RoboCop: Rogue City is an 'all-new' story based on the original film trilogy

YouTube YouTube
Watch On

Terminator: Resistance studio Teyon is working on an all-new game about a massive cyborg with a predilection for violence and monotone one-liners, but this time around the machine is one of the good guys. It's RoboCop: Rogue City, an all-new adventure about the future of law enforcement.

RoboCop: Rogue City will be published by Nacon in partnership with MGM, and will follow a new story based on the first three RoboCop films, the first of which was released all the way back in 1987—35 years ago. Nacon said, I guess without any sense of irony, that its enduring legacy is proof that RoboCop "has transcended pop culture with a robust consumer products and licensing program."

"We’re very much looking forward to collaborating with Nacon and Teyon to bring one of MGM’s most timeless IPs back to gaming platforms with a brand-new story," MGM vice president of global consumer products and experiences Robert Marick said. "The film is known for gripping action and complex storytelling, and we are excited for RoboCop fans to experience this first hand through the game."

The teaser is entirely uninformative, but the Steam page, which went live a while after the announcement, has this to say:

Become the iconic part man, part machine, all cop hero as you attempt to bring justice to the dangerous, crime-ridden streets of Old Detroit. Armed with your trusty Auto-9, factory-built strength, years of experience on the force and a variety of tools at your disposal, you will fight forces seeking to destroy the city you call home in an all new first-person, explosive hunt for the truth. You have the power to decide how to fulfil prime directives in your own way, but as the story unfolds proceed with caution because corruption and greed know no limits.

I've been told that Terminator: Resistance is actually quite good, and so I hold out some hope that Teyon can also have success with RoboCop. But so much of that will depend on how it handles the satirical subtext of the films: RoboCop isn't exactly subtle, but it does come to the party with certain concepts in hand that very clearly define the world in which it exists. Calling it "smart" is probably a little too generous, but I do hope the developers are able to come up with something more clever than "cyborg shoots bad guys with an increasingly explosive array of state-of-the-art bang bang." 

We shall see, but not for awhile: RoboCop: Rogue City isn't set to come out until sometime in 2023.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.