If you’re into a retro run-and-gun experience on original hardware, you might be in for a treat. We’ve had the privilege to take the demo build of Sovietborgs for a spin, a game set to release on multiple retro platforms in late 2026. Apart from playing the game itself, the Indiegogo campaign is in full swing. If you’re interested in special editions, this one should be high on your list, the perks for Sovietborgs are spectacular, to say the least. The game is slated for simultaneous release on Mega Drive/Genesis, Dreamcast, MS-DOS PC Big Box (on CD and floppies, no less), and both Neo Geo MVS and AES cartridges.
Let’s take a look at the game first before getting into the Indiegogo campaign. This preview build contains two complete levels, a boss fight and an interlude shmup section, giving us a good vertical slice of what to expect. In terms of premise, the Indiegogo campaign description sums it up pretty nicely:
“Sovietborgs is set in a post Cold War universe where the USSR won and turned the world into a nuclear wasteland. Part man, part machine, all proletariat, the Sovietborgs are the new elite unit of the Red Army, determined to eliminate all remaining pockets of resistance and free-thinking that dare threatening our Workers’ Paradise. Inmune to radiation, they can go where no one else can and liberate them of their pitiful existence. For the glory of a world without crime, that is!”
Three Borgs is a crowd
You take control of a three-man (borg) death escadre that’s air-dropped into each stage. As you explore the top-down levels, you move all three borgs simultaneously. The lead borg carves the path for the others enabling you to control all three together. You can shoot in any direction and holding the fire button lets you strafe, locking your firing angle. This lets you line your borgs up to triple your firepower or spread them out for a wider attack. This core mechanism, combined eight-directional aiming, enables you to fend off radioactive creatures in very creative ways.
In the demo, you start with standard firearms and a limited supply of hand grenades. The grenades are especially handy against the Gauntlet-style spawn gates that keep churning out mutants. Destroying a gate cuts off reinforcements and choosing which gate to take out first adds a strategic layer to the game. Especially since some enemy types pose different strategic challenges. Often, pulling back and advancing cover to cover is wiser than rushing in guns blazing.
Each demo stage features a small variety of mutant types and win conditions you must meet to advance, either to the next level or a boss fight.
Gameplay variety and mechanics
Based on our playthrough, the game controls very well. Running and strafing offers you multiple approaches through each predicament. Your borgs are tough and can absorb quite a bit of punishment. The shared health bar is split into three sections; when one depletes, you lose a borg until all are down. In the two demo stages, the boss encounter and the shoot-’em-up interlude, the difficulty felt “accessible.” We can’t judge the full game yet, but the current curve seems moderate.
The controls are surprisingly snappy for a top-down setup. Directional aiming takes a moment to master, but switching between aiming and strafing is seamless, while the borgs’ slight sluggishness adds strategic depth. Even these death machines need a weak point to keep things interesting.
The pre-rendered graphics add 16-bit nostalgia à la Donkey Kong Country or Vectorman, though they come off as a bit crude compared to peers like XenoCrisis. Especially the scenery suffers quite a bit from the pre-rendered approach. The game sports an iron curtain-heavy soundtrack that, in parody style, drops a cheerful platoon cheer of “Hay!” every three measures. We expect the final release to feature a broader soundtrack, but if it keeps up this satirical angle to its soundtrack, we should be good. When we hear the fully developed audio tracks on Dreamcast, it’s clear Retro Sumus managed to downgrade fidelity smartly for the 16-bit versions, as demonstrated in the Mega Drive demo.
The current preview state
While the game is mid-development, the current state already offers much to be enthusiastic about. As of now, we feel the production level on many aspects is right up there with similar games that took the multiplatform route and used 16-bit generation as a starting point. While we have our thoughts about the graphics, much more we hope that Retro Sumus is able to work out the humor angle throughout the stages that are still in development. Its current outset should be well suited to add more world building and a bit more satirical take on this topic of choice.
Sovietborg’s Indigigo campaign
So the game looks very promising, indeed. The Indigigo campaign that started on June 25th, adds even more to look out to. All the perk tiers are extremely well thought out and diverse. First off, the perks are physical only, no digital versions. Of course you can back for just a boxed version of the platform of choice, but the PC version for instance, comes in a big box CD and floppy version, having a whopping five(!) 3.5″ floppies. While that one may be a bit more gimmicky than practical, both the AES and the MVS version come in authentic snap box of cardboard box, while both the Mega Drive and Dreamcast versions are available in authentic region specific CD/GDI-ROM versions. Unique in this campaign, though, are the deluxe boxes which pack the Mega Drive version of SovietBorgs. Along with a whole slew of goodies the games are packed in a red soviet styled Pelican hard case. Additionally, another version throws in the Dreamcast version and Retro Sumus’ previous game, Xenocider, as well. While these perks are extremely expensive, they are also one of the best executed special editions we’ve seen in a while.
Along with the game versions and Pelican boxes, Retro Sumus also offers up custom made SovietBorg-styled Mega Drives, Dreamcasts and even PCs to be backed. Unfortunately no visuals of these perks are available on the campaign page as of now, but, it is a unique way to back the campaign, is the least we can say.
