Sovietborgs hits IndieGoGo on June 25th — Dreamcast Version Details Revealed!

Back in November, we took a first look at Sovietborgs, the upcoming release from Retro Sumus, the Spanish development studio behind the excellent Dreamcast indie shooter Xenocider.

Set in an alternate reality where the Soviets won the Cold War, this top-down run-and-gun game is coming to the Dreamcast, Mega Drive (Genesis), and Neo Geo. Retro Sumus has been sharing development updates for a while now, and have finally announced that the project will launch on IndieGoGo on June the 25th.

We caught up with Retro Sumus themselves to get the scoop on everything you need to know about the Dreamcast version — the one that really matters!

Drawing inspiration from retro classics like The Chaos Engine and Gauntlet, Sovietborgs features pre-rendered graphics reminiscent of Donkey Kong Country and Vectorman. We had a blast with an early Mega Drive build, and with Retro Sumus confirming to us that the Dreamcast version will have enhancements like twin stick compatibility, no colour/palette limitations, achievements and improved sound (including an original soundtrack and additional voice samples), things are only looking up for us here at the Junkyard.

Speaking of those voice samples, Dreamcast YouTube royalty Adam Koralik will be providing voices for all characters in the game, including the enemies. Seeing as the Dreamcast version will have even more voice samples, that means more opportunities to hear Adam do a fake Russian accent. Winner.

Along with standard Dreamcast editions, the IndieGoGo campaign will feature an exclusive PAL Dreamcast case version of Sovietborgs, along with another for Retro Sumus’ previous title Xenocider —featuring brand new artwork— as pictured below. This will be the second chance collectors will have to get their hands on a PAL case version of Xenocider, as the original run was limited to 50 and sold out fast.

People who love fragile game cases are going to lose their shit

Retro Sumus have also let us in on what people can expect the Dreamcast versions to be priced at.

"The Dreamcast version will most likely be the cheapest option available. Both because it's (naturally) cheaper to manufacture and because it's kind of "our" community and we feel that's the way it should be. So the price range would be close to what we had for Xenocider, around €45 for the standard edition and somewhere between 60 and 100 for the special or super-ultra-extra limited whatever." 

When we asked Retro Sumus whether other variants of the Dreamcast release would be available —such as Japanese or US style versions— here’s what they had to say:

"The crowdfunding campaign will tell us what the demand nowadays is for the Dreamcast, in general, and for specific regional variants, but yes, that's totally the plan!"

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Exciting stuff! To set yourself a reminder for when the campaign goes live, go to the IndieGoGo page and sign up for updates. You can also check out the reveal trailer below.

Will you be backing the campaign on June 25th? Let us know by leaving a comment or by dropping us a line on social media.

Preview: Sovietborgs

Nearly three years on since the release of the fabulous Xenocider, Spanish indie development studio Retro Sumus have released more tantalising details about their follow-up Dreamcast and Mega Drive/Genesis offering, Sovietborgs. Retro Sumus have taken something of a diversion with Sovietborgs though - as you can probably tell from the screenshots dotted throughout this article - moving away from the polygonal splendour of Xara's 2021 Sin & Punishment homage, and instead channelled the likes of The Chaos Engine (and possibly early Saturn/PlayStation shooter Loaded) with this latest project.

For the record, the images here are taken from a very early demo of the Mega Drive version of Sovietborgs (releases for both Sega platforms were announced simultaneously), and the Dreamcast version promises visual and audio enhancements, more of which you can read about in the short interview below. But first, you may well be asking yourself: what the hell is a Sovietborg and why should I give a damn?!

According the official lore of Sovietborgs (um...Retro Sumus' Twitter account), the story goes a little something like this:

On November 9, 1989, 11:14 pm, the KGB's glorious electronic brain, Tovarishch-Prime, became self-aware, and immediately managed to take control of Arpanet, triggering the detonation of all capitalist thermo-nuclear devices inside their own silos. 

25 years later, the West remains a nuclear wasteland. But like cockroaches, there are still pockets of resistance and free-thinking threatening our workers' paradise. In these forsaken locations, new mutant races emerged due to radiation and their sickening capitalist mind. Fortunately, the Soviet People have developed a new unit of the illustrious Red Army, the Sovietborgs. 

Half man, half machine, all proletarian, they can go where no one else can, inmune to radiation, and liberate all new capitalist races from their pitiful existence. Join the Sovietborgs. Become a part of their prestigious present and future, travel the world pacifying all hotbeds of belligerence. Let the dream world of our venerable Tovarishch-Prime finally become a reality for all.

So yeah, something about capitalists and cyborgs. And guns. Lots of guns. We've played the limited demo of Sovietborgs and found it to be a rather enjoyable explore-and-shoot-stuff style romp, where you control the lead 'borg (designated by a little hat, naturally), while two AI controlled 'borgs follow you around and do your bidding. And by 'bidding' I mean shoot stuff. 

The demo is really only a single level, but it gives a good idea of what we can expect in the final game, with you controlling the squad as you move through ruined landscapes wiping out hordes of zombies which burst through randomly appearing portals with a taste for human brains; spider things that erupt from puddles of green ooze; and...er...mutant chickens which cluck forth from eggs that descend from the heavens. You need to destroy the delivery methods from which these unspeakable bastards all spring too, otherwise they'll just keep coming. This can be a bit problematic on a technical level as the demo does suffer a little with slow down when the hordes get a bit big, but we have no doubt this will be sorted in the final game and opens up the Dreamcast version for some absolutely enormous crowds of enemies streaming towards your squad. Nice.