SHOUT OUT - Spine goes beyond a John Wick simulator to carve its own identity
Flick that magazine reload.
By Jonathan Garrett
19/02/25
NOTE: Shout Out’s are not sponsored content. They’re games, developers, individuals, or issues that we want to highlight and share purely out of interest.
The resurgence of indie and AA budget development continues to soar amongst a sea of high profile cutbacks at massive publishers and developers. It’s a tough and unpredictable time for so many talented folks. One shining light in these uncertain times is Nekki, who are forging ahead creating a self described new universe with their game “Spine”.
At first glance, it’s sci-fi John Wick, but that is perhaps an oversimplification. Across tie in comics, planned DLC expansions, and even a board game, this is a big bet for a team that has been steadily iterating on their bespoke animation tech and combat mechanics for years. It caught our eye simply because of its ambition, and that is something that desperately needs to be recognised now more than ever.
Despite the advertised narrative focus, it’s the flow of combat that becomes immediately apparent. Chaining combo attacks alongside blocks and finishers is the name of the game, and the cyberpunk aesthetic lends itself well to the heightened action. There are a series of behind the scenes blogs and dev Q&A’s on Steam that are well worth checking out.
Although it screams co-op potential, there is something to be said for Spine not running before it can walk; a shared campaign only works if it’s designed from the ground up to accommodate both players in equal measure. If this truly is the beginning of an ongoing series, there’s plenty of scope to spread its wings down the line.
We can’t wait to see how this one comes together, with Spine due to drop for both PC and console at an unspecified time.
TARPS?
At the bottom of some of our articles, you’ll see a series of absurd looking images (with equally stupid, in joke laden names). These are the TARP badges, which represent our ‘Totally Accurate Rating Platform’. They allow us to identify specific things, recognise positive or negative aspects of a games design, and generally indulge our consistent silliness with some visual tomfoolery.
