Consumer Softproducts has released a 9-minute-ish compilation of Psycho Patrol R gameplay snippets onto YouTube today. If you were wondering how much like Cruelty Squad the new game would be; it’s looking like a lot.

It’s really hard to tell if this is a rough cut from a still-in-development game or if this is actually what things are going to be like. It’s hard to tell after you’ve played Cruelty Squad.

It does show off things like swearing for some reason, as well as mech fights and mech customization. In Psycho Patrol R, you sometimes pilot your V-Stalker Mecha. Other times, you do not. But when you do, you can swap out?? the guns on its left and right arms, as well as its crotch.

The compilation also shows off rappelling down a building, which looks pretty neat. You’re also followed by a floating ball with stars around ?it (Bion?).

It looks enjoyable, but it’s really hard to describe why. Cruelty Squad was one of the most difficult games for me to review. I absolutely like the game, but trying to describe it makes it sound horrible. The graphics look like the sort of dream that Windows Me wakes up screaming from, and the music is like the game accidentally loaded the wrong sound file, was embarrassed, and spontaneously began remixing it instead of admitting to it?s mistake. The narrative an?d gameplay only sort of make sense. It’s incredibly uncomfortable to play, and it feels like it hates the player. But you should definitely play it.

Psycho Patrol R looks l??ike it’s going to be the same. I look forward to when it releases, which could be anytime between tomorrow and 10 years from now. It’s really hard to tell how close to completion it is bas??ed on the video.

Psycho Patrol R doesn’t have a set release? window, but it ?is planned for PC.

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Consumer Softproducts�follow-up to 2021’s shared fever dream, Cruelty Squad, is now listed on Steam. Psycho Patrol R is now available for wishlisting, though there is no announced release window.

I had noticed Consumer Softproducts tinkering around with a mech game since the release of Cruelty Squad, but with such things, sometimes an end result is never seen??. However, it’s looking more likely with the official name and fancy store page.

Psycho Patrol R has you play as a federal police officer of the eponymous Psycho Patrol. You’re tasked with piloting a V-Stalker to solve “mental crime, among other things.�It bills itself as a “combination of high-intensity ?tactical FPS combat�and takes place in an open, non-linear world. You’re also able to customize the equipment on your stompy V-Stalker, which I think is an unwritten law in the world of mech games. It also appears that you will be spending some time outside of your robot womb and can engage in thrilling conversations? about cryptocurrency with executives.

Right now, it looks like Psycho Patrol R will tone down the garish and nauseatingly surreal colors of Cruelty Squad, but the ??game’s graphics still scream jank-pop. I think I might have been disappointed if it didn’t.

I reviewed Cruelty Squad back in 2021. I called out its deliberately stilted gameplay, referring to it as “a purposeful desecration of the holy grounds of game design.�That was one of the first times I was quoted on Wikipedia, but the phrase was eventually expunged from the article to make room for more favorable acclamations. I meant it as a compliment. Cruelty Squad has been living in my brain ever since and is probably the sou??rce of trauma that has driven me into the arms of similar ja??nk-pop titles.

Psycho Patrol R is cu??rrently set for release on PC, though no release window has been stated.

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Protect your meat

Consumer Softproducts has announced the arrival of a patch for the deranged 2021 meatpunk title, Cruelty Squad. Unlike many late-arrival patches, this patch does more than just fix compatibility issues and squash minor bugs. It makes the armor in the game actually do something.

//twitter.com/CSoftproducts/status/164030576635043020?9?s=20

Because Consumer Softproducts gets by on deliberately mixed messages, and Cruelty Squad as a whole is possibly just one big sick joke, I was honestly not certain if this was real. And by that, I mean many things. I wasn’t sure if this was a real patch. I couldn’t tell if armor was actually non-functional before. And I’m still not cer??tain if this really fixes it.

So, thankfully, I was able to find this Steam forum thread from back in 2021, where users discuss non-functional armor as thou?gh it’s a commonly known thing and speculate ??that it seems to be a bug. Whether or not the patch truly fixes it is still pending research by someone braver and smarter than me.

What’s really funny about this is that in my review of Cruelty Squad, I mentioned that my preferred way to play was to “wear heavy armor and mow through dude??s like the T-800.�So, you’re telling me that the armor wasn’t doing anything? It was just, what, giving me the confidence I needed to blow people up without cover or subterfuge?

Vortex of bad design

You might be wondering how I wouldn’t have noticed something like that, but have you played Cruelty Squad? I described it as a “swirling vortex of bad design�and opined that it was nearly impossible to approach critically. It’s hard to separate the parts of it that are intentionally bad from the o??nes that are just poorly designed. Or broken, in this c??ase.

//youtu.be/CHm2d3wf8EU

It may sound like I’m being harsh on the game, but I absolutely love Cruelty Squad. It is a captivating experience and a stark-raving naked approach to game design whose influence is already being felt in the indie sphere. The self-immolation approach to design is so compelling, and few games do it with as much unapologetic pizazz as Cruelty Squad. It’s a tough game to recommend while simultaneously being one that I wish more people would try. I don’t think I can gush any more enthusiastically, so I must resort to just making a grunting noise to emphasize my point: Uurgh!

Cruelty Squad is currently contained on PC. It is currently unsupp??orted by the Steam Deck.

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