advanced build that shows off the game’s developmental progress.
Sovietborgs takes place in an alternate history where the Soviet Union wins the Cold War after a KGB supercomputer gains awareness and brings about a nuclear catastrophe. Years later, the world is desolate with radiation where mutated capitalist survivors roam. The Soviet reaction is the deployment of “Sovietborgs,” cybernetic soldiers intended to destroy not just foes but mutants in the cause of utopia.
As we mentioned in our teaser, the game plays a lot like Cannon Fodder and Soldiers of Fortune, with a player commanding a unit of three borgs through enemy territory. Gameplay has been expanded since the first alpha ROM, and the six-button controller is now implemented for play. The game now uses buttons to move faster and for strafing. You can also fire in multiple directions while remaining in place, and grenades are useful for taking out mobs. There are still a few unused buttons on the controller, but hopefully, we’ll see some more items or weapons in the final game that will add more complexity to the control.
Along with more developed gameplay, Retro Sumus has been hard at work getting Sovietborgs’ presentation ready. The visuals are a lot sharper now, and the enemies have fluid animation that reminded me of Zombies Ate My Neighbors. The audio has been overhauled as well, and there’s more voice (courtesy of YouTuber Adam Koralik). A very Russian-like theme now plays during the first stage (the only complete one in the build), and it fits the action perfectly.
One observation from the early alpha I played that remains is the lack of any prompts to complete the stage objectives. The extraction ship comes once all enemies have been eliminated, but without prompts or a mini-map, it can be hard to figure out where those last foes are. Without them, players may spend time backtracking across the labyrinthine stages to find them and then making their way back to the extraction point. I would also like to see the other two borgs do more than just follow the first one around. The game ends when all three are eliminated, but the second and third borg are currently little more than an animated (and heavily armed) life bar.
Otherwise, there’s a ton of potential here that lots of gamers are going to enjoy. Sovietborgs is also coming for Dreamcast, Neo Geo, and even MS-DOS (!), but thankfully, the Genesis game isn’t going to be just a watered-down port. Retro Sumus is tooling each version for its specific platform to take advantage of the hardware, so I assume the Genesis cart will be tailored to make the console look and play great. The latest build is already a lot of fun, so hopefully Retro Sumus can reach its stretch goals to make the Genesis version special, despite not having all the special features of the more powerful machines.
Future expansion for the finished game includes additional weapons, traps, and boss battles per zone (the demo has one), with bonus shoot-’em-up levels and even a potential achievement system. Even in this early stage of development, Soviet Borgs already shows much promise, and it looks to scratch that itch for games where you shoot everything and fight big bosses.
The quality of the finished product should be excellent, given who’s onboard. Soviet Borgs’ development team features Daniel Lancha, who created the 4ALL emulators for Dreamcast, as well as the talents of homebrew scene artists Gabriel Pyron (King of Fighters MD, Street Fighter II Remastered) and Daniel Horvath (pixel artist for Pier Solar). Composer Junajo Martin, who did the soundtrack for Xenocider, returns, and what I’ve heard of the music so far is quite good.
I’m excited for Sovietborgs, and it’s shaping up to be another quality aftermarket Genesis release. Retro Sumus did an awesome job with Xenocider, so I’m confident that the studio can deliver on its promises if the campaign reaches its funding goal. There are several attractive stretch goals to entice gamers, like an extra stage, new modes, and even an Atari Jaguar port! In the meantime, enjoy the new screenshots and trailer and head over to the game’s Indiegogo page to get in on this great upcoming title!
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