RoboCop: Rogue City Release Window, Trailer, And Gameplay - What We Know So Far

The 80s are officially back, and this time it's "RoboCop" making a triumphant return. Announced by publisher Nacon, "RoboCop: Rogue City" is a hyper-violent first-person-shooter starring the half-man half-machine police officer. RoboCop has made a few appearances in video games over the years, with his latest coming in the "Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath" expansion. As for movies, the most recent attempt to make a "RoboCop" film came in 2014 with star Joel Kinnaman, which seemingly earned the franchise a hiatus from the big screen. The franchise had been previously dormant due to how terrible "RoboCop 3" was, but maybe the new game will make fans happy.

"RoboCop: Rogue City" is being developed by Teyon, a Polish developer best known for making the 80s-centric "Terminator Resistance." That title doesn't have the best Metacritic score, sitting at a 55, but is generally considered a good time by fans, resulting in an 8.3 user score. Teyon has experience in both 80s action movie games and shooters, so the team seems like a perfect fit to tackle "RoboCop: Rogue City." Here's what we know about it so far.

As part of the reveal of "RoboCop: Rogue City," Nacon announced a release window for the game. "RoboCop: Rogue City" will launch in June 2023 for PC, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and Nintendo Switch. The game can already be wishlisted on Steam. While not having an exact release date is a bit of a bummer for fans, this gives the team almost 12 more months to work on the title and get it ready for launch. 

Interestingly, although a Nintendo Switch version is listed in the video description on Nacon's YouTube video, Teyon's website does not list a Nintendo Switch version. This could mean that a different developer is prepping the Switch version, but that has not been confirmed at this time. A price point has not been announced for "RoboCop: Rogue City," but no doubt that will be set once preorders go live sometime in the coming months.

As part of the announcement, Nacon released a 90-second trailer for "RoboCop: Rogue City" providing some hints about the story and tons of gameplay. The game appears to utilize the 80s aesthetic of the films, based on the TV filter show during the news broadcasts. Detroit is dealing with a massive crime wave that has resulted in the deaths of nearly two dozen police officers. Playing as RoboCop, you are tasked with taking these criminals down, dead or alive (mostly dead).

There is a brief bit at the end where it is implied that the game might deal with some psychological story beats, implying that RoboCop is making decisions his higher-ups don't agree with and that he may be struggling with his own malfunctions. There is also a brief moment of flashing between two different versions of reality, showing that RoboCop might not be right in the head. It was also revealed that Peter Weller, the actor who originally played RoboCop, will be returning to voice the iconic character in "RoboCop: Rogue City."

Also seen in that reveal trailer are a ton of fast cuts between different action scenes. Most exciting, the gameplay portions of the trailer show a few different elements outside of first-person shooting. RoboCop is shown kicking a trash can into a person to take them down, as well as picking an enemy up and throwing them. The onscreen targeting lines from the movie are also shown during gameplay, tracking over enemies before RoboCop shoots them, although it's unclear if that's part of the game or just added to spruce up the trailer.

The trailer also features a brief shot of RoboCop fighting what appears to be an ED-209 unit, so expect to take down more than a bunch of criminals. One of the more interesting aspects shown was the fact that RoboCop was never shown using a weapon outside of his automatic pistol. While that might be movie-accurate, it would be a little strange to make a first-person shooter with only one weapon in it. Players can probably expect the game to upgrade the iconic hero's arsenal.