this game is a beautiful example of what you can do with a surreal art style while still making the gameplay work.

the engine of this game is SO refined, every headshot feels perfect, the movement feels amazing, the enemies aren't too intelligent, too dumb or too unfair, and the level design complements the surreal visual style and movement of the game to a tee
the art style of cruelty squad is just right, it's the perfect blend of nostalgia-bait old style graphics with surreal colours to lure you in, while still managing to look modern enough to stand out amongst the new wave of PS2 wannabes
this isn't even mentioning the music, which despite sounding so grotesque, just works so well with how the game presents itself. every song is so well produced, and you can tell how much effort went into making it sound like it had no effort put in.
what a perfectly executed game, i hope ville's future work lives up to the baseline cruelty squad has set

Cruelty Squad é o ruído constante de uma dor de cabeça insuportável de alguem que sofre por falta de dinheiro em um mundo capitalista enquanto toma um banho gelado.

No campo do design e da arte é necessário muito conhecimento da teoria para poder quebrar ela, e Cruelty Squad quebra TODAS as teorias, desde o campo estético até o campo de gameplay, o jogo é horrível; é feio; as cores saturadas e as texturas sem sentido; tudo é o pior possível, e isso é incrível. O jogo é a representação perfeita de uma dor de cabeça incessante e insuportável.

Toda essa bizarrice visual e sensitiva corrobora com um enredo tão absurdo quanto, você faz parte do esquadrão cruel na busca de alavancar os ganhos financeiros da organização, seja matando políticos que buscam melhores condições de vida para trabalhadores, seja matando alguém que se viciou em comprar Funko Pop. A vida não tem valor.

Uma experiência única, sensitiva, visceral, grotesca, aterrorizante, estonteante e maravilhosa.

GOTY de 2021

I might be riding this game's dick a little bit too hard but I believe this is one of the best games released in the past 10 to 15 years. All the levels in this game are great; guns and movement feel great. It's biggest downsides might be it's writing which screams of our current day internet humour and politics and the visuals that just look like vomit. Then again, maybe these are the things people will end up liking about it in the future, much like MAYA from M.I.A., and it's not like leaving traces from the time it was maybe bad.

Anyway, CEO mindset and all that - go play this.