Internet humor has long since devolved into an endless feedback loop of irony-poisoned remixes of popular culture. Image macros have mutated into political statements. Capitalist hyperrealism has killed the generational zeitgeist and is wearing its skin like a fucked-up monster from a horror movie pastiche in a cutaway gag of an unrelated work.
If [imsim you’ve played] is Neuromancer, then Cruelty Squad is Snow Crash. It is a storage unit wasteland of garbage-built landmarks and Geocities vomit. Each level is a Roblox level from 2008 reimagined in LSD: Dream Emulator. It is web art fully realized in a violent interactive space. I love the scathing, sensory overload aesthetic of Cruelty Squad.
I could paint Cruelty Squad through comparison and contrast alone; I could continue to painstakingly draw comparison and contrast, as many reviewers have tried and (basically) succeeded; any review to Cruelty Squad inevitably tends towards drawing on familiar examples to illustrate its points (as will this one). Cruelty Squad is like hundreds of other games, yet there’s nothing truly similar to it; the emulsified, processed sludge of Cruelty Squad’s influences come together to create a wholly original experience, unlike (almost) anything that’s come before.
One night, I told my friend Garrett I’d started playing Cruelty Squad, and he said, “Yeah, I’ve heard of that game, what’s it about?” I told him I’d recently finished a mission where I killed my landlord and sold his organs on the black market. He said, “That sounds awesome.” The simple fact is that, yes, it was and is awesome!!
The Apartment level remained a high point for me, and I don’t think the game ever really exceeded my expectations afterwards. Even the mission Bog Business, with its Dark Souls-esque level-wide poison swamp, never shocked or surprised me. Although the gimmick was new, I felt that Cruelty Squad didn’t have much left to offer (GOATed OST btw).
Gorbino’s QuestArchon Grid, the final level, was nothing if not unexpected. Although more linear than previous missions, there’s a lot of fun in every encounter being a problem needing to be solved.
From start to finish, around five-and-a-half hours. I learned later there was plenty of optional content I'd missed, including two additional “endings” and a handful of secret levels… which is cool, but I feel like I’ve already gotten my fill.
I missed the fishing rod on the fourth mission, and spent basically my entire playthrough wondering when I was going to be able to fish. Also apparently there’s a bunch of doors that only unlock after you restore your divine light in the final mission? That’s cool, too, but I was already half-checked out by the end. I feel bad because I really wanted to like this game more, but the obfuscation of the cool stuff was a little too much.
I think the weird keybindings and the way you use right-click to reload is weird and hilarious, and it definitely adds to the janky charm that Cruelty Squad’s systems are going for; but then there’s the swimming, which never felt good to me; there’s enemies that can beam you from a mile away and blend in with civilians; there’s the fuck-you death traps; shrimpdick rodents that can easily drain half your health if they bite you once; some of this stuff is really annoying. I’ve played Silent Hill 2, man. I get that the jank adds to the experience, but you also gotta admit that some of the stuff here is just bad on its own, and isn’t good just because it aims to be awkward.
It never clicked for me, not the same way some games do; Pizza Tower’s brevity encouraged me to start aiming for P ranks; Tunic’s clever obfuscation of core mechanics until the late game really made me want to return to earlier areas to discover new secrets; Cruelty Squad never enticed me in the same way. It was almost un-artfully obtuse, demanding a Google search or two before unraveling its final challenges. I didn’t aim for the second or third endings because I didn’t even know they were there. Now that I know they’re there, I’m not itching to reach them, either.
Maybe, like Doom Eternal, this is just another game I can’t fully appreciate at this point in my life. Maybe one day I’ll come back to Cruelty Squad and finally “get it,” or maybe it’s just not for me. It’s worth a try either way. Maybe you’ll fall in headfirst.
If [imsim you’ve played] is Neuromancer, then Cruelty Squad is Snow Crash. It is a storage unit wasteland of garbage-built landmarks and Geocities vomit. Each level is a Roblox level from 2008 reimagined in LSD: Dream Emulator. It is web art fully realized in a violent interactive space. I love the scathing, sensory overload aesthetic of Cruelty Squad.
I could paint Cruelty Squad through comparison and contrast alone; I could continue to painstakingly draw comparison and contrast, as many reviewers have tried and (basically) succeeded; any review to Cruelty Squad inevitably tends towards drawing on familiar examples to illustrate its points (as will this one). Cruelty Squad is like hundreds of other games, yet there’s nothing truly similar to it; the emulsified, processed sludge of Cruelty Squad’s influences come together to create a wholly original experience, unlike (almost) anything that’s come before.
One night, I told my friend Garrett I’d started playing Cruelty Squad, and he said, “Yeah, I’ve heard of that game, what’s it about?” I told him I’d recently finished a mission where I killed my landlord and sold his organs on the black market. He said, “That sounds awesome.” The simple fact is that, yes, it was and is awesome!!
The Apartment level remained a high point for me, and I don’t think the game ever really exceeded my expectations afterwards. Even the mission Bog Business, with its Dark Souls-esque level-wide poison swamp, never shocked or surprised me. Although the gimmick was new, I felt that Cruelty Squad didn’t have much left to offer (GOATed OST btw).
From start to finish, around five-and-a-half hours. I learned later there was plenty of optional content I'd missed, including two additional “endings” and a handful of secret levels… which is cool, but I feel like I’ve already gotten my fill.
I missed the fishing rod on the fourth mission, and spent basically my entire playthrough wondering when I was going to be able to fish. Also apparently there’s a bunch of doors that only unlock after you restore your divine light in the final mission? That’s cool, too, but I was already half-checked out by the end. I feel bad because I really wanted to like this game more, but the obfuscation of the cool stuff was a little too much.
I think the weird keybindings and the way you use right-click to reload is weird and hilarious, and it definitely adds to the janky charm that Cruelty Squad’s systems are going for; but then there’s the swimming, which never felt good to me; there’s enemies that can beam you from a mile away and blend in with civilians; there’s the fuck-you death traps; shrimpdick rodents that can easily drain half your health if they bite you once; some of this stuff is really annoying. I’ve played Silent Hill 2, man. I get that the jank adds to the experience, but you also gotta admit that some of the stuff here is just bad on its own, and isn’t good just because it aims to be awkward.
It never clicked for me, not the same way some games do; Pizza Tower’s brevity encouraged me to start aiming for P ranks; Tunic’s clever obfuscation of core mechanics until the late game really made me want to return to earlier areas to discover new secrets; Cruelty Squad never enticed me in the same way. It was almost un-artfully obtuse, demanding a Google search or two before unraveling its final challenges. I didn’t aim for the second or third endings because I didn’t even know they were there. Now that I know they’re there, I’m not itching to reach them, either.
Maybe, like Doom Eternal, this is just another game I can’t fully appreciate at this point in my life. Maybe one day I’ll come back to Cruelty Squad and finally “get it,” or maybe it’s just not for me. It’s worth a try either way. Maybe you’ll fall in headfirst.